PREFERENCE OF A COACH ON DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR BY ATHLETES IN NIGERIA

Ali, Isa Danlami (Ph.D)

Abstract

This study examined coaching leadership behaviour preference of a democratic coach by athletes in individual and team sports that will lead to increased satisfaction and performance. The ex-post facto research design was employed. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data for this study. A total of 960 copies of a questionnaire were distributed to athletes in selected States Sports Councils using the random sampling procedure. The data collected were subjected to statistical analysis. The two-way samples Z-test was used to test the formulated hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that: Athletes in team and individual sports generally preferred coaches who were more disposed towards democratic behaviour. It was also found that athletes in team sports have higher preference for coaches with democratic behaviour. It was recommended that coaches should allow the players to participate in decision-making. The coach should allow the players set achievable goals for themselves during practice.