Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education 5(1): 22-34, 2016 - This study aims to
provide information to the team manager, especially at the university level to understand the
relationship between coaching style and mental toughness among athletes. The sample had
been selected from four Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) football team consisting of 88
players (n = 88: 22 players per team). The study used two instruments that had been modified
namely "Leadership Scale for Sports Questionnaire" (LSS-40), (Chelladurai & Salleh, 1980)
and "The Mental Toughness Questionnaire" (MTQ-48), (Clough, Earle & Sewell, 2002).
Research findings had identified UiTM’s football team scores has a moderately high level of
mental toughness for each dimension known as challenge, commitments, control assurance
and confidence. The study also found that the leadership style of training and instruction was
favored by UiTM’s footballer compared to the autocratic leadership style. Overall, the study
found a significant relationship between the leadership style with mental toughness especially
for dimension training and instruction. The findings also showed that there is a moderately
relationship between leadership style of democratic, social support and positive response to
the mental toughness dimension of confidence. As for the coaching style of training and
instruction also has a moderately relationship to the mental toughness dimensions of
challenge. Results of this study showed that the leadership style affects the level of mental
toughness UiTM’s football teams. Furthermore, the coaches need to figure out the best
coaching style in order to improve mental toughness among football team.
Motivation is an internal force or desire that drives an individual to meet personal and organizational goals. Motivation consists of two categories, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Generally, motivation is an important psychological factor that is often associated with athletes’ sports involvement. The purpose of this study was to identify the different types of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) from a gender perspective. The study sample consisted of 63 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) athletes (n = 63; male = 30, female = 33) who participated in the MASUM Sports Carnival. The instrument used to measure athlete’s motivation is the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS-28) questionnaire, which includes intrinsic motivation subscales (to know, to accomplish, to experience stimulation), extrinsic (external regulation, introjected regulation, identify regulation) and amotivation (demotivation). The results showed that UKM athletes were more intrinsically motivated (M = 4.43 ± 0.38) than extrinsically motivated (M = 4.19 ± 0.44). However, there were no significant differences in the dimensions of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation between gender (p> .05). Overall, this study shows that intrinsic motivation is the key factor of UKM athletes sports involvement