Changes in Coaches’ Psychological Knowledge and Its Impact on Young Swimmers’ Psychological Functioning

Sport coaches play a major role in the education and preparation of swimmers. Therefore, providing them with sport psychology-related knowledge may improve the mental skills of their athletes. This finding is supported by studies where single skill mental training classes for coaches resulted in better skills of athletes. However, long-term effectiveness of coach mental-skills education has not been systematically examined. This research covered 111 youth swimmers and their 16 coaches. Eight coaches from the experimental group participated in four mental skills workshops dedicated to increasing their swimmers’ motivation, concentration, coping with stress and self-confidence. All athletes participated in four measurements, verifying their mental skills. The results revealed a significant increase in coaches’ psychological knowledge, and increase in athletes’ concentration, coping with stress and sport results, and no significant changes in the control group. We conclude that it is beneficial to complement interventions for athletes with coach education. Providing psychological knowledge to both groups can result in positive changes leading to improved sport results.