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TOOL
E: CHARACTERISTICS OF EXCELLENT COACHING
 Participation
in sports is popular among children and adolescents in the
United States. Approximately half of all children and adolescents
participate in community sports programs.1 In
addition, millions participate in interscholastic programs.2
Children's and adolescents'
experience in sports, whether positive or negative, is affected
by the relationship they have with the coach. Thus, it is
critical that adults who are interested in coaching children
and adolescents participate in coaching education programs.
In addition, leaders of community programs need to be involved
in planning, organizing, and delivering these programs.
Health professionals
who counsel children, adolescents, and their families about
physical activity can improve the quality of their efforts
by learning more about coaching. Health professionals can
also make a difference in the quality of sports participation
by becoming knowledgeable about and involved in sports programs
in their community.
Guidelines
for Promoting Excellent Coaching
National Standards
for Athletic Coaches: Quality Coaches, Quality Sports3 aims
to educate coaches, improve the quality of coaching, and
promote a positive experience for children and adolescents
who participate in sports. The document discusses eight domains
that address (1) the knowledge, skills, and abilities coaches
need, which vary depending on the ages of the children and
adolescents they coach; (2) the level of competency coaches
need for particular situations; and (3) the sport in which
the children and adolescents they coach participate. The
domains follow:
-
Prevention,
care, and management of injury
- Risk management
- Growth, development,
and learning
- Training, conditioning,
and nutrition
- Social/psychological
aspects of coaching
- Skills, tactics,
and strategies
- Teaching and administration
-
Professional
preparation and development
 Educational
Opportunities for Coaches
Several nationally
recognized coaching education programs exist for community
recreation and sports professionals.4 These
programs and their curricula were developed by leaders in
the fields of coaching, psychology/sociology of sport and
exercise, and exercise science. The materials are available
in a variety of formats. More information on these programs
can be obtained from the
following:
American
Sport Education Program
Human
Kinetics
P.O.
Box 5076
Champaign,
IL 61825
Phone:
(217) 351-5076
Fax:
(217) 351-2674
National
Youth Sport Coaches Association
National
Alliance for Youth Sports
2050
Vista Parkway
West
Palm Beach, FL 33411
Phone:
(561) 684-1141
Fax:
(561) 684-2546
Program
for Athletic Coaches Education
Institute
for the Study of Youth Sports
I.M.
Sports Circle, Room 313
Michigan
State University
East
Lansing, MI 48824
Phone:
(517) 355-7620
Fax:
(517) 353-5363
Characteristics
of Excellent Coaching
Successful coaches
understand that children and adolescents participate in sports
for the following reasons:5
-
To
have fun
- To improve existing
skills and learn new ones
- To be with friends
or make new friends
- To feel successful
or win
Successful coaches
understand that children and adolescents cease to participate
in sports for these reasons:5
Successful coaches
motivate children and adolescents to continue to participate
in sports by doing the following:5
Guidelines
for Coaches
Successful coaches
do the following to make children's and adolescents' participation
in sports as positive as possible:12,5
-
Make
practices enjoyable
- Maximize all participants'
physically active time during practices and games
- Minimize organizational
time (i.e., inactive time) during practices and games
- Design or use instructional
activities that will facilitate skill development and/or
improvement
- Always use a positive
style of interaction:
- Continually revise
assessment of child's or adolescent's competence and skill
development
- Prevent competitive
stress (i.e., fear of failure):
-
Smoll
FL, Smith RE. 1998. Summary of coaching guidelines. In
Williams JM, ed., Applied Sport Psychol-ogy: Personal Growth
to Peak Performance (3rd ed.) (pp. 5659). Mountain
View, CA: Mayfield Publishing.
- Seefeldt VD, Ewing
ME. 1997. Youth sports in Amer-ica: An overview. President's
Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Physical Activity
and Fitness Research Digest, Series 2(11):112.
- National Association
for Sport and Physical Education. 1995. National Standards
for Athletic Coaches: Quality Coaches, Quality Sports. Dubuque,
IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing.
- Seefeldt VD, Milligan
MJ. 1992. Program for Athletic Coaches Education (PACE)--Educating
America's public and private school coaches. Journal of Physical
Education, Recreation, and Dance 63(7):4649.
- Gould D. 1987.
Motivating young athletes. In Seefeldt V, ed., Handbook for
Youth Sport Coaches (pp. 125135). Reston, VA: National
Association for Sport and Physical Education.
- Horn TS. 1987.
How to conduct effective practices. In Seefeldt V, ed., Handbook
for Youth Sport Coaches (pp. 201209). Reston, VA: National
Association for Sport and Physical Education.
-
Horn
TS, Lox C, Labrador F. 1998. The self-fulfilling prophecy
theory: When coaches' expectations become reality. In Williams
JM, ed., Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak
Performance (3rd ed.) (pp. 7491). Mountain View,
CA: Mayfield Publishing.
Suggested
Reading
Smoll
FL, Smith RE, eds. 1996. Children and Youth in Sport: A Biopsychosocial
Perspective. Madison, WI: Brown and Benchmark.
Williams JM, ed.
1998. Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Performance
(3rd ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing.
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