Performance Trajectories for Competitive Swimmers: The Role of Coach Interpersonal Behaviors and Athlete Motivation

This study investigated the longitudinal trajectories of athletes' competitive performance results, as well as the motivational predictors of the emerging trajectories. In 2010, a group of 413 competitive swimmers were asked to provide background characteristics (age, gender, years of experience) and complete self-determination theory-based measures of their coaches' interpersonal behaviors and sport motivation. The athletes' performances were then followed for seven swimming seasons (2011-2017) and their top score from each season was used to track their trajectories over time. The data were analyzed using latent class growth analysis to determine the best-fitting model of performance trajectories, while controlling for athletes' background characteristics. Athletes' perceptions of coaches' behaviors and their motivation were explored as predictors using a multinomial logistic regression. The analyses revealed 5 latent classes: Early Dropout (23%) Delayed Dropout (40%), Stable (9%), Improvement (18%), and High-Performance (11%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that, in 2010, members of the Improvement and High-Performance classes reported higher perceived autonomy support (ORs >1.58, CI95s > 1.00) and relatedness support (ORs > 1.58, CI95s > 1.00) than the Early Dropout and Delayed Dropout groups. The Stable, Improvement, and High-Performance groups reported less non-self-determined motivation in 2010 than the Early Dropout and Delayed Dropout Groups (ORs < .43, CI95s < 1.00). These results support that perceptions of coaches' interpersonal behaviors and athletes' motivation predict performance trajectories among swimmers over time.