Principles of Coaching - Term Paper Example

Contents Introduction 2 My Development as a Coach 3 Coaching Skills for Successful Coaches 4 Excellent communication skills 5 Planning and Organizing Skills 7 Analysis and Evaluation 8 Open-Mindedness 9 Human resource management skills 9 Coaches as Motivators 10 Coaches as Leaders 11 Managing Athlete Behavior 11 Athlete social cultural awareness 12 Understanding development stages 12 Creating a Coaching philosophy 13 Creating the right coaching environment for success 14 Future Plans 14 Conclusion 16 References 16 Introduction Reflection on an individual coach’s process has become a primary way for developing coaching expertise and allowing the delivery on the expected performance results. According to Farres (2004), many coaches develop their coaching skills and expertise through carrying out a reflection on their previous coaching experiences and by watching other coaches during their coaching sessions. Through this personal reflection, a coach is able to integrate his or her experience and knowledge in a substantive manner that is well capable of promoting learning and in turn develops expertise. According to Farres (2004), reflection associates a coach’s experience and knowledge through the provision of a chance to explore areas of concern in a decisive manner and make modifications grounded on these reflections. This reflection enhances learning and furthers a coach’s’ abilities to identify and respond to cues within their coaching environment. Hellison & Templin (1991) notes that those coaches who reflect on their previous practice tend to expose their perceptions and beliefs, thereby create an enhanced sense of personal awareness. This ultimately makes them to develop certain openness to new ideas, making them suitable and conversant with various situations. As Knowles, Borrie & Telfer (2005) state, coaches who carry out a self-reflection exercise tend to experience increased performance due to their ability to tap into their previous experiences, hence enhancing their expertise. In carrying out a review of the various coaching developments that I have made over the previous two years, I will begin by distinguishing the coaching skills I have acquired. However, in spelling out these coaching skills, I concur with Sports Coach UK, that coaches come from different backgrounds, and as a consequence have different qualities. It was necessary to objectively distinguish these skills in order to eliminate any possible bias inherent in personal reviews and evaluation. As a soccer coach, it was thus imperative to make use of the United Kingdom Coaching Certificate’s self-evaluation tool, (UKCC), that entailed carrying out a self and peer profile evaluation on a formal and standardized form. My Development as a Coach Two years ago, I visited my local soccer club, where I used to train and play before I joined university for my higher education. I found out that they were desperate for a coach and hence I applied to be a coach to gain practical experience as I studied. They requested me to take up the coaching role as a part time coach due to my other career commitments that I couldn’t just ignore. I agreed to their request and embarked on my coaching role for the young boys, mostly between the ages of 15 years to 18 years. Since then, I have been a part time novice soccer coach in our local soccer club, where I have been able to achieve some success by winning the local charity cup. For the start, all I did was try to remember what all my former coaches had taught me as a player. This, Cushion, Armour & Jones (2003) refer to as an informal coach training method. I contacted an old friend with whom we trained at the club and who had decided to pursue a career in coaching. I joined a local coaching academy and obtained my level one coaching qualification after six months. I could train them all technical skills needed in being successful football players. I was too enthusiastic seeing the little boys dribbling the balls with such skill and expertise. I was able to identify those boys who needed a little bit of help and developed for them confidence boosting sessions, where I provided them with motivational videos and books about great players who started out their careers just like them. I have learnt in theory and in practice over time that designing my training sessions in a simple and fun way, ensuring that all the young boys who had joined our local club were involved resulted in greater motivation. I later joined the local coach development program that was sponsored by the county government. Here I was able to ascertain the importance of formulating my own coaching philosophy through self-reflection as a coach and through the theoretical aspects I was learning in college. I was able to look at what had worked with me as a coach and incorporated this into my coaching philosophy that resonated with my personal values and experiences. These experiences were not only from sport, but also life experiences outside of sport. Coaching Skills for Successful Coaches The qualities of a good coach include an array of roles, skills and responsibilities. Various academic and professional literature recount the roles of a coach as the functions carried out in relation to completing the coaching tasks in the coaching set up. Martens (2004) identifies the following skills as pre-requisites of all successful coaches: Ability to provide impartial, timely and constructive feedback; Planning skills, Analytical skills, Ability to create and maintain a safe coaching environment, possession of an enquiring mind in the coaching practice all of which I developed and applied from my theoretical classes during my two year stint as coach of the local soccer club.. Excellent communication skills Hargie, Dickson &Tourish (1999) define communication as the creation and processing of verbal and non-verbal signals that people use to transmit and receive messages. Ivey & Ivey, (2006) state that successful communication occurs when there exists harmony between the senders’ intended and transmitted message and the receiver’s perceived interpretation. Summarizing the responses from UKCC’s coaching competences evaluation toolkit for rugby union coaches, I would say I am an ardent communicator, capable of developing, maintaining and fostering good relationships with all people in the club. However I did need to develop those skills and hone some of them with the local club. (Robinson 2006) states that a successful coach should exhibit the capability to present information plainly and precisely. This information should be accurate and appropriate