The relationship between the leadership style of coaches and the Sporting identity of elite women Handball players of Iran

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between the leadership style of coaches and the sporting identity of elite women Handball players of Iran. Statistical population of this study included 176 players, coaches, and managers who were participated at the premier women Handball league of Iran. 16 coaches and managers were purposefullyselected as research samples. Also based on Morgan table 113 players were cluster-randomly selected as research samples.To achieve the research objectives, the Brewer Athletic Identity questionnaire and Bass & Olive leadership style questionnaire were used. Validity of two questionnaires was confirmed by 15 experts and their reliability were studied in a pilot study with 30 subjects and calculated as 0.83, and 0.87 respectively.For data analysis the descriptive statistics and inferential statistics methods, including Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Single sample T-student, liner regression, and multiple regression were used. The results show that the sporting identity of the elite players in women's handball is desirable. The leadership style of coaches at the premier women Handball league of Iran is Transformational. There is a significant relationship between leadership style and sporting identities.