Comparing the Effectiveness of Two Athletic-centered and Coach-centered practices Methods on Gymnastics Girls' creativity and Sport Motivation

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two methods of athlete-centered and coach- centered practice on creativity and motivation in gymnast girls.

Two-group quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test was used. The statistical population consisted of 10 to 14-year-old gymnast girls in Tehran and the sample consisted of 40 subjects (20 athlete-centered group and 20 coach-centered group) who were randomly assigned to the groups. The creativity test (Abedi, 1993) and sport motivation questionnaire (Gill, 1983) were used to measure the variables. After pre-test, the groups performed athlete-coaching and coaching protocols for two and a half hour sessions individually for two months and two days a week. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and SPSS software.

The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the posttest stage in the mean of creativity and sport motivation variables and in the athletic practice group there was a greater increase in creativity and motivation compared to the coached group.

Due to the greater effectiveness of athlete-centered exercises in gymnastics, it is suggested to pay more attention to increase athletic creativity and motivation in gymnast girls.