Tip of the Month - May 2024
The Coach-Athlete Relationship
Coaching is described as both an “Art and a Science,” which makes it very complex in terms of the interaction between coach[s] and athlete[s]. It is based on pedagogical principles – how knowledge and skills are imparted in an educational context, which requires a trained professional, not a volunteer who ‘loves’ children or wants to make sure that their child gets to compete or play, or a former elite or professional athletes who “slides into the only thing he/she knows is coaching.” This happens way too often because a) society does not value the Amateur coaching profession, i.e., “anybody can coach,” and b) society tends to idolize former Olympians or Professional athletes, believing that status and former success are the answer to making children super athletes. That is far from reality because dealing with the development of children and youth requires the knowledge and understanding of Growth and Development, the ‘know-how’ of developing and teaching physical, technical, strategic, and moral skills, whereby the latter seems to go missing in many scenarios, given the events happening in many children and youth sports nowadays.
The coach–learner relationship must distinctly outline all of the steps required to be an effective coach and provide a positive teaching/coaching/learning experience.
Establishing a positive coaching environment
Providing a safe training and competition environment
Believing in and demonstrating Fair Play values
Modeling moral and ethical behavior
Applying fair and ethical values
Helping to set goals
Deconstructing expertise through the use of skill milestones
Eliciting a learner’s self-assessment
Purposefully observing a learner’s performance,
Synthesizing a coach’s assessment of the learner’s performance
Promoting reflection
Creating a feedback dialog
Encouraging motivation and self-esteem
Facilitating practice by providing challenges
Reference:
Internet Search:
https://ussa-my.com/publications/articles.php?artnum=33
Schloder, M.E. (2021). Lecture Notes. The teaching and learning process. Calgary, Alberta, Canada, www.coachingbest.com