The role of the relationship with the coach in the group environment of school sports

The relationship between coach and athlete has been identified as a key factor for several positive outcomes in the sports context. Thus, the aims of this study were to analyze the association between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship (CAR) and the perception of team cohesion of youth athletes. Participants were 301 athletes, aged 15 to 17 years, who participated in the School Games of Pernambuco, Brazil. The instruments used were the Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q) and the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). Data analysis was conducted through the Structural Equation Modeling (p<.05). The results showed that the quality of CAR showed a significant association (p<.05) with team cohesion, explaining 25% of the variance of task cohesion and 15% of social cohesion. Specifically, the effect of CAR on task (beta = 0.50) and social (beta = 0.39) cohesion was significant (p<.05) and positive. It was concluded that the quality of CAR is a key factor for the engagement of the adolescent with the teamwork and its goals as well as for the development of positive interpersonal relationships.