Christopher Kowalski

Coaching Efficacy and Volunteer Soccer Coaches: an Analysis, Discussion, and Recommendations Christopher Kowalski

As youth continue to become involved in sports, there will always be a need for coaches to guide, manage, and assist in their skill development and decision-making abilities. The level of coaching experience ranges from their first time as a coach to multiple seasons involved in the sport. Successful management and guidance of youth on a sports team comes from a coach''s personal confidence in creating a fun, motivational climate for youth to grow, develop skills and enjoy themselves. With these thoughts in mind, the purpose of this book was to analyze the volunteer soccer coaches? overall coaching efficacy, or confidence in coaching a youth sports team. Four areas of coaching efficacy were analyzed, developed from Feltz''s Coaching Efficacy Scale and originating from Bandura''s work on social cognitive theory. The analysis and discussion of the volunteer coaches'' efficacy levels shed light on the factors that impact the confidence of individuals leading youth sports teams, as well as important points for organizations who are developing volunteer coaches for their athletic programs.