Creating and Confirming a Positive Sporting Climate

Abstract

Very limited research explains students' responses to specific motivational climates in sport, and many physical educators do little more than casually observe the sporting behaviors of students in their care. Therefore, the purposes of this article are to encourage physical educators and youth coaches to develop and maintain a task-mastery motivational climate, and to provide physical educators and youth coaches a tool to assess the presence of positive sporting behaviors: THOMAS - the hierarchical observation method for analyzing sporting behaviors. Results of related literature suggest that the volume of positive sporting behaviors is linked to the task or ego-oriented motivational climate created by the instructor. Hence, the instructor or coach plays a large role in the intended socialization of their students. It is recommended that instructors bear this in mind when establishing the culture of their class and climate of their sporting environment. Cooperation-based activities may be preferred over competition-based activities if developing positive sporting attitudes and behaviors is a main objective.

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Notes on contributors

Colin G. Pennington

Colin G. Pennington ([email protected]) is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, IA.