Frequency and performance relevance of parent-coaches in competition-oriented sports

Abstract

The occurrence of children being coached by their parents in the world of sport is a well-known phenomenon, but one that remains insufficiently researched. It is rather unclear how common this is and there are very different assessments of whether it is more of an advantage or a disadvantage to be trained by one’s own parents. In the first study, we assess the frequency of occurrence of parent-coaches as well as the duration of these collaborations and their developmental location in the lives of the offspring. Results from a cross-sport survey and a soccer-specific survey indicate that a notable proportion of performance-oriented male and female senior athletes (19 and 34%, respectively) have been coached by their own parents at some point (χ ² [1, N = 291] = 7.770, p = 0.005, V = 0.163). In the second study, we address the question of the relevance of parent-coaches to athletic achievement. In this regard, the hypothesis that the proportion of male soccer players who were coached by their parents is larger in higher-ranking amateur leagues (38%) than in lower-ranking leagues (28 and 14%) was empirically confirmed (χ ² [2, N = 331] = 11.950, p = 0.003, V = 0.190). Thus, it can be assumed that about one fifth of all performance-oriented senior athletes had been coached by their own parents for some time. Moreover, the fact of having been trained by one’s own parents can in principle be regarded as a conducive condition for the athletic development of adolescents.