Browsing by Subject "Grounded theory"

Objectives. My bachelor thesis (Hietala 2015) indicated that a coach has a major influence to the development of athlete's self-esteem. Previous studies show that the interaction skills of a coach are linked to the level of activity of youth sports and it enables the support of the children's self-esteem (Forsberg & Matilainen 2011; Hintikka 2011; Räsänen 2015 & Tiirikainen 2012). The purpose of this master's thesis is to describe the different methods gymnastic coaches apply to support the gymnast's self-esteem. This research discovers how the coach should act in order to support gymnastics self-esteem and how the gymnastic coaches are educated to face the challenges of supporting the self-esteem. Methods. The research is a qualitative study with Grounded theory methodology. The research material was collected by interviewing four aesthetic group gymnastic coaches and it was analyzed by coding the material to categories. As a result, I compared the merged categories to the theory and studied the relationships between the findings. The gathering of the material and familiarizing of the theory was an on-going simultaneous process throughout the research, until the saturation point of the material was achieved and material was processed. The research results are presented side by side with the theory. The coaches were over 25-years old and had experience of coaching from 6 to 25 years. Results and conclusions. The results of the research indicated that the support of gymnastics self-esteem divides into three main categories; dealing with disappointments, setting goals and giving feedback. The interaction skills and educational background of the coach, affects to these categories. Coaches strongly felt that the education arranged by the Finnish gymnastics Federation (Suomen Voimisteluliitto) doesn't offer the necessary practical information regarding the support of self-esteem. Discussion of disappointments is important supportive factor to the building of self-esteem and it should be higher prioritized in the planning of coaches' time management. Finnish gymnastics Federation should provide education for aesthetic group gymnastic coaches, concerning the development of interaction skills and children psychological growth. As a result of the research was developed a cyclic model to support the self-esteem of gymnasts. This theoretical model can also be applied to other similar educational relationships.