to a given situation. I learnt that articulation is in some instances an acquired competence obtained through experience. In my first six months I was not very articulate and hence motivation was very hard to accomplish in my role. I developed this by being open and honest in everything I said to my young players as I had been advised during my coach training sessions. According to Sports Coach UK, good communication skills stand out as vital skills required of a successful coach. The inability to effectively communicate impedes the delivery of a coach’s information to the intended subjects, such a team players. According to Weinberg and Gould (2007), the manner in which a coach communicates bears on the motivation, anxiety levels, confidence, concentration, and the behaviors of players. This transcends to the overall skill acquisition capabilities among players and the coach’s ability to provide performance based feedback. In the first six months of my coaching stint the club suffered poor results because I did not have these necessary skills to foster motivation, confidence and concentration among my players. As Moen and Verburg (2011) explain in their literally work, a coach’s communication skills are regarded as cardinal in developing and ensuring a favorable working relationship between coaches and players. I learnt that the interaction between various coaches and players occurs in diverse settings such as in the training grounds, during a coach’s personal conversations with his or her players, during competitive sport as well as during team meetings. It therefore becomes crucial that coaches develop excellent communication skills as these define their success in all the situations. I found that verbal admonitions were for the most part counterproductive and should only be made in a clear, unambiguous, ideally timed and directed but not mortifying or abrasive. According to Bennie (2008), good communication fosters good relationships between players and their coaches. Through excellent communication skills, successful coaches are able to build trustable, venerate and reliable relationships with their support staff as well as players. They are also able to maintain a professional distance at all times. Planning and Organizing Skills In my two years of theoretical learning at the university I learned that planning and organizing skills for coaches come in handy when considering how coaching sessions have been structured as well as how various coaching programs are discharged. All involved in the review of this skill concurred that my planning and organizational skills are way above average. I am able to plan and conduct various training activities in a successful manner, thereby enhancing the motivation among the players. Sports Coach UK explains that the ability to effectively plan and organize coaching activities and sessions has the potential to enhance the performance outcomes. Effective planning and organizing entails the ability of the coach to distinguish among individual player requirements and goals and utilizing this information in planning the training sessions and activities. Most often, I found that the manner in which I organized my coaching sessions revealed and presented a number of opportunities for disruptive behavior among the players. It is critical to minimize orobviate behavior among their players that is disruptive in nature through adequate and advance coaching session planning. I also learnt that they keep the players well engaged by use of various coaching activities in the training grounds. As Jones, Armour & Potrac (2004) state, successful coaches are those coaches who exhibit excellent organization and planning skills in carrying out meetings, training sessions and matches. I have been able to identify the most appropriate structure of my coaching sessions, determining the game plan I prefer to use well in advance, before the actual competition. As such, the benefits of being able to determine the content of my coaching sessions in time, such as increasing flexibility among the players are reaped. Analysis and Evaluation According to Sports Coach UK, coaches need to carry out an analysis and evaluation of the technical and tactical aspects of the game, the mental skills as well as the physical status of their players. The analysis and evaluation should also extend to other aspects such as the level to which predetermined goals have been achieved, and if not, the reasons for the failure and corrective measures taken. As a coach I will be required carry out an analysis and evaluation of the abilities and competences of my players, giving specific attention to individual unique needs and wants. This will enable me to gain an understanding of all my players thereby developing strategies on how best to motivate them and bring out the best in them. Personal performance evaluation is also a key aspect in ensuring the success of any coach. Analysis and evaluation should be a continuous exercise as it enables the coach to satisfactorily respond to the dynamic needs of the games and players under their instructions. According to Poczwardowski, Barott, and Henschen (2002), the relationships between players and their coaches are grounded on mutual respect and team values. Analysis and evaluation has come to be a key influence in the planning and organization of future coaching sessions and activities and thus remains a central skill that all coaches should strive to possess and inculcate in their routine coaching sessions and activities. Open-Mindedness Sports Coach UK states that keeping an open mind is essential for all coaching activities. They define this as the ability of coaches to remain receptive to new ideas as well as being tractable to change. In my stint as coach during my university years I Attended workshops, training courses and conferences which enabled me learn and position myself strategically for future developments. Observing more experienced coaches also adds to the continuous learning of the coaches. When I applied these observations together with establishing of an excellent working mentoring relationship, I began to experience steady improvement in my team performances. Human resource management skills Successful managers should exhibit human resource management skills, through their strive to gain an understanding of personal as well as individual player demands and motivations that make them be involved in a particular sport. I have learnt that it is critical to establish a good rapport with their players by giving consideration to individual needs of the players (Côté & Sedgwick, 2003). Teams need a clear