Theories of Coaching - Essay Example

Running Head: COACHING Coaching Introduction According to the expert analysis the study of coaching and leadership has advanced considerably since the trait personality approach at the turn of the century. Early theories on coaching/ leadership styles lacked situational specificity, but topical studies have emphasized together personality qualities and situational variables, as stated by Jenkins (1995). The study of coaching is critical to the understanding of sport performance because coaching is instrumental in enhancing the motivational state of the athlete and/ or team (House, 1971). To examine coaching/leadership styles and strategies an understanding of the important concepts and definitions must first be understood. Coaching is defined as developing populace all the way through improving performance, is obviously a rather broad definition, and does not encompass the many dimensions of the coach's behaviour. Barrow (1977) defined leadership, a comparable concept, as "the behavioural process of influencing individuals and groups toward set goals". This is still a broad definition, but considers various dimensions of the coach's leadership behaviour, such as the decision making processes, the techniques they use to motivate individuals, and the relationship they establish with the athlete, and the type and frequency they give in response to the individual’s performance. At the centre of any coaches personal reasoning, is the coach's philosophy. A coaching philosophy is essential for any coach to endorse, because as Martens (1997) stated "your success as a coach will depend more on your coaching philosophy than on any other factor". It is a set of guidelines that govern coach's actions and behaviours, and is the basis on which personal beliefs are made about a whole variety of issues. It encompasses views on; the role of the coach in relation to others; the role of performers in determining their own goals and responsibility in learning; relative importance of the outcome of competition in relation to the performers well being; importance of fair play and adhering to rules; appropriate training and competition for young performers; and also the importance of sport for everyone. On the basis of these beliefs, the coach can consolidate and develop various coaching and coaching styles and strategies, in relation to the situation and the performer. Martens (1997) suggested a philosophy for all coaches to endorse as "Athletes First, Winning Second". This is an excellent philosophy, which caters for the development and well being of the individual athlete but it is difficult for coaches to administer because of the demands put upon them, for money and success during the competitive season. This critical review attempts to make reference to a planned coaching session carried out by Tom Bailey, and theories constructed on the study of coaching/ leadership styles and strategies. The coaching session plan can be found in the several institutions. Coaching/ Leadership Styles. Martens (1997) stated that the coaching style adopted by a coach would determine how decisions are made on the ability and strategies to be taught, how practice and competition is organised, which methods to discipline players are used, and the majority significantly what role the athletes are given in decision-making processes. Martens also suggested that coaches are likely to predispose towards one of the three coaching styles. The three coaching styles as suggested by Martens (1997) are as follows: Command Style (The Dictator/ Autocratic) In this style of coaching, the coach makes all the decisions. The role of the athlete is a passive abider who responds to the coach's commands. It is assumed that the coach has the information to dictate all through the session, whilst the athlete listens, understand information, and complies. This style of coaching is motionless used by many coaches; as it is a method of make sure that the session progresses on time. Marten's suggested, coaches that doubt their own ability also use it, and they use this technique to douse any questions that may be asked of them. Improper use of this style can shift the player's motivational reasoning, from an intrinsic nature to an extrinsic one, which can lead to a lack of enjoyment during the session, and can even lead to players dropping out of the sport completely. Submissive (The Babysitter/allow) Coaches using this style make as few decisions as possible, providing little instruction, minimal guidance and organisation. Martens (1997) highlighted that this style is poor, and described coaches which adopt this style either lacking in competence, are too lazy to meet the demands of their responsibilities, or do not understand what coaching means. Co-operative (The Teacher/democratic) Coaches using this style share decision making with athletes. They appreciate that they are responsible to give direction and leadership to young people, but allow youngsters to join into the decision-making processes, which allows them to develop into mature, responsible adults. Martens (1997) described this style as the better of the three styles. Martens exaggerated command and obedient styles and communicated them as extreme forms of coaching. In realism, styles used by coaches are classically a slight blend of all three, which are supple depending on the circumstances and the individual athlete. The Three Additional Styles/ Behaviours Are: Social Support Behaviour Coaching behaviour characterised by a concern for athlete's welfare, positive group atmosphere, and warm interpersonal relations. Training And Instruction Behaviour Aimed at humanizing performance through emphasising and facilitating hard and strenuous training; instruction on skills, techniques, and tactics of the sport; descriptive relations in athletes, and by structuring and organising the activities. Rewarding (Positive Feedback) Behaviour Behaviour used to stimulate an athlete by recognising and gratifying good performance. Reference to Coaching Session. During the coaching assembly the coach used a despotic style of coaching, coupled by means of a rewarding behaviour. Explanations on why this coaching style had been adopted will be looked at. Initially, an observation on the amount of time, in which the coaching session had to be completed, will be an issue. The coaching session had a frontier of twelve minutes. A despotic style ensured that the session would progress sufficiently before completion. Difficulty put on the coach by appraisal; will be an additional cause for the despotic behaviour. The coach seemed to be missing self-assurance and did not use an effectual democratic behaviour, which would have unbreakable the preservation and learning of the skills. It would also have given a more enjoyable knowledge for the performer. The coach's use of satisfying behaviour seemed to be extrinsically effectual in inspiring performers though. Theories of Leadership in Coaching Later theories of Leadership in coaching looked at together the quality traits of the leader and situational variables. Jenkins (1995) describes Fiedler's (1967) urgent situation model of leadership competence, as the best recognized of the theories. It categorizes leaders into two groups; task orientated and tyrannical, or interpersonally orientated and autonomous. The model describes the state of relationships as more or less favourable for decorative the leader’s power. This theory proposed that 'task' leaders will be additional capable in both least and the majority favourable situations, and 'interpersonal' leaders will be additional effectual in