Adult-oriented coaching practices are positively associated with quality sport experience criteria

The Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS; [Rathwell, S., Young, B. W., Callary, B., Motz, D., Currie, C., & Hoffmann, M. D. (2020). The adult-oriented sport coaching survey: A measurement tool designed to assess coaching behaviours tailored for adult athletes. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 42(5), 5]) reliably assesses coaching practices tailored to Masters athletes (MAs). It recognises the uniqueness of coaching adults [Callary, B., Young, B. W., & Rathwell, S. (2021a). Coaching Masters athletes: Advancing Research and Practice in adult sport. Taylor & Francis; Callary, B., Young, B. W., & Rathwell, S. (2021b). Adult learning in sport: Implications for psycho-social coaching competencies. In B. Callary, B. Young, & S. Rathwell (Eds.), Coaching Masters Athletes: Advancing Research and Practice in adult sport (pp. 15-30). Routledge] and has good face validity and factorial validity. We tested the construct validity of the AOSCS by determining whether adult-oriented practices were associated with criteria indicative of quality sport experiences. MAs (N = 402, M age = 55.91, SD = 10.41) completed the AOSCS, the Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire [Jowett, S., & Ntoumanis, N. (2004). The coach-athlete relationship questionnaire (CART-Q): Development and initial validation. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 14(4), 245-257], and items measuring practice-liking, sport commitment, investment, and enjoyment. We analyzed relationships using structural equation modelling, separately for overall use of AOSCS practices, and for five specific practices within the AOSCS. Overall, when MAs experienced more adult-oriented practices, they reported greater commitment (beta = .79), complementarity (beta = .64), and closeness (beta = .63) with their coach, greater investment (beta = .60) and practice-liking (beta = .52) because of their coach, and greater enjoyment (beta = .22) and sport commitment (beta = .22). Regarding specific practices, "creating personalised programming", "respecting preferences for effort, accountability and feedback", and "considering individuality" were positively associated with aspects of the coach-athlete relationship. "Respecting preferences" was also related to practice-liking, and "framing learning" was related to sport investment. The findings support the specific and collective use of adult-oriented practices to strengthen coach-athlete relationships for MAs and create enhanced Masters sport experiences. The results demonstrate the criterion validity of the AOSCS, further positioning it as a coach development tool in competitive adult sport.