idea of what they’re expected to do and how they’re expected to do it. This spurs the need for me to come up to with a coaching philosophy. Goal setting is a major part of motivation, empowerment and commitment. It helped me to understand fundamental questions of what, why and how. A coaching philosophy determines how players view objects and experiences in their lives, determines how they view people and their relationships with them and finally determines how much value they place on such objects and people. Coaches as Motivators According to Weinberg and Gould (2003), a coach’s ability to motivate his or her players rather than merely teaching them only the technical as well as tactical knowledge of a particular sport plays out to set aside successful coaches from the rest. I learnt that there was need to emphasize on motivation of my players. Motivating players provided a positive reinforcement to the players which led to enhanced performance levels. Finch (2002) contends that it is a requirement that coaches comprehensively understand that a number of factors play out to determine the reasons as to why individual players prefer to get involved in a particular sport. I strove strive to gain an understanding of the varied goals that drive particular players into a given form of sport. To effectively motivate players, I ought to endeavor as much as possible to remain positive and avoid getting upset. I should develop a good rapport with all the players and technical staff in order to establish good working relationships that are a foundation for good performance and desirable results. As the coach should have and exhibit good sport-specific knowledge and expertise such as technical and tactical skills which are gained in the various conferences and technical training workshops the coach has to attend. Motivating players creates a warm team spirit among the players hence encouraging them to yearn for greater success. This creates confidence among the players their coach resulting into trust and respect. Coaches as Leaders Leadership role of a coach is to develop the coaching philosophy that will be followed by all involved in the exercise. I learnt the hard way that a coach sometimes makes gutsy decisions that go way beyond the prevailing situation. Sports coaches have the opportunity to become more effective in their coaching roles through the provision of high quality leadership that is capable of helping their players and their staff meets the challenge of change. Strong and appropriate leadership skills help create character for a successful club. It determines the conduct and behavior of the players as well as creates a desirable winning spirit among all those involved in enhancing the performance of a team. Managing Athlete Behavior Early on in my career I found that it was critical acquire information on how best to guarantee the appropriate behavior among my players so that a favorable and motivating coaching environment exists in the training grounds. I sought to instill appropriate behavioral requirements among their players, failure to which, they were abridged to utilizing most of their time to disciplining wayward behaviors among their players. As per Saury and Durand (1998) argument for coaches to allow flexible behavior among players, I have endeavored to apply sensitivity behavioral management among players, though this was within the established philosophical boundaries. Athlete social cultural awareness One of the first things I learned in my theoretical classes is the understanding that every individual player is different by virtue of varied backgrounds, social status as well as different aspirations for playing a given sport. As such, each player responds differently to a given coaching style, hence the need to coach players as individuals but instill some team spirit in them during competitions. The coach ought to find out about my players’ individual families and lifestyles. I try as much as possible to show empathy and foster individual relationships based on the information I have acquired through my conversations with individual players. Understanding development stages My training in coaching taught me that growth and development is a dynamic process and hence children are constantly growing. As they age, children’s’ bodies experience fundamental biochemical changes that will inescapably affect their sporting performances. As a result, I needed to be aware of child development stages in order to adapt their training programs over time to match the changing bodies and minds of the children they coach. As a coach involved with youths, I have kept it in mind that there is difference between coaching youths and coaching elite and experienced players. As youthful coaching environment is all about player development, but in coaching experienced players, it is always about winning. It has been observed that a number of coaches remain with the same type of players for an extended period of time. These coaches usually have no idea of how best to change their coaching sessions in order to enable the players to advance from one level to the other. These coaches may also lack the knowledge of coaching players who are in a different level from the one they are used to coaching. Creating a Coaching philosophy Wilcox and Trudel (1998) define a coaching philosophy as an array of values or beliefs instituted by various coaches with the intent of utilizing them in decision making. In my education I grounded my coaching philosophies upon ideas and values of individual coaches’ experiences. A coaching philosophy is ideally a reflection of the beliefs that coaches have regards their coaching roles. I have learnt that a coaching philosophy helps to provide clarifications of what individual coaches aspire in their players. It enables coaches to develop appropriate plans in order to fast-track their players’ development. According to Nelson & Cushion 2006) coach’s philosophy and past coaching experiences usually influences his or her coaching practice. A coaching philosophy enhances coaching consistency and objectivity in decision making. It ensures that rules and standards are consistently applied eliminating any confusions in times of challenges. A coaching philosophy should be dynamic and flexible enough so as to reflect enhanced experience during a coach’s career. As I have learnt more on the theoretical and practical aspects of coaching this has been reflected in my changing views. A coaching philosophy should always remain consistent with the coach’s values and beliefs and exhibited in all decisions and actions of the coach. It should be