Principals and philosophy of coaching
What is Coaching ?
In it's boadest context, sports coaching is about helping people to be better as people and sports performers at whatever level.
Coaching is about creating and managing an environment in which individuals are motivated to maintain and improve performance.
Coaching is both an art and science.
How important is the Coach ?
There is no doubt that sport has a central place in society. It can provide young people with positive experinces and opportunties through which they can gain enjoyment, maintain health, develop fitness and achieve sucess.
There is a strong case that the value of sport to young people is determined by the quality of leadership and the role model provided by the coach. Sport can be, and still is, a powerful and positive influence on people and society, but only in the hands of responsible, informed dedicated and talented sports coaches. There now appears to be growning recognition of the importance of the coach at local as well as national levels.
Who needs coaches ?
Quality coaches are needed to ensure that the quality of sport experienced by people at every level from foundation through to excellence and world class performance. They work with not just with elite performers, but with everyone - of all ages, both able-bodied and those with a disability, men and women, those from a variety of backgrounds and participants of all standards. Every participant should have access to qualified and quality coaches.
Coaching in foundation and participation
Coaches are one of the most important and often under-rated resources available for the development of sport. Coaches are crucial to effective sports development and highly influential at a local level in: ensuring sport is introduced to youngsters in a safe, fun and effective way; encouraging early enjoyment and success; laying the foundation for future sports participation at recreational or competative levels; bringing young disabled people into sport, where greater barriers may face them than other children.
Coaches also assist with providing quality recreational opportunities at the participation level which should encourage active participation and a healthly lifestyle as well as an induction into fair play and sportsmanship. In addition, coaching should also provide an opportunity for those participants who so wish to develop their sporting performance and potential. The ultimate level of performance should be restricted only by their own ability and the extent of their interest.
Coaching in performance and excellence
Quality coaching is the catalyst to the development of performance and excellence. It is recognised that coaches identify talent and nurture performance in those with the desire to improve and compete at national or international levels. Coaches also cultivate excellence for those with the potential and desire to be the best around.
However, there are increasing demands on coaches and they cannot achive this without the support and input of a range of experts. In the UK, there is now a growing quest for excellence and world class performance and there are increasing pressures on coaches to be successful on the international stage. This will inevitably challenge many existing practices within British Sport.
Coaching matters more than ever
The role of coaches may change as they move from participation to performance and excellence. This is typically characterised by a move away from intensive hands-on teaching roles, involving a high degree of intervention, towards a more hands-off mentoring type role in which they manage the overall training and competition programmes and adopt inter-disciplinary and innovative approaches to athete/team prepation, decision making and problem solving. The development of suitably educated and enlightened coaches working within a sustainable and effective caoching structure is essential at every level.
There is a need to create a climate in which coaches are encouraged to seek professional development at whatever level they operate. This demands an innovative and flexible programme of service which employ appropraite technology and support plus caters for the diverse needs and learning styles of every coach in every sport. |
