Resilience in sport has been defined as "the role of mental processes and behavior in promoting personal assets and protecting an individual from the potential negative effect of stressors" (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2012, p. 675). Fletcher and Sarkar's (2012) found that various psychological factors were indicative of athlete resilience such as achievement motivation, social support, focus, confidence, and positive personality. To date, sport psychology researchers have dominantly examined resilience as an individual construct (e.g., Galli & Vealey, 2008; Fletcher & Sarkar; Wagstaff, Sarkar, Davidson, & Fletcher, 2016). However, it is also important to consider how athlete resilience might develop and operate in relationships with important others (e.g., coach). Narrative inquiry (Smith & Sparkes, 2009) was used in this study to explore the stories of seven NCAA Division I student-athletes' lived experiences of how the coach-athlete relationship influenced their ability to be resilient through major stress. Semi-structured interviews were conducted that asked participants about their respective coach-athlete relationship, how power and sociocultural factors influenced this relationship, and in turn, influenced student-athlete resilience. Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis was used for data analysis, which revealed the following themes: (a) Student-athlete core resilience, (b) The W.O.A.T., (c) The G.O.A.T., (d) W.O.AT. coach behaviors, (e) G.O.A.T. coach behaviors, (f) The W.O.A.T., the G.O.A.T., and student-athlete resilience, (g) The effect of coach major stress on student-athlete resilience, and (h) The relational shift: From bad to better, good to great. It is hoped that the findings of this study will be used as a powerful method from which coaches can emotionally connect with the participants' stories in order to better understand how they might operate within the coach-athlete relationship to influence student-athlete resilience.

This study examined the relationship between college student-athletes' well-being, self-ratings of mental toughness in sport, and perceptions of the coach-created motivational climate. One hundred and two NCAA Division I female student-athletes completed measures of well-being, mental toughness, and coach-created motivational climate over the course of a university academic year. The author hypothesized that mental toughness and perceptions of the coach-created motivational climate would predict well-being. Overall, the results of the study found a predictive relationship between well-being and mental toughness, and well-being, mental toughness, and an ego-involving coach-created motivational climate. These results provide initial evidence that cognitive, affective, personality, and environmental factors influence student-athlete well-being. The findings also demonstrate that Henriques et al.'s (2017) Nested Model of Well-being (NM) may be an effective model to understand the unique factors that influence student-athlete well-being. For example, the results of the study indicate that the construct of mental toughness may overlap with Henriques et al.'s (2014) conceptualization of adaptive potentials (one's skills and abilities to function effectively in the environment). Additionally, the influence of a student-athlete's perception of the coach-created motivational climate on well-being may be aligned with the NM's characterization of the environmental domain. These results indicate a need to study other factors that influence student-athlete well-being. This study demonstrates a need to develop measures that assess student-athlete well-being while also accounting for the unique cultural components of college athletics that may influence the well-being of student athletes.

Abstract: For many coaches, athletes, and sport psychologists, mental toughness is considered to be one of the most essential characteristics athletes must possess in order to be successful in sport. While there is yet to be a consensus on what mental toughness means, the idea that coaches are one of the main influences of mental toughness development in athletes has been supported by many. The purpose of this study was to examine how the coach-athlete relationship can affect mental toughness development in athletes and if coaching behaviors are perceived depending on how athletes view their relationship with their coach. Participants of this longitudinal dual-methods study were 16 female volleyball players from a single NCAA Division II school. Athletes completed a demographic questionnaire, the Mental Toughness Scale (MTS-11), Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q), Coaching Behaviors Scale for Sport (CBS-S), and a total of three different open-ended questions at the pre- and post- season. Pearson r correlation analysis did not find significance between mental toughness and the perceived quality of the coach-athlete relationship; however, there was significance in the relationship between coaching behaviors and the coach-athlete relationship quality. A Paired t-Test analysis also found significant changes in how athletes viewed the quality of the coach- athlete relationships from pre- to post- season. A total of 11 themes were found after a thematic analysis was conducted for the responses to the open-ended questions. This study aimed to explore athletes’ ideal coach-athlete relationship and how this relationship can be achieved to maximize player development and performance.

