The Coach's Role as a Teacher
In the past few years, the definition of a competitive athletic coach in every sport has evolved from that of a simple athletic trainer to include the roles of teacher, leader, organizer and counselor. A coach's role as a teacher means that the coach shares his knowledge of the sport and assists athletes prepare for their sport through fitness and skill development, as well as mental preparation. As a leader, the coach must make the right decisions on behalf of his athletes. The athletes must trust the coach to select the most appropriate goals, help them attain them, and motivate them by learning to use goals as a tool (Robinson, 2004). As an organizer, a coach must manage practices and schedules, plan and evaluate practices, and correctly evaluate athletes (Robinson, 2004). A coach's role as a counselor includes the development of good listening skills, and providing the right amount and type of guidance to support his athletes (Robinson, 2004). This includes a clear understanding of the policy's and procedures, and the boundaries of where the role of coach begins and ends. The background of coaching principles indicates that in order to fill these different roles successfully, a coach must have a sound u
A coach should also make use of drills that have been previously learned, and adaptation of previous learning by allowing for progression on levels of difficulty building upon the foundations of previous experiences should also be used (Robinson, 2004). The coach has the responsibility to develop athletes from the beginning stage of learning to becoming skilled athletes (Special Olympics, 2003). Finally, by implementing a thorough understanding of coaching principles, a good coach can make any sport fun where winning is an added plus. The philosophy of this style is athlete centered, there are both social and task objectives involved, and "winning" is judged by both the coach and athlete. Instead, the goal of attaining a balance betweens styles is stressed. In player motivation, there are both performance goals and outcome goals. Conversely, an athlete may perform poorly and still win because other athletes performed at a lower level (Special Olympics, 2003). A third style of coaching is the "casual" style, whose philosophy does not have a specific emphasis on winning or any task objectives. The concept of self efficacy, first analyzed by psychologists in the late 1970s has received extensive empirical treatment in physical sports. Setting challenging goals are a part of player motivation and accomplishing goals at practice through repetition in settings similar to the competition environment will instill confidence, which is critical to the player's motivation (Special Olympics, 2003). Verbal instruction is the most common and should be used when teaching a new skill or instruction. Coaching Efficacy and Program Development Coaching efficacy involves the elements of motivating athletes, use of strategies, coaching techniques and character building (Feltz et. The continual interest to study efficacy is related to the positive link between level of efficacy and task performance and task persistence (Fung, 2003). Style of coaching is crucial, although a review of the literature indicates that no one style is preferred over the other. A coach should have a flexible method of teaching athletes, as these needs can change from time to time.
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