Author(s): SHIMIZU, Y., TAKINOSE, A., GOTO, T., YAMAUCHI, H., KOBAYASHI, M., Institution: INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, Country: JAPAN, Abstract-ID: 1456

＜Introduction＞
Environmental issues related to sports (facility construction, waste, and climate change-related risks) are becoming increasingly serious, and environmental awareness among sports coaches is crucial to addressing them. The Japan Sport Association (2020) reported that while sports coaches are aware of the threats posed by global warming and increasing waste, they face many challenges in implementing concrete environmental conservation activities. Environmentally conscious coaches tend to incorporate energy conservation, waste reduction, and nature conservation into their coaching and promote ecologically conscious behaviors among their athletes. However, coaches who lack opportunities to receive environmental education are less likely to fully incorporate environmental practices into their coaching. To better understand this phenomenon, this study structurally analyzed the relationship between the Coaches’ Environmental Crisis Awareness Scale (CECAS), Sports Environmental Conservation Awareness Scale (SECAS), and Safety Instruction Scale (SIS), and examined the need for education to raise environmental awareness among coaches.
＜Methods＞
The study participants were 517 Japanese sports coaches (351 males and 166 females, mean age: 46.59 years, SD: 13.66) from schools and sports institutions. Participants voluntarily responded to a questionnaire comprising items from the CECAS, SECAS, and SIS. All three scales were originally developed for this study and were confirmed to show acceptable reliability and meaningful content validity. A covariance structure analysis was conducted to confirm the acceptability of the hypothetical model and the relationships between the three scales.

The results showed that our hypothetical model with CECAS as the determinant independent variable, SIS as the dependent variable, and SECAS as the mediator yielded acceptable fit indices (GFI: 0.999, AGFI: 0.993, CFI:1.000, and RMSEA: 0.000). Direct effects were observed from CECAS to SECAS and SIS (β: 0.74, p＜0.001, β：0.23, p<0.001, respectively) and from SECAS to SIS (β：0.72, p<0.001). The indirect effects of CECAS to SIS via SECAS were also statistically significant (β: 0.53, p<0.001).
＜Discussion＞
The hypothetical model predicted that the coaches’ environmental crisis awareness would directly affect their awareness of environmental conservation in sports and their safety instructions. The study’s findings indicated that the indirect effect of environmental crisis awareness through environmental conservation awareness (β: 0.53) is greater than the direct effect on safety instruction (β: 0.23). In the face of concerns about the deteriorating sports environment, it is important for coaches to internalize a sense of crisis in order to provide safe sports instruction, but a training system that educates coaches about environmental conservation awareness in the sports environment is also expected to be effective.