Examination of Emotional Intelligence Levels of Coaches Providing Swimming Training to Individuals with Disabilities and Individuals without Disabilities

Abstract

Emotions are one of the important factors guiding our behaviors. People often make decisions by being influenced by their emotions throughout their lives. Therefore, it is important to recognize and learn to control our emotions. There are different groups of individuals with disabilities, and the swimming training of each group with disabilities is different. Swimming, which is one of the Paralympic sports branches, appeals to almost all groups with disabilities. There are very few swimming coaches in Turkey who provide swimming training to individuals with disabilities, and are only interested in groups with disabilities. There are swimming coaches who are accredited to the Swimming Federation of Turkey and who provide swimming training to individuals without disabilities, and their number is higher than the coaches who provide training to swimmers with disabilities. A coach, who is defined as the individual who provides sports skills and tactical development for an athlete to achieve success, is the individual who prepares many sports players for matches and tournaments to be held. The coach is responsible for raising the players to the required level by considering the variables such as process, place, equipment, technique, and tactics. In our study, it is aimed to examine the emotional intelligence levels of the coaches working with individuals with disabilities and individuals without disabilities in the swimming branch. The research is a descriptive study and the data were collected by the questionnaire method. The research data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 software. Independent samples t-test was used to compare the total score of the scale according to the status of coaching an individual with disability whereas MANOVA analysis was used to compare the status of coaching an individual with a disability * according to demographic variables.