Responsibilities of a Sports Coach - Essay Example

?Executive summary A sports coach focuses mainly on how to maximize individual’s and teams performance potential. This enables athletes to attain better levels of performance which could not be possible when on their own. The roles and responsibilities of a coach are viewed at times as being complex and involving. At the same time they are exciting and very rewarding to all individuals involved. A coach should have proper knowledge on Health & Safety Legislation, accident prevention, risk evaluation, and sport and industry regulations. In addition, they should utilize documentation and ICT programs which assist them to record performance. Coaching and physical instruction involves programming and planning process. It extensively involves the teaching style, the learning style, the leadership style, the coaching style and the communication skills. According to Cross (1999), physical fitness is categorized into two, first, is the general fitness which refers to the condition of an individual health and wealth being. Secondly, is the specific fitness which is mainly task-oriented. It is defined depending on an individual’s ability to carry out different aspects of sports. Physical fitness is gained through exercising, having the correct nutrition and adequate rest. All these are important in an individual’s life. According to Weinberg and Gould (2005), physical activity is an exercise through which the body is made to work extra hard than normal. It involves actives that go to the extreme level as compared to one’s routine of just sitting, standing and walking up the stairs. Increased Physical activity is beneficial to all. Sport is known to be a game that has its basis in physical athleticism, (Heyward, 2006). The roles and responsibilities of a coach are viewed at times as being complex and involving Cassidy, (2005). At the same time they are exciting and very rewarding to all individuals involved. A coach is known to be involved in the following roles; first an advisor, athletes rely on a coach for advice on the appropriate training to be conducted and the proper kit and equipment. Secondly he or she is an assessor; training and competition performance of the athletes is assessed by the coach. Thirdly he or she is a counselor; a coach is greatly involved in resolving various emotional problems. This is based on the idea that reassurance and relieve is attained through sharing anxieties. Fourthly, a coach is a demonstrator; a coach has to clearly demonstrate the right skill which the athletes are supposed to perform. Fifth, he or she plays a role of a friend; a coach and an athlete develop personal relationship with time as they work together. Apart from provision of coaching advice sport coach become a close person who can also be involved problems discussion and sharing of success. A coach has to be careful and ensure that all personal information remains confidential. Through this, the coach will manage to maintain the existing friendship and respect. The sixth role is that of a facilitator, a coach is greatly involved in identifying the appropriate competitions which best suit the athletes. This will assist the competitors in attaining their yearly objectives. The seventh role is that of a fact finder, a coach plays a key role in collection of data of both national and international results and provides updates with the latest training techniques. Eight, a coach is a fountain of knowledge; in some cases coaches are asked questions on different events on media, for example television, diet, sport injuries and other topics outside the field of sports. Ninth, a coach is also an instructor who is supposed to instruct athletes on different sport skills. Tenth, he or she is a motivator; a coach plays a key role in maintaining the motivation of athletes throughout the year. Twelfth, he or she is a role model, a coach remains to be a model on specific behavioural and social role for those under him or her to imitate. This is among the most important roles as coaches are required to be good examples to the children and everyone under him or her. Finally a coach is a supporter; they provide adequate support during competitions. In most cases, athletes are under great pressure during various competitions and will require their coaches to provide reassurance. A coach has several skills, attributes and qualifications. The attributes of a coach include; making a difference; people are affected positively through coaching. A coach is pushed by his or her desire to assist individuals to attain their potential. A coach is also an active listener; the whole process of coaching requires the coach to keenly listen to all massages and signs that are subtle to be able to understand all what is happening with the trainee. Another attribute is empathy; a coach should have the ability to view the world from the perspective of the client. Coaches in most cases do not have the appropriate answer, they do not have to be right or to fully know a given solution instead they facilitate the client to find their own answer. A coach is not in a rush to make judgments. They are supposed to provide an opportunity to the athlete to be able to exhaust their own values by withholding their personal judgments. A coach remains curious about people, coaching in itself involve asking several questions