Aims: This study examined the relationship between young athletes’ perceptions of their coaches’ achievement goal orientations—specifically task-involving and ego-involving motivational climates—and coaches’ fair play behaviors.
Methods: A total of 318 Iranian adolescent athletes (M_age = 16.60 ± 4.10 years; both male and female) from team sports (basketball and volleyball), each with at least six months of continuous training under their current coach, voluntarily participated in the study. Participants completed two subscales of the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 (PMCSQ-2)—assessing task-involving and ego-involving climates—and the Coaching Fair Play Behaviors Inventory (CFBI), which measures six dimensions of fair play behaviors: teaching, modeling, expectations/pressure, reinforcement/reward, communication, and punishment.
Results: A significant negative relationship emerged between perceived task-involving and ego-involving motivational climates. The task-involving climate was positively associated with all six CFBI dimensions (teaching, modeling, expectations/pressure, reinforcement/reward, communication, and punishment). In contrast, the ego-involving climate demonstrated negative associations with three CFBI dimensions: teaching, modeling, and expectations/pressure.
Conclusion: Coaches who actively engage in fair play behaviors—particularly through teaching, modeling, and setting clear expectations—tend to foster a task-involving motivational climate that supports athletes’ ethical development and sportsmanship. Conversely, the absence of such behaviors is linked to an ego-involving climate. These findings highlight the importance of implementing task-involving coaching strategies to integrate moral development with athletic performance, thereby fostering a positive and ethical team environment.