moderately favourable situations. The majority popular theory in sports leadership has been Chelladurai's (1978) Multidimensional Model of Leadership in Sport. This hypothesis involves three features of leader behaviour; real behaviour, leader behaviour favored by athlete and the leader behaviour necessary in the exacting situation. The model proposes that the degree of similarity amongst the three states of leader behaviour is absolutely related to presentation and approval. Chelladurai (1984) in addition to this stated that dissimilarity in personal characteristics would power what kinds of coaching behaviours athletes favor. If we analyze then we come to now that aside from the situational approach, a incomplete number of research studies have look at the relationship flanked by leaders and their subordinates over time (Turman, 2001, pp577). This issue is significant in the understanding the efficiency of Leadership in coaching styles over the course of an athletic/ sport season. As leaders interrelate by means of their subordinates over time, they adapt and alter their leadership in coaching style to suit the person. According to Hersey and Blanchard’s (1969) studies on adulthood and coaching, for leaders to be effective, the coaching style must be adapted to the athlete. Chellandurai and Saleh's (1978) study of university athletes suggested that additional practiced athletes preferred additional training and training from their coaches. As the athletes higher, they tended to prefer a more autocratic style of coaching. According to the maturity of the devotee not only dictates which style of coaching will have the uppermost likelihood of achievement, but it also determines the power base that the leader ought to use to persuade fulfillment or pressure behaviour (Turman, 2001, pp420). It is sensible to take for granted that athletes in their first year of knowledge would distinguish the least amount of social support due to the information that this style focuses on the association that exists among athletes and their coaches. Results composed from Turman's study reproduce those athletes’ apparent coaches from ineffective teams using a considerably more autocratic style than those on victorious teams. This is a quarrel for Martens labeling the autocratic style, to be one of insufficiency. Strategies Strategies in sports coaching can mean many dissimilar things according to the individual coach. But all strategies have one main issue in common; they are all used to get the best out of the person athlete during a coaching assembly or competition. The coach must know the athletes needs before a strategy is implemented, e.g. the way in which an athlete is motivated can determine what rewards are given. A major coaching strategy in terms of importance is the way in which a coach should adapt a particular style according to the athletes preferred style. It is also important to find out whether the athlete is internally or externally motivated so the coach can determine which coaching behaviours and strategies are appropriate. Coaches use motivational techniques, such as praisal rewards to reinforce either sound technique or high effort. Coaches also use mental rehearsal techniques for the purposes of focusing the athlete's attention or reducing anxiety before a competition. The coach should also use tools such as the Sport Competitive anxiety Test (Martens, 1977) to find out how prone athletes are to anxiety in order to attain which methods of reduction are appropriate. The coach should use all of the knowledge and practice gathered right through a career to design and implement well structured session plans using goal-setting strategies. The Teaching of Culture and the Culture of Learning Theoretically speaking, the interdependent and interactive nature of the relationship between culture and language makes it inevitable that the teaching of culture should enter foreign language classroom. Practically speaking, effective language acquisition won't take place until culture is taken into serious consideration. This imminent into the relationship among culture and language will permit a language teacher to grip the teaching of culture in a more impartial way. But one more significant issue, the customary culture of learning, must be taken into account if a language teacher aims to behavior the teaching of culture efficiently and productively. As a constituent part of culture, culture of learning is also learned. No one was natural meaningful what to learn and how to learn. They learn how to learn through the process of coaching and socialization that occurs in families. After they become a learner in educational settings, they continue to be socialized and schooled to view the acquisition of knowledge in various ways according to the values prevalent in their society. There are, in all societies, unspecified suppositions about citizens and how they learn, which perform as a set of self-fulfilling predictions that imperceptibly guide whatsoever educational procedures may occur there. They act as a type of inadvertent unseen curriculum. So an exacting culture of learning stems from a particular culture and is embossed with the features of that culture. The values and orientations of a culture of learning are inevitably in accordance with those pervading in its cultural background. Appreciative the culture of learning of his students and himself is a language teacher's first step toward productive cultural teaching. This comprehending leads him to a critical appraisal of the current propensity in the teaching of culture in China, and in turn offers him enlightenment on the effective teaching of culture in the context of traditional culture of learning in China. Next, the present author will examine how traditional culture of learning in China exerts influence on language teachers' way of teaching cultural. Conclusion. The correct coaching style in accordance to the circumstances and the individual joint with effective strategies is absolutely the way to achieve success in coaching. The needs of the person athlete must always come before that of the coach. References Barrow, J. C. (1977). The variables of leadership: A review and conceptual framework. Academy of management review. 2. pp 232. Chelladurai. P., Carron. A. V. (1978). Leadership. Ottawa: CAHPER (Monograph). Chelladurai. P., Saleh, S.D. (1978). Preferred Leadership in Sports. Canadian Journal of Applied Sports Science, pp 85-92. Crisfield, P., Cabral, P., Carpenter, F. (2000). The successful coach: guidelines for coaching practice. Leeds: The National Coaching Foundation. Fiedler, F. E. (1967). A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness. McGraw-Hill, New York. Hersey. P., Blanchard, K.H., & Natemyer, W.E. Life cycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal 23 (5), pp 26-35. Horn, T. S. (1992). Advances in sport psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, pp 181-198. House, R. J. (1971). A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly. 16, pp 321-338. Jenkins, S. (1995). Sports Science Handbook. Berkshire: Sunningdale Publications, pp. 88. Martens, R. (1977). Sport competition anxiety test. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, pp. 36. Martens, R. (1997). Successful Coaching. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Silva III, J. M., Weinberg, R. S. (1984). Psychological foundations of sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Turman, P. D., (October, 2001), Situational Coaching Styles, the impact of success and athlete maturity level on coaches’ leadership styles over time, Small group research, v.32, n5. Read More