Coaching Behaviors in Goalball: Perceptions of Athletes With Visual Impairments

Goalball is a Paralympic team sport designed specifically for people with visual impairments. This study aimed to investigate goalball athletes’ perceptions of the coaching behaviors of their coaches. A total of 35 goalball athletes (12 female, 23 male) participated in the study, completing the Coaching Behavior Scale for Sport comprised of 47-items across seven constructs: physical training and conditioning, technical skills, mental preparation, goal setting, competition strategies, personal rapport, and negative personal rapport. Descriptive statistics for each subscale were calculated across different demographic groups. Negative personal rapport had the highest mean among all constructs (M = 6.30, SD = .59) and goal setting being the lowest ( M = 4.32, SD = 1.64). A Mann–Whitney U test compared mean differences between age, gender, training frequency, and prior coaching experience. No statistically significant differences were found between groups. The findings showed positive perceptions toward coaches’ behaviors, with frequent engagement identified in areas of personal rapport, competition strategies, and technical skills. However, athletes perceived physical training and goal setting as areas of less involvement from their coaches. This suggests a disconnection in coaches’ engagement with athletes’ objective-setting processes and physical preparation. Future research directions and limitations were also discussed.