Understanding the characteristics and consequences of the Toxic Sports Staff Member (TSSM) through the stories of male soccer players
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Abstract
The current study examined the characteristics and consequences of the toxic sports staff member (TSSM) through the stories of elite-level male soccer players. The stories of seven participants were collected through a conversational interview that followed an art-based activity (i.e., mandala drawings) and were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis. Six themes related to the characteristics of the TSSM were introduced, they were: passionate, insecure, controlling, rigid to own viewpoints, poor communicator, and selfish. Further, six consequences of the TSSM were introduced, they were: increased negative and decreased positive affective states, lack of player development, creation of a destructive environment, increased team unity, decreased performance, and loss of players. Understanding the characteristics and consequences of the TSSM provides a starting point for understanding negative staff roles within sports. Further, sporting organizations may use the results as a way of identifying and controlling for negative roles within their team.