oriented and trimmed towards what the ideals of the coach are and not reflective of what other people, both within and outside the coaching grounds. My education and training has taught me that a coaching philosophy enables a coach to develop a better idea of the expected performance levels from each player. It encompasses an understanding of not only the players’ needs, but the needs of all the stakeholders involved. These include the players’ parents as well as other support staff involved in developing a team. The coaches are then well placed to chart an ideal player development path that leads to higher performance levels. Creating the right coaching environment for success I have learnt that a coach should be involved in developing the vision and mission of their team. This enables them to develop a suitable coaching environment that ensures greater performance as compared to their competitors. The development suitable coaching environment ensures that the players gain a sense of security in the knowledge that their coach will provide direction, leadership and any other support that they may require. What I will teach may well be less important than what I demonstrate through my character and philosophy. It is always more probable that a coach’s players will imitate the actions of their coach rather than what the couch may want them to be. Future Plans I intend to attend various conferences and coaching courses, as a way of developing and enhancing my skills and expertise. This is with the understanding that successful coaches should grasp an understanding of the fundamentals of the games they coach players to play. Through continuous training and learning, coaches are able to identify and gain innovative coaching skills. I will undertake to observe expert coaches in action through watching them in action as well as obtaining video recordings of their coaching sessions. Reading literature on coaching will also enhance my technical as well as tactical components of the game, thereby ensuring success in my coaching sessions. I will also endeavor to gain access to coaching resources through subscriptions to library resources. Studying varied literatures on how to improve coaching skills and attain the expert designation will go a long way in enhancing my coaching skills. I will identify an experienced and successful person in the coaching profession as my mentor who will guide me and advise me on how to improve my coaching skills and expertise. Having a mentor enables a coach to tap into their mentor’s wisdom and experiences in an effort to enhance their own coaching skills. Mentors help coaches not to repeat costly mistakes through their experiences as coaches in the yester years. Successful coaches show great commitment for the game and the teams they coach. They exhibit a true passion for the sport, most often putting in resources in terms of their time to ensure their goals are attained. They have an inner drive and enthusiasm for success, a virtue that enables them to weather through adversities. Conclusion Attending training courses, coaching conferences and workshops enable coaches to attain technical and tactical skills pertaining to a given sport. These skills and information can also be obtained from professional books and electronic literature such as DVDs. However recruiting mentors provides a fast tracking mechanism through which coaches can acquire these skills. Coaches should strive to acquire teaching skills as research has tended to show that successful coaches are also great teachers who know how best to pass their skills and knowledge to their players in efforts to achieve greater performance levels. References Bennie, A. (2008). Effective coaching: Case studies from professional sport teams in Australia. Burroughs, D. (n. d). Developing a Functional Coaching Philosophy. Côté, J., & Sedgwick, W. A. (2003). Effective Behaviors of Expert Rowing Coaches: A Qualitative Investigation of Canadian Athletes and Coaches. International Sports Journal, 7(1), pp. 62-78. Culver, D. M., &Trudel, P. (2000). Coach–Athlete Communication Within an Elite Alpine Ski Team. Journal of Excellence, 3, pp. 28- 54. Cushion, C., Armour, K. & Jones, R. (2003) Coach Education and Continuing Professional Development: Experience and Learning. Quest 55, pp.215-230 Farres, L.G. (2004, Fall). Becoming a better coach through reflective practice.BC Coach’s Perspective, 6, pp. 10-11. Finch, L. (2002) ‘Understanding individual motivation in sport’, in. J. Silva III and D. Stevens (eds), Psychological Foundations of Sport, Boston: Allyn& Bacon. Hellison, D. and Templin, T. (1991) A Reflective Approach to Teaching Physical Education, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Ivey, A. E.& Ivey, M. B. (2006).Intentional Interviewing and Counseling: Facilitating Client Development in a Multicultural Society. Emeryville, CA: Wadsworth. 6thedition. Jones, R., Armour, K., &Potrac, P. (Eds.). (2004). Sports Coaching Cultures: From Practice to Theory. London: Routledge. Knowles, Z., Borrie, A. and Telfer, H. (2005) Towards the reflective sports coach: issues of context,education and application. Ergonomics, 48, pp.11-14. Martens, R. (2004).Successful Coaching (3rd edition). Champaign: Human Kinetics. Moen, F., &Verburg, E. (2011). Subjective Beliefs among Athletes about how Relational factors affect Intrinsic motivation, Responsibility and Development in Sport. The International Journal of Coaching and Science. Poczwardowski, A., Barott, J. E., &Henschen, K. P. (2002). The Athlete and Coach: Their Relationship and its Meaning. Results of an Interpretive Study.International Journal of Sport Psychology, 33, pp. 116–140. Nelson, L. J. and Cushion, C. J. (2006). Reflection in Coach Education: The Case of the National Governing Body Coaching Certificate. The Sport Psychologist, 20, pp. 174-183 Robinson, P.E.(2006). Level One Workshop Update: England Hockey Development, England Hockey, Milton Keynes, England. Saury, J. and Durand, M. (1998) ‘Practical knowledge in expert coaches: on-site study of coaching in sailing’, Research Quarterly in Exercise and Sport, 69 (3), pp. 254–266. Sports Coach Uk (2012). Top Tips: Skills and Qualities of a Coach.[online] available at < Weinberg, R. and Gould, D. (2003) Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 3rdedn, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Weinberg, R. S. and Gould, D. (2007).Foundation of Sport and Exercise Psychology (4th edn). Champagn, IL: Human Kinetics. Wilcox, S. and Trudel, P. (1998).Constructing the coaching principles and beliefs of a youth ice hockey coach, Avante, 4,pp. 39–66. Read More

