ABSTRACT
The coaching-related research has adopted different paradigms to examine coaching, including observational analysis, qualitative approaches where either coaches or athletes are interviewed, and empirical approaches that focus on athlete reports of coach behaviours. A relatively recent development in the sport coaching research has been the inclusion of transformational leadership theory. Transformational leadership has been described as a constellation of leader behaviours and attributes that affect followers' trust and loyalty towards the leader. While transformational leadership research is still relatively new to sport, there is a growing body of research in sport that demonstrates that transformational leader behaviours are influential in predicting important athlete outcomes. Within the context of the application of knowledge and theory to real life situations, the application of transformational leadership theory to an applied context, the Vision, Support and Challenge Model (VSC) was developed. A key distinction that the VSC model makes is that it differentiates what the coach does and the direct consequences of coach behaviours.
