Differences in gender and age groups in the perceived non-verbal communication of swimming coaches.

Abstract

A coach's non-verbal communication plays a central role in creating the coach-athlete relationship. The purpose of our research was to investigate: the extent of swimming coaches' use of nonverbal communication in coaching their athletes, to explore any differences between male and female coaches, and finally to explore any differences in nonverbal communication related to the age group to which the coaches and athletes belong. Our total research sample consisted of 334 individuals, both male and female, all active club swimming coaches. As a self-report measurement instrument, the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale (NIS-S)] was chosen, which covers many aspects of nonverbal behavior and assesses both positive and negative nonverbal communication of coaches. For the statistical analysis of the survey variables, the following were used: a) Independent Samples t-test with gender as the independent variable and the NIS-S questionnaire score as the dependent variable and b) One Way Anova analysis of variance with the NIS-S questionnaire score as the dependent variable and the age groups of coaches or athletes as the independent variable. The results showed statistically significant differences a) between the NIS-S scale scores of men and women (t = -2.626, p < .05) with women having higher scores (103.32 vs. 100.28), b) between the negative NIS-S subscale scores of men and women (t = 2.75, p < .05.) with females showing lower values (26.71 vs. 28.50) It was also found that when athletes are preschool age coaches use nonverbal communication more than in the middle school, high school and adult age groups. In conclusion, females possess superior nonverbal sensitivity compared to males, expressing themselves with greater emotionality and proximity. At younger ages, increased use of nonverbal communication appears to be sought by coaches to convey their emotions and their instructional, teaching and training choices in a simplified manner.