ationship between Perception of Coach’s Leadership Style and Mental Toughness of Contact Athletes

The purpose of this research was to study the relationship between coach’s leadership style and mental toughness of contact athletes. The sample consisted of 357 athletes who were randomly selected. All participants were asked to complete the Salzmann (1982) Leadership Style Questionnaire and Mental Toughness Questionnaire of Clough et al. (2002). Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression were used to analyze the data. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between coach’s leadership style and mental toughness of contact athletes. Also from the perspective of athletes, coach’s leadership styles, respectively supportive, combined and directive. The results of multivariate regression showed that we can predict athletes' mental toughness according to the coach’s leadership style. The findings of this study indicated that the coach leadership style as environmental variable and the relationship between coaches and athletes are important factors in the development of athletes' mental toughness.