Student-athletes face a variety of stressors and adversities that become hurdles in both their personal, athletic, and academic lives. This study explores the relationship between resilience, cohesion, and stress amongst community college student-athletes. Community college student-athletes (N=49) completed an online survey using the Group Environment Questionnaire, College Student-Athletes' Life Stress Scale, and Brief Resilience Scale. T-tests were used to compare differences among these variables by gender. Student-athletes reported higher levels of resilience and cohesion, which were related to lower levels of stress. This study illustrates how resilience, belonging, and coach/peer supports help decrease levels of perceived stress within the community college student-athlete population.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship and difference between how NCAA Division I, team sport student-athletes perceive their own leadership behaviors and how their head coaches perceive the same student-athletes' leadership behaviors. In addition, further analysis examined perceptions between student-athletes and head coaches based on the student-athletes' gender and academic year in school. The study included 121 NCAA Division I, team sport student-athletes and their respective head coaches from two institutions in the Midwest. One of the institutions was a medium sized, four-year, co-educational private university and the second was a large sized, four-year, coeducational public university. The first research question examined the demographic profile of the collegiate student-athletes participating in this study. The second research question studied the relationship between how NCAA Division I student-athletes perceived themselves demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and their respective head coaches' perceptions of these behaviors. Using Pearson product-moment correlation, three significant relationships existed between student-athletes and their head coaches for Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, and Enable Others to Act. The third research question undertook paired samples t-tests to investigate the difference between how NCAA Division I student-athletes perceived themselves as demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and how their respective head coaches perceived them demonstrating these behaviors. Paired samples t-tests revealed significant differences between student-athletes and head coaches for each practice, Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. The fourth research question explored the difference between how NCAA Division I female and NCAA Division I male student-athletes perceived themselves as demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and how their respective head coaches perceived them demonstrating these behaviors. The researcher used ANOVAs and paired samples t-tests to analyze the question. ANOVAs revealed statistically significant differences for the practices of Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. Paired samples t-tests revealed statistically significant differences for both genders with all Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership. The final question studied the difference between how NCAA Division I student athletes, by academic year in school, perceived themselves as demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and how their respective head coaches perceived them demonstrating these behaviors. Similar to the fourth question, the researcher used ANOVAs and paired samples t-tests to analyze the data. ANOVAs revealed seven significant differences for four of the practices, Model the Way, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. In addition, paired samples t-tests showed differences in 18 out of a possible 20 cases involving academic year in school and The Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership. In conclusion, scores between student-athletes and coaches for Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, and Enable Others to Act showed a small, positive relationship; therefore, as student-athletes' scores increased so did their head coaches' scores. ANOVAs revealed significant mean differences in scores between female student athletes and their respective head coaches to male student-athletes and their head coaches. For all five practices, paired samples t-tests showed that the difference between mean student-athletes scores and mean head coaches scores were significant and that gender was not a differentiator when comparing scores for the practices. The independent variable with the most influence was academic year in school. Six-of-the-seven significant findings revealed smaller mean differences in scores between the upper-level student-athletes and coaches compared to lower-level student-athletes and coaches. Finally, significant differences existed in 18 of 20 possible cases comparing the mean scores of student-athletes to their head coaches for the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership when examining student-athlete academic year in school.

Author's abstract: Numerous researchers have examined preferred sport leadership behaviors from both the coach and athlete perspectives (Beam, Serwatka, & Wilson, 2004; Chelladurai, & Carron, 1983; Freakley, Czech, Harris, & Burdette, 2012; Turman, 2013; Weinburg, & Gould, 2010). However, there is limited research in student-athlete personality dispositions and how those might influence student-athlete perceptions of preferred leadership behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to examine views of leadership in light of certain personality dispositions. This research examined the potential influence of optimism (Abramson, et al, 2000) on qualitative descriptions of preferred leadership behaviors using the Revised Leadership Scale for Sport (Zhang, & Jensen, 1998) to structure the interview questions. 106 NCAA Division I studentathletes in a southeastern university completed the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), the results of which were split into three groups: low optimists, middle optimists, and high optimists. The low and high groups of student-athletes were considered for the qualitative interview. There were several similarities between the two groups regarding instructive behavior, feedback behavior, relatability, coach traits, and situational actions, but there are also several differences between the two groups in how the student-athletes prefer their coach to approach them. These differences are highlighted best in the category Reactive Behaviors with the high optimistic theme Encourages implying preference for a coach to focus on present emotions in order to attain future success while the low optimistic theme Reassures Athlete of Ability implies the 2 preference for a coach to focus on past successes in order to attain success in the present. The category Coach Orientation (relationship- v results/task-focused) was much more convoluted than expected following past research. All four categories and emergent themes are described in full. The results reveal a deep difference in individual student-athlete perspective according to optimism levels and potential future research in discussed further

The National College Athlete Association (NCAA) reports ever-increasing numbers of students participating in collegiate sports. As the demand for and intensity of collegiate sports continue to grow, there is a need to understand the sport enviornment and assist in the development of environments conducive to the well-being of student-athletes. This study used the vocational and industrial-organizational theory of person-environment fit to concptualize the collegiate sport environment as it shares numerous characteristics with a work environment. This study examined the relationships between the perceived cohesion student-athletes experience with their coaches and teammates and their motivation to perform. The impact of three moderators (athletic identity, sex, and sport type) on the cohesion - motivation relationship was also examined. Using data collected from 219 male and female collegiate student-athletes, hierarchical multiple regressions tested the effects of the perceived coach-athlete relationship and team-athlete relationship on predicting athletes' motivation to perform as well as the moderating effects of athletic identity, sex, and sport type. The athletes' perceived coach-athlete cohesion, team-athlete cohesion, and athletic identity (i.e., the degree to which an individual identifies with the athlete role) predicted the intrinsic and self-determined motivation levels of student-athletes. Athletic identity moderated the relationship between perceived team-athlete cohesion and motivation; sport type moderated the relationship between perceived coach-athlete cohesion and motivation. For student-athletes who reported a low athletic identity, perceived cohesion with their team was more predictive of their motivation levels than it was for those who had higher athletic identity. The degree to which they perceived cohesion with coach was more strongly predictive of self-determined motivation levels for student-athletes of individual sports compared to student-athletes involved in team sports. Clinical implications of the findings and future research are discussed.