hence, coaches always have a questioning mind. A coach is always observant, they easily read different signs of inconsistency and even lack of commitment. They also know how to make the athletes excited and motivated. A coach remains positive; coaching is known to be an empowering process. This implies that the athlete is inspired by one believing in them and the passion of coaches in their activities. A coach communicates in a clear manner, coaching is underpinned by communication. Effective communication is vital in the whole process. Honesty and integrity is also an important attribute. Coaches should not be involved in any hidden agendas. The qualifications of a coach include; having the required coaching qualification which is recognized by the National Governing Body of a given chosen sport (Honeybourne, 2004). A coach who holds a sports related degree or the foundation degree is preferred. In some cases, coaches may be required to work with children hence, a criminal record check will be compulsory. Coaches may also have to volunteer when beginning their career in sports. This way they will be able to attain the appropriate insight and the required experience different roles. The skills of a coach involve communication, organisation, analyzing, problem solving, evaluating, and time management. In the UK an action plan meant for coaching is led by the government and its main aim is to recruit and to offer support to all the coaches (Jarvis, 2006). This system is excellent in that it provides sports opportunities of high quality to the target groups which include; the young children, adolescents, adults, older adults, specific exercise referral groups, pre and post natal, and even those with different disabilities. This program is meant to boost the development of this entire target group. In most cases, qualified coaches provide them with the appropriate support which they require. The coaches are based in different supportive structures such as clubs, schools, regional and even the national level. Every child gets a pathway in sport through which they get an appropriate opportunity to fully pursue their dreams while being led by their choices and potentials. Coaching has a key role in the lives of the young people and the adults. It provides them with pathways that are exciting and rewarding in sports. In addition, it equips the athletes to attain the best worldwide. All the coaches are required to observe the existing health and safety legislation. A coach should be able to understand fully the prevention of common sport injuries by identifying the risk factors. He or she should have appropriate knowledge regarding the different sport injuries and their symptoms. They should also fully understand how they are suppose to apply sport injuries treatment methods. In addition, they have an obligation to come up with a treatment and rehabilitation program plan and construction mainly for two sport injuries that are common. Coaches are required to have documentation and ICT programs that are suitable. These provide coaches with the adequate support required for sport performance analysis. Programs meant for technical analysis such as Dartfish is helpful to the coach while conducting the performance assessment of an athlete. All the athletes are supposed to be screened before getting involved in any activity in sports (Norton and Old, 1999). These programs are also useful in team sport programs. It helps the coach in statistical data analysis that supports the analysis of the effectiveness of an athlete. A coach has to have proper recording performance data in place. It includes; training diary, video analysis, checklists, peer review. Through this coaches will be able to first monitor performer’s development. Secondly, it will enable them to reflect on different sessions which include the coaching cycle, the coaching plan, and the coach himself. Thirdly, it assists the coach to review the strengths and the various development areas of each specific session. Finally, it assists them to make the appropriate amendments in the training program. Coaching and physical instruction involves programming and planning process. It covers the teaching style, the learning style, the leadership style, the coaching style and the communication skills. An adoption of a given the teaching style mainly depends on; an individual personality and ability, the activity and skill one is teaching, and the ability, motivation, age, and the learning environment of all the learners. Teaching style involves guidance which is best understood as the transmission process of skill information to the learner (Cross, 1999). Guidance involved in the teaching style is normally categorized into visual, verbal, or manual. Visual guidance involves use of demonstration which assists the coach to create a mental picture and also to reproduce the movement. The demonstration used has to be perfect and realistic. Verbal guidance is used together with visual guidance. The coach has to provide the cues in order to remind the athlete about the different parts of the skill. The cues used are words such as ‘’focus your eyes on the ball’’. Verbal guidance is effective when the athlete understands what the coach is saying, if they can remember the information given and if they can translate the cues into action. In manual guidance, coaches and objects play a