ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role and significance of the coach-athlete relationship within the context of coaching while exploring ways to develop good quality, effective, and successful coach-athlete relationships. A coach as an authority figure who has the capacity in terms of the knowledge and experience, as well as skills and competence to influence, instruct, and guide the athlete/s is somewhat lost within the athlete-centred approach. The relationship between coaches and athletes has long been acknowledged as an important factor to coaching by psychologists, pedagogists, and sociologists. The construct of closeness captures coaches’ and athletes’ interpersonal feelings or the affective tone of the relationship. The construct of commitment captures coaches’ and athletes’ interpersonal thoughts, motivations, and willingness to maintain close ties over time. The construct of complementarity is synonymous to co-operation and captures coaches’ and athletes’ co-operative acts of interaction.
