Examination of the Relationship between Coach-Athlete Communication Levels and Perceived Motivational Climate for Volleyball Players

The aim of this study was to reveal the relationship between the athlete-coach relationship and the motivational climate created by the coach. In this study, relational survey model was used. The study sample included 96 female volleyball players who are active players at Turkey Women Volleyball 3rd League. "The Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire" and "The Perceived Motivational Climate in Sports Scale" were used to collect the data. The data were examined by using descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation Analysis and Canonical Correlation Analysis. Correlational analysis revealed that the perceived mastery motivational climate, in which role sharing in team, co-operation with teammates, and improvement are emphasized, were associated with experiencing higher levels of closeness, commitment and complementarity with coach. Also, according to canonical correlation results, the coach-athlete relationship and motivational climate data sets account for 13.32% of variance in the first canonical function. These findings indicate that three interpersonal construct of complementarity, closeness, and commitment are high for this volleyball group, and also they perceive their training and competition environment as mastery-oriented. These results support the only first hypothesis of research that the coach-athlete relationship is positively associated with the mastery-oriented motivational climate. In this context, it can be said that coach-athlete relationship may affect the motivations of athletes in team sports.