Supporting coaches and athletes

A new app, developed by sports psychologists at Loughborough University to track the athlete–coach partnership, has been launched. Tandem uses short assessments from both athletes and coaches to assess the relationship between the two.

Tandem's lead developer Sophia Jowett outlined several examples of where the coach–athlete relationship has been significant in performance: 'For example, Andy Murray and Amelie Mauresmo, Toni Minichiello and Jessica Ennis-Hill, and Alex Ferguson and Cristiano Ronaldo.

My aim has always been to make a considerable contribution where it matters, namely, in the sport field where the relationship unfolds. My wish is that as many coaches and athletes as possible "stop" and "notice" the power of the quality of coach–athlete relationships.'

Dr Jowett's work has focused on addressing how both a coach and an athlete's interpersonal feelings, thoughts and behaviours are mutually and causally interconnected, through the constructs of Closeness (represents the affective bond), Commitment (reflects thoughts of maintaining a close relationship over time), Complementarity (outlines cooperative acts of interactions) and Co-orientation (presents perceptual consensus or being on the same wavelength with one another). 'Our early research was mainly qualitative and descriptive as the emphasis was to capture coaches and athletes' reality of what the coach–athlete relationship. With the development of the Coach–Athlete Relationship Questionnaires (CART-Qs), our attention turned to exploring the correlates of the quality of the coach–athlete relationship. We have published over 80 peer-reviewed articles and these have provided a solid basis for the development of Tandem.'

To download the app visit the website: www.tandemperformance.com.

A single assessment/report for a coach or an athlete costs £25 and Combined assessments/reports for a coach–athlete pair cost £50. Dr Jowett has offered 25 per cent discount to British Psychological Society members using the code: BPSYCS25. To claim it go to www.tandemperformance.com/shop/choose-report (discount offer is valid until 30 April 2015). er