A qualitative study of rugby coaches' opinions about the display of moral character

The purpose of this study was to attain a deeper understanding of youth coaches' attitudes toward the display of moral character (e.g., the values they try to teach their players, the concrete means they use to teach game rules, and prosocial norms) and to examine how they make rule abidance compatible with intensive efforts to achieve success. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 16 coaches of adolescent rugby teams. The interviews dealt with how values are taught to players and how rule following is enforced during practice and competition. A lexical analysis (Alceste software) and a thematic analysis were performed on the interview answers. The findings illustrate the complexity of the coaching role-coaches must impart a certain number of rules and ways of acting to their athletes while simultaneously inciting them to a high performance level that can lead players to go overboard in competitive situations.