Date of Award
Spring 4-19-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
PHD - Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Counseling & Psychology
First Advisor
Susan Gere, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Peiwei Li, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Gary Senecal, Ph.D.
Abstract
High school sports are the most popular extracurricular activity in the United States. Coaches serve as gatekeepers to team culture and influence student athletes’ experiences in those sports. Team cultures influence performance and well-being outcomes. Those outcomes are not inherently beneficial and have caused harm to some student-athletes. Guided by a constructivist approach paired with grounded theory analysis, this study investigates how high school coaches in New England perceive the role of team culture in promoting student-athlete well-being and performance. Thirteen head varsity athletic coaches from New England schools took part in interviews via Zoom to share their thoughts on building team culture, supporting their student-athletes, and improving their coaching practice. Findings pointed to a need for coaches to understand themselves, develop an understanding of the relationship between well-being and performance, and recognize how to build healthy team environments. A sense of themselves includes reflection on their sport origin story, understanding how the impact of their family contributed to them becoming a coach, and having a clear sense of their coaching philosophy. Well-being is supported by cultivating conditions of psychological safety: managing conflict, encouraging speaking up, and building trust, buy-in, and relationships with student-athletes. Healthy team cultures emerge from healthy leadership structures, multidirectional communication, clear expectations, and trusting relationships. Coaches would benefit from professional development and dialogue on self-awareness, relationship building, culture building, and social justice issues.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Number of Pages
230
Recommended Citation
Brown, Stephen, "New England High School Coaches’ Perceptions of the Role of Team Culture on Performance and Well-Being" (2024). Counseling and Psychology Dissertations. 22.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/counseling_dissertations/22
