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Strategies for Building Self-Efficacy in Tennis Players: A Comparative Analysis of Australian and American Coaches
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1992
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Self-efficacy Building StrategiesEducationAmerican CoachesExercise PsychologyPsychologySelf-efficacy TheoryCoachingSkilled PerformanceComparative AnalysisSport ScienceHealth SciencesBehavioral SciencesSport Injury PreventionSocial SkillsMotivationConfidence BuildingTennis PlayersPhysical TherapyAthletic TrainingPerformance StudiesAttention ControlHigh-performance SportAustralian Tennis CoachesSport PsychologySelf-efficacy
The study situates its analysis within Bandura’s self‑efficacy theory and the efficacy‑building strategies identified by Weinberg and Jackson (1990). The authors aim to compare the frequency and perceived effectiveness of 13 self‑efficacy‑building strategies used by Australian versus American tennis coaches, and to suggest future research directions. Sixty Australian club‑ and state‑level tennis coaches were surveyed, with parallel data collected from American coaches for comparative analysis. Australian coaches employed all 13 strategies at moderate levels and rated them as at least moderately effective, with the most used and effective strategies being positive self‑talk, modeling confidence, instruction drills, rewarding statements, and verbal persuasion; differences with American coaches were minimal, though Americans favored conditioning drills, modeling other players, reframing anxiety, and attributing failure to effort.
The purpose of the present investigation was to compare Australian tennis coaches’ frequency of use, and perceived effectiveness, of 13 self-efficacy building strategies to those of American tennis coaches. Subjects were 60 Australian tennis coaches coaching at the club or state level. Results indicated that Australian coaches used all 13 strategies designed to enhance selfefficacy to a moderate degree and found these techniques to be at least moderately effective. The most often-used strategies to enhance self-efficacy, as well as those strategies found most effective, included encouraging positive self-talk, modeling confidence oneself, using instruction drills, using rewarding statements liberally, and using verbal persuasion. When comparing the results of the Australian and American coaches, few differences were found. However, the American coaches used more of the following self-efficacy strategies: conditioning drills, the modeling of other successful players, the emphasis that feelings of anxiety are not fear but are a sign of readiness, and the emphasis that failure results from lack of effort or experience and not from a lack of innate ability. Results are discussed in terms of Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Weinberg and Jackson’s (1990) efficacy-building strategies used by American tennis coaches. Future directions for research are offered.