The Effect of Trainers’ Pedagogical Competencies on Emotion Regulation: A Study on Young Judo Athletes

It’s known that our relationship with others affect the way we view ourselves. The effects of trainer characteristics on athletes in the sports environment is a very important and common research topic. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between the pedagogical competence perceived by the athletes from their trainers and the emotion regulation strategies they use. A total of 107 young judo athletes, 64 male and 43 female with a mean age of 15.85±1.32, participated in the study. Trainers’ Pedagogical Competencies Scale was used to measure the pedagogical competence perceived by the athletes from their trainers, and the Emotion Regulation Scale for Athletes was used to determine which emotion regulation strategies they used. Pearson correlation test was used to determine the relationship between trainer pedagogical competence and emotion regulation, and multiple linear regression analysis (enter method) was used to determine whether trainer pedagogical competence was a significant predictor of emotion regulation strategies. Moderately positive and significant relationships were found between empathy-attention and target-oriented training, which are sub-dimensions of the instructor pedagogical competence scale and cognitive reappraisal and suppression, which is one of the emotion regulation strategies. In addition, empathy and attention were found to significantly predict cognitive reappraisal. Again, it was determined that the variables of prevention of support and solidarity and education for the purpose significantly predicted the suppression strategy. As a result, it can be said that some parameters of the pedagogical competence of the trainer are effective on the emotion regulation strategies preferred by the athletes.