GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE PERCEPTIONS OF SPORT COACHING STANDARDS AMONG MALAYSIAN SPORT COACHES

This study examined the perception of Malaysian sport coaches on the sport coaching standards (SCS). A total of 384 coaches (age = 28.84+4.02 years; male = 67.7%, female = 32.3%) responded to the survey via an online google document. Almost 59% of the respondents were club level coaches with 42% having 1-3 years coaching experience. Majority (56.2%) of the coaches was involved in soccer, frisbee, dodgeball, and futsal. The adopted research instrument consisted of 40 coaching standards and were categorized into eight domains. The items were measured through an 11-point (0-10) Likert scale. The results suggested that Malaysian coaches perceived the 40 standards (minimum = 6.94 and maximum = 9.00) as knowledge and abilities that effective coaches must possess. As for the domains, Malaysian coaches ranked the top three domains to be ‘Growth and Development’, ‘Teaching and Communication’, and ‘Skills and Tactics’ respectively. Similar ranking of the domain was also reported according to gender. Even though coaching education in terms of sport specific and sport science programs is in place in Malaysia, it is imperative for Malaysian Sport Coaching Academy and National Sport Associations to incorporate some coaching standards in their relevant coaching education curriculum.