I have learnt in theory and in practice over time that designing my training sessions in a simple and fun way, ensuring that all the young boys who had joined our local club were involved resulted in greater motivation. I later joined the local coach development program that was sponsored by the county government. Here I was able to ascertain the importance of formulating my own coaching philosophy through self-reflection as a coach and through the theoretical aspects I was learning in college.

I was able to look at what had worked with me as a coach and incorporated this into my coaching philosophy that resonated with my personal values and experiences. These experiences were not only from sport, but also life experiences outside of sport. Coaching Skills for Successful Coaches The qualities of a good coach include an array of roles, skills and responsibilities. Various academic and professional literature recount the roles of a coach as the functions carried out in relation to completing the coaching tasks in the coaching set up.

Martens (2004) identifies the following skills as pre-requisites of all successful coaches: Ability to provide impartial, timely and constructive feedback; Planning skills, Analytical skills, Ability to create and maintain a safe coaching environment, possession of an enquiring mind in the coaching practice all of which I developed and applied from my theoretical classes during my two year stint as coach of the local soccer club.. Excellent communication skills Hargie, Dickson &Tourish (1999) define communication as the creation and processing of verbal and non-verbal signals that people use to transmit and receive messages.

Ivey & Ivey, (2006) state that successful communication occurs when there exists harmony between the senders’ intended and transmitted message and the receiver’s perceived interpretation. Summarizing the responses from UKCC’s coaching competences evaluation toolkit for rugby union coaches, I would say I am an ardent communicator, capable of developing, maintaining and fostering good relationships with all people in the club. However I did need to develop those skills and hone some of them with the local club.

(Robinson 2006) states that a successful coach should exhibit the capability to present information plainly and precisely. This information should be accurate and appropriate to a given situation. I learnt that articulation is in some instances an acquired competence obtained through experience. In my first six months I was not very articulate and hence motivation was very hard to accomplish in my role. I developed this by being open and honest in everything I said to my young players as I had been advised during my coach training sessions.

According to Sports Coach UK, good communication skills stand out as vital skills required of a successful coach. The inability to effectively communicate impedes the delivery of a coach’s information to the intended subjects, such a team players. According to Weinberg and Gould (2007), the manner in which a coach communicates bears on the motivation, anxiety levels, confidence, concentration, and the behaviors of players. This transcends to the overall skill acquisition capabilities among players and the coach’s ability to provide performance based feedback.

In the first six months of my coaching stint the club suffered poor results because I did not have these necessary skills to foster motivation, confidence and concentration among my players. As Moen and Verburg (2011) explain in their literally work, a coach’s communication skills are regarded as cardinal in developing and ensuring a favorable working relationship between coaches and players. I learnt that the interaction between various coaches and players occurs in diverse settings such as in the training grounds, during a coach’s personal conversations with his or her players, during competitive sport as well as during team meetings.

It therefore becomes crucial that coaches develop excellent communication skills as these define their success in all the situations.

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