Evaluating Coachability in Prospective Female College Athletes

College coaches cite a number of personality attributes they desire in prospective athletes. One of the most commonly cited attributes is coachability, although each coach may have a unique way of describing what this means. The coachability construct is not well understood in the literature, and links between coachability and personality traits have not been adequately explored. As a result, strategies to help coaches better evaluate coachability and personality traits during the recruiting process are limited. This paper describes specific behaviors that may best distinguish more coachable from less coachable female college softball athletes. It also identifies important personality traits that appear to be associated with whether an athlete may be more coachable or less coachable and proposes ways coaches can use this information to better evaluate coachability and personality during the recruiting process.