Influence of Coach Communication Style on Anxiety, Confidence, and Match Performance in Amateur Athletes
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Coach communication is one of the most direct ways in which athletes interpret competitive demands, understand tactical roles, and regulate emotion before and during competition. This study examined whether perceived coach communication style was associated with competitive anxiety, self-confidence, and match performance in amateur male and female athletes. A cross-sectional field design was used with 236 amateur athletes from team and individual sports. Athletes completed pre-match measures of supportive and controlling coach communication, cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence. Match performance was assessed after the competition using a standardized 0-100 index that combined coach ratings and sport-specific match indicators. Athletes were categorized by their dominant perceived communication style: supportive, neutral, or controlling. Group differences were tested with one-way analysis of variance, adjusted associations were examined using multiple linear regression, and the indirect role of self-confidence was tested with bootstrapped mediation. Supportive communication was associated with lower cognitive anxiety (M = 13.32 ± 2.75), lower somatic anxiety (M = 12.96 ± 2.61), higher self-confidence (M = 16.18 ± 2.37), and higher match performance (M = 78.83 ± 8.74) than neutral and controlling communication. Group effects were statistically significant for cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, self-confidence, and performance (all p < 0.001), with moderate effect sizes rather than very large differences. In adjusted regression, supportive communication modestly predicted self-confidence and performance, whereas controlling communication modestly predicted anxiety and negatively predicted confidence and performance. Self-confidence partially mediated the association between supportive communication and performance. The findings indicate that the coach's communication style is meaningfully related to the psychological and performance profiles of amateur athletes, with supportive communication showing the most favorable pattern and controlling communication showing the least favorable pattern.
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