Exploring Gendered Perceptions of Interscholastic Coaching Quality: Evidence from Illinois’ High School Student-Athletes

Empirical research has demonstrated that high school student-athletes of different gender identities experience coaching differently, and, thus, have different perspectives toward the overall effectiveness of their coaches. However, no studies of large datasets have explored how high school student-athletes within different gendered sports perceive coaching quality and what coaching characteristics contribute most to student-athlete perceptions of overall coaching quality. As a result, this study leverages state-level survey data (Illinois) across a sample of 4,563 high school student-athletes to explore how these student-athletes from different gendered sports perceive coaching quality. Results suggest gendered sports significantly predict coaching satisfaction, with co-ed student-athletes expressing the highest degree of coaching satisfaction ( p < 0.000). Coaching characteristics including whether a coach makes a sport fun and a coach’s ability to teach proper technique were strongly associated with student-athlete perception of coaching across all gendered sports. However, certain coaching characteristics were only significant among specific gendered sports, suggesting that playing a gendered sport may influence a student-athlete’s perception of their coach. We close with implications for research, policy, and the administration and coaching of interscholastic athletics.