AUTONOMY SUPPORT, ENGAGEMENT AND PERCEIVED EFFORT EXERTION IN WRESTLERS

Abstract

Samuel Pedro e Paulo Martins

TCoach-Athlete relationship is an essential aspect for athlete’s performance and sports experience. This is an even more important relationship in an individual sport as wrestling. Coaches’ autonomy support is determinant to athlete’s dedication and effort. Also, athlete’s engagement is a main reason for their sports continuity. This study aims to understand the relationship between coaches’ autonomy support and athletes’ engagement and also their relationship with the perceived effort exertion in wrestling. 20 wrestlers participated in this study [(nmale = 18; nfemale = 2), (Mage = 17.8; S = 1.96), (Mtime of practice = 5.3; SD = 4.34) from the age groups of Juniors (8) and Seniores = 12). To compare the mean of dichotomy variables we used the Mann-Whitney U, to calculate the association between variables we used the Spearman Correlation Coefficient. Results show that autonomy support is positively associated to athlete’s engagement (rAsup x Eng = .74; p = .01), and engagement is related to perceived effort exertion (rEngx Perc.Eff =.56; p = .05), specifically to vigor dimension. Results are discussed in in two aspects: athletes’ performance and coaches’ intervention.