Dyadic relationships in sports can involve individuals
in a variety of roles: coach-athlete, athlete-athlete
(guide and visually impaired skier), dancer-dancer (competitive
ballroom dancing), fitness leader-exerciser,
agent-actor (film industry), parent-child/musician, and
the like. These relationships can take on several forms,
depending on the social context (e.g., professional, familial,
mentoring, romantic), gender (e.g., same-sex), and
can be productive (mutual growth and enhanced performance),
debilitative (e.g., negative experiences leading
to dropping out from sport), or, at times, even exploitative
(e.g., verbal or sexual abuse). For example,
Wickwire, Bloom, and Loughead (2004) found in optimal
athlete-athlete relationships a clear structure and
composition (e.g., balance and partnership), a distinct
dyadic interaction process (e.g., aiming at effective and
efficient communication and partnership), and an evident
impact of a specific sport (i.e., beach volleyball) on the
kind of challenges faced in the relationship.
Thus far, most empirical research and practical applications
focused on the coach-athlete relationship.
Jowett and Clark-Carter (2006) defined coach-athlete
dyad through 311C’s: closeness, commitment, complementarity,
and coorientation. Closeness (affective
aspect) involves emotional state of a relationship as
reflected in liking and having trust and respect toward
the other person. Commitment (cognitive aspect)
describes mutual forgo and appreciation of the other in
efforts in pursuing shared goals. Complementarity
(behavioral aspect) invites reciprocity and promotes
having a sense of teamwork and cooperation. Finally,
coorientation combines these three affective, cognitive,
and behavioral elements in descriptions by both the
coach and the athlete of a cooriented view of their
tasks, roles, and goals. Healthy relationships are anecdotally
and qualitatively linked to improved performance
and better quality of the experience in both
practice and competition. Productive coach-athlete
dyads thrive on conflict management, openness, motivation,
positivity, advice, support, and social networks
(the COMPASS model (Rhind & Jowett, 2010)). Any
of these strategies can be initiated by either the coach
or athlete in effort to develop and maintain quality
dyadic partnership (relationship).
