Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 21 Issue 12

character provides opportunities for athletes to relate and socialize, in addition to stimulating cooperation among teammates (Rottenesteiner, 2013) and involvement with the studies. However, approximately one-third of all athletes who drop out of youth sports are influenced by the coach (Armentrout & Kamphoff, 2011). Perhaps, this is due to the negative aspects coming from this character, including issues such as excessive control, negative feedback, in addition to the extensive scheduling of the season, which is why young athletes often end their participation (Weinberg & Gould, 2010). Some coaches believe that the best way to produce athletes is to make them play just one sport practically all year, but this dedication often includes social isolation, overdependence, burnout, increased risk of injury and sport abandonment, and especially, of studies. However, this investigation found evidence that coaches have had a greater positive influence on the sport, which means that they are being effective in their role of encouraging and helping athletes in their sports training (Lumpkin & Favor, 2015). Such information partially supports the fourth hypothesis of this study since a greater positive influence on the study was also found. As they become involved with the sport, young people tend to have greater interaction and involvement with their teammates. What makes this social agent a relevant source of influence, since athletes who perceive encouragement and receive feedback from teammates, to help them develop and promote feelings of belonging, become more likely to prolong their sports involvement (Vazou, Ntoumanis, & Duda, 2006). However, corroborating the ideas of Vallerand (1997) and confirming the fourth hypothesis of this study, about the influence of teammates, high levels of a positive influence of these agents in specific situations in sport were evidenced. In turn, there were lower levels of positive influences and higher levels of indifferent (neutral) perception in the study, perhaps because they are not part of the same school context, which is leading young people to have this perception. The second objective of this study was to correlate the influences of personal engagement and the influence of family members, coaches, and teammates in the sport and in the study. Evidence confirmed the existence of moderately significant correlations between sport and study and a strong significant correlation between the sport and study dimensions themselves. These findings corroborate the studies that have shown a positive relationship between sport and study (Soares et al., 2015; Bailey, Armour, Kirk, Jess, Pickup, & Sandford, 2009; Alahmed et al., 2016) and the academic success of young athletes (Lindner, 1999; Donnelly, Gibson, Sullivan, Hansen, Hillman, Mayo, Smith, Lambourne, Herrman, Scudder, Betts, Honas, & Washburn, 2013). In this sense, perhaps the difficulties encountered by young people in reconciling both contexts are reflecting the absence of a strong relationship between them, since young people are forced to associate two roles that are compatible with a cost: that of athlete and that of the student. Training and competition commitments seriously impinge on the role of the student, hindering academic engagement and performance, as well as the educational qualifications that are sought after (Borggrefe & Cachay, 2012). However, despite the difficulties experienced, it is clear from the view of student-athletes that the positive aspects arising from sports participation in parallel with studies are greater and more beneficial than the adversities experienced, leading them to develop skills and competencies that enable them to overcome obstacles and maintaining a dual career for as long as it takes. The healthy and positive relationship between the three main influencing social agents (Keegan et al., 2009) can lead young people to feel supported and perceive levels of influence that facilitate and strengthen their dual career. Nevertheless, the observation of the influence of social agents is still recent, as research that addresses multiple social influences is relatively less common than research that emphasizes a social agent (Ullrich-French & Smith, 2006). However, existing investigations in the literature reinforce that athletes' social perceptions are contextually relevant and have a unique potential to impact their development. In this way, social support can minimize the symptoms of stress and burnout over time (Defrese & Smith, 2014). Social support in this context can be understood as the help provided and perceived by individuals who make up the social network (Martinez- Hernaez, Canceller-Maicas, DiGiacomo, & Ariste, 2016) of the student-athlete. From this perspective, it is reflected that, in addition to the engagement and support of social agents, sports participation and academic life can be possible by changing the attitude of young people, that is, a student who wants to practice and get involved with the competitive sport should strive more to obtain better academic performance, aiming to reconcile and provide its participation in both contexts (Alahmed et al., 2016). Despite exploring the level of personal engagement and social agents in sports and study and correlating the influences of personal engagement and the influence of family members, coaches, and teammates in sport and in the study, a theme little explored in both Brazilian and international literature, the present investigation presented as main limitations the fact that it did not analyze the perception of all members of the student-athletes social network and the types of support provided by each social agent (emotional, informative, tangible), as well as not considering the Volume XXI Issue XII Version I 40 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2021 A © 2021 Global Journals Sports and School Involvement and Performance: Perception of Student-Athletes