Coaching style and mental toughness among UiTM’s footballplayers

Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education 5(1): 22-34, 2016 - This study aims to provide information to the team manager, especially at the university level to understand the relationship between coaching style and mental toughness among athletes. The sample had been selected from four Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) football team consisting of 88 players (n = 88: 22 players per team). The study used two instruments that had been modified namely "Leadership Scale for Sports Questionnaire" (LSS-40), (Chelladurai & Salleh, 1980) and "The Mental Toughness Questionnaire" (MTQ-48), (Clough, Earle & Sewell, 2002). Research findings had identified UiTM’s football team scores has a moderately high level of mental toughness for each dimension known as challenge, commitments, control assurance and confidence. The study also found that the leadership style of training and instruction was favored by UiTM’s footballer compared to the autocratic leadership style. Overall, the study found a significant relationship between the leadership style with mental toughness especially for dimension training and instruction. The findings also showed that there is a moderately relationship between leadership style of democratic, social support and positive response to the mental toughness dimension of confidence. As for the coaching style of training and instruction also has a moderately relationship to the mental toughness dimensions of challenge. Results of this study showed that the leadership style affects the level of mental toughness UiTM’s football teams. Furthermore, the coaches need to figure out the best coaching style in order to improve mental toughness among football team.