Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Sprenger, Audrey

Area of Concentration

Social Sciences

Abstract

This study examines how interactions between coach and athlete shape athletic performance, through an ethnographic study involving three members of the New College of Florida beach volleyball team and their respective coaches. As a member of the team, I had direct access to daily practices, conversations, and competitive moments, which allowed me to observe how the athletes react to different coaching styles in real time. This access also enabled me to connect my own experience as an athlete to the data I collected throughout this research. The team's context is central to this research. At the time of this study, the program was embarking on its second official season and harbored high expectations for success, the team's primary focus centered on high-level competition, fostering a high-performance environment in which coaching behaviors exerted immediate effects on the athletes' decision-making. Coming from a distinct cultural background, I also became acutely aware of the differences, and the significance, regarding team culture, communication styles, and the standards sought in sports teams within the United States, particularly when compared to how I had previously been coached in my home country, Brazil. These experiences shaped both the way I interpreted these interactions and how I understood their impact on performance.

Through observations and interviews, I documented how athletes responded to both supportive and more demanding training approaches. By linking these everyday interactions to existing research in the sociology of sport, I demonstrate that athletic performance is not merely physical, but is also shaped by relationships, emotions, and the environment created by coaches. These findings underscore the importance of the coach-athlete relationship, both for individual development and for competitive success. Furthermore, a key aspect of this study is that it illustrates a perspective still largely unexplored in ethnographic research: the presence of the researcher as an active member of the group under study. My experience, knowledge, and integration within the team facilitated a deeper understanding of the participants, thereby contributing to a more precise and detailed ethnographic analysis.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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