key role in helping those being trained to learn a given movement while developing confidence and getting used to how it suppose to feel. An illustration of these include; a coach moving the arms of an athlete in the right motion for a tennis shot, use of floaters when one is learning how to swim. The guidance of an athlete through movement by a coach is referred to as forced response. Its usefulness is that it gives a feel of movement to an athlete, however continuous use makes the athletes dependant and to even loose motivation. The preferred teaching style of coaches does not necessarily match with the athlete’s learning style. Sometimes coaches may not understand the athletes learning styles. The athletes may not be provided with the proper opportunity to learn and even perform due to the lack of understanding of their needs and inappropriate communication. The ability of the athletes to have proper understanding of new concepts and acquisition of new skills and techniques depend on how the information and feedback is presented by the coach. Hence, proper understanding of the athletes learning style by the coaches requires them to have an effective strategy which helps to establish a learning relationship that boosts the domain of athletics. In most cases the coaches teachings are based on their experience gained while they were athletes. In order to have successful coaching relationships a coach has to fully understand his coaching style. Coaches have to know their own personal style and establish an understanding of the athletes. This will help the coaches to learn proper ways of modifying their coaching styles in order to create good relationship with the athletes. Coaching styles are classified into; direct, spirited, considerate or systematic (Pyke, 2001). A coach has to develop personal behaviour patterns awareness and to fully understand ways in which his or her own personal style is revealed when undertaking the coaching activity. Coaching involves a lot of communication. A coach has to develop credibility as it is an important element in communication and in most cases it is portrayed on by level of trust the athletes have on the coach message. Having a positive approach is a vital skill in communication. Coaches should provide athletes with feedback with high information. Coaches have an obligation to praise athletes regarding their good behaviour, inform them what is good about it and advice them on how to improve. A coach, who has proper communication skills in most cases communicate with consistency, continues to learn how to listen, and even improves on the non verbal communication. Credibility and trust is developed through messages that are communicated consistently. Proper listening skills are learned through concentration while a coach is listening to the athletes. They are supposed to respect athlete’s rights to express different ideas. Coaches should be keen on how their non-verbal messages are interpreted as they are role models responsible for the communication of respect for all individuals and the sport they are coaching. Learning styles involves different ways through which athletes concentrate on; processes and retains information that is new and complicated. The coach objectives help the athletes to fully utilize their learning strengths. a coach and an athlete indicates athletic performance improvement and improved self esteem when the instructional strategies match together with the athlete styles of learning. Coaches should have proper understanding of the athletes preferred learning styles to help in the alignment of the athletes learning needs together with the learning objectives in the athletic world. Conclusion Sport, fitness and physical activity is appropriate for an individual health. A Specialist coach is involved in sports and physical activities. They have several roles, attributes and responsibilities which are necessary in the sports domain. A coach is required to observe the following; Health & Safety Legislation; impact on the organisation, accident prevention, risk assessment, sport and industry regulations, documentation and ICT Systems recording performance data while conducting their tasks. Coaching and physical instruction involves programming and planning process. It covers the teaching style, the learning style, the leadership style, the coaching style and the communication skills. Bibliography. Butler, R1996, Sports Psychology in Action, Hodder Arnold,UK. Cassidy, P 2005, Effective Coaching: Teaching Young People Sports and Sportsmanship, Westholme Publishing,USA. Cross, N 1999,The Coaching Process: Principles and Practice for Sport,Butterworth-Heinemann, London. Heyward, V, H 2006, Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription,HumanKinetics, USA. Honeybourne, J 2004, BTEC National Sport, Nelson Thornes,UK. Jarvis, M 2006, Sport Psychology: A Student’s Handbook, Psychology Press,UK. Martens, R 2004, successful coaching, human kinetics, USA. Norton, K & Old, T 1999, Pre-exercise Health Screening Guide, HumanKinetics,USA. Powers, S, K & Howley, E, T 2008, Exercise Physiology: Theory and Application to Fitness andPerformance,McGraw-Hill,NewYork Pyke, F2001, Better Coaching: Advanced Coach’s Manual,Human Kinetics Europe Ltd, USA. Weinberg, R, & Gould, D 2005, Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology, HumanKinetics,USA Read More