Motivational Climate Collaboration between a Collegiate Native American Volleyball Program and a Sport Psychology Researcher

Abstract

Employing an action-based research approach, a motivational climate program based on a pre-assessment, Achievement Goal Perspective Theory (AGPT; Nicholls, 1989), and a caring framework (Newton et al., 2007) was planned, implemented, monitored, and assessed across a collegiate volleyball season. This research project was divided into two interrelated studies. Study one provides the findings from a qualitative assessment of the volleyball program’s motivational climate that occurred at the end of the volleyball team’s spring season. Assessment findings revealed that the athletes preferred a motivational climate that was caring and task-involving. In turn, a motivational climate program to promote caring relationships and task-involvement was planned during the team’s summer break and implemented during the team’s fall season. Study two explores the participants’ experiences of the motivational climate program at three time points during the fall season, which included data collection at the end of the preseason, midseason, and post-season. Findings from study two indicated that our collective efforts to foster a caring and task-involving climate were effective, but challenged due to a range of external factors.