Coach's contribution to coach-athlete interactions in powerlifting sport

Abstract

Successful cooperation of the training process subjects mostly in the coach-athlete interaction format is commonly acknowledged as pivotal for success of every athlete's career including a powerlifter's one. The article considers the coach's role in athletic progress in the powerlifting sport. For the purposes of the study, we performed a questionnaire survey of 60 Russian athletes. The questionnaire form offered questions to rate 13 coach's actions starting from "The coach makes you to.". A special emphasis in the analysis was made on the following top five coach's actions prioritised by the respondents: (1) efficient support in competitions, rated by 9.57 points on average; (2) individualised approach to the athletes, rated by 9.09 points; (3) the coach applies his own athletic training system, rated by 9.05 points; (4) the coach assists in competitions, rated by 8.77 points; and (5) the coach fairly rates athletes' accomplishments and failures, rated by 8.64 points. The coach-athlete interaction profiling study showed that the practical coach's activity generally meets athlete's expectations. Success of the coaching services to powerlifters was found to largely depend on how knowledgeable and skilful the coach is; how he builds up interpersonal relations with athletes; and how good he is in sharing his knowledge with the latter.