Performance Appraisal Criteria of Coaches According to the Age Group of the Athletes and the Level of Sports Competition

The purpose of our study was to analyse how\r\ncoach performance appraisal frequency and criteria vary according to the age\r\ngroup of the athletes and the level of sports competition. To that end we\r\nsurveyed a sample of 223 coaches of voluntary sports clubs in Madeira,\r\nPortugal, using an individual and anonymous questionnaire. Although in general\r\ncoach performance appraisal was not treated as a systematic and structured\r\nprocess by the sports clubs, we did find significant differences between\r\ncoaches of young athletes and coaches of adults, and between coaches at the\r\nregional level and coaches at the national/international level, with respect to\r\nthe importance of sports re-sults as a coach evaluation criterion. The study\r\nsuggests applying structured practices in coach performance appraisal and a\r\ndifferent approach to as-sessment according to the age group and specific\r\ncontext of the competition.