Athlete’s motivation and the quality of his relationship with the coach

This cross-sectional study investigated the influence of the perception of the quality of the coach-athlete relationship (CAR) on the motivation among young students-athletes in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Participants were 301 students-athletes who participated of the School Games of Pernambuco 2017. The instruments used were the Coach-athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q) and the Sport Motivation Scale-II (SMS-II). Data analysis was conducted through Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Mann-Whitney tests, Spearman Correlation and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) (p < .05). The results showed that the students-athletes who perceive themselves with high quality of CAR had higher scores at identified, integrated and intrinsic regulations, while the athletes with moderate CAR had higher score at amotivation and external regulation. SEM revealed that both controlled and autonomous motivation were explained in 17 % and 21 %, respectively, by CAR, which had positive effect (β = .45 and β = .41) on both motivations. It is concluded that a positive relationship with the coach based on admiration, respect, trust and affiliation seems to be a fostering factor for the motivation in the school sports context.