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Timothy
English 12
10-10-13
Senior Project Research Paper
Coaching for a Purpose
Ever since the very beginning of time a caveman trying to explain how to hunt
something to his child was an example of coaching in early time. Even during the
renaissance there were kings who led their people and coaches do the same by leading
their players. The term coach was a slang term used for tutor in the 1830s at Oxford
University. This then caught on and was used throughout the university and spread
immediately. The word coach now means even more because of all the sports that are
around the world. Coaching is a calling that will live on and make a difference in our
lives, but we must first answer what is it that a coach actually does. This is an important
question because we need to know why coaches do what they do. A coach prepares
his or her team to be able to compete in a game. The dictionary definition of a coach is
a person who trains an athlete or a team of athletes. Coaches assume many roles like
being an instructor, assessor, friend, demonstrator, mentor, adviser and supporter. The
job of coaching is a complex but rewarding career that offers more than just monetary
returns but rather affords an opportunity to change for the better.
When performing these important roles coaches must communicate with their
athletes and help them when they are in need of knowledge. Some essential skills that
coaches must have are communication, decision-making, dedication, leadership,
resourcefulness and interpersonal interaction. These skills are sometimes hard to obtain
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for some coaches due to their personalities. Coaches must adapt and always want to
get better at their job no matter what they start out with.
A very important part of coaching is how to deal with athletes and how to make
them better. Coaches should motivate their athletes to become better every day. A
proven fact is that winning teams are always highly motivated. There are two types of
motivation in sports. One type of motivation is called intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic
motivation is where the athlete has the desire to participate in the sport. This type of
motivation cant be fostered and it has to be made inside the athlete. The other type of
motivation is extrinsic motivation; for example when an athlete only participates to stay
out of trouble. A problem student may participate in the sport so he or she can get away
from what is bothering them. A student may also get all their frustrations out while doing
their sport. Playing a sport can be great therapy for people. An athletes motivation will
solely determine how successful the team will be whether it comes from within or from a
coach.
The job of coaching can be very strenuous but exceedingly rewarding. In order to
become a coach an individual must have certain qualities. It is essential to have good
communication skills in order to instruct and teach the athletes. Decision-making at
crucial game moments can be very taxing and requires significant knowledge in order to
make the best decision for the team. Coaches should be dedicated to the sport they are
coaching, the amount of time each job takes and most importantly, the team, and how
to make them become successful. Resourcefulness is a key factor in this profession;
coaches have to be able make a game plan, create new drill, make new plays, and be
able to problem solve under high pressure game situations. Having good leadership is
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an absolute must for a coach. Athletes look at the coach as the leader of the team and
one who will be there for the athletes. Good leadership is guiding the athletes on the
proper course of action. Acting as the leader is very demanding because the athlete
emulates what the coach does. Excellent interpersonal skills are an asset due to the
fact that a coach needs to listen to his or her athletes and always be there to help them
on and off the field (Topend Sports).
Coaches should consider factors like knowledge of the sport, college education,
wages, and hours before contemplating a coaching career. In order to be a coach they
should consider it a necessity to have knowledge of their sport, participate in the sport
some way and have a bachelors degree. In certain cases certification is needed, in
which they must meet state requirements and have knowledge of first aid. Coaching is
not a lucrative career at the beginning stages of coaching. Coaches at lower levels
receive $28,340 in wages in one year. As they advance in their career, coaching wages
become higher in college. According to bls.gov college coaches receive $39,750 a
year. If they get a head coaching job with a very good athletic school wages can then
pass the $250,000 range. If coaches achieve the honor of becoming a pro coach wages
will sometimes exceed the million-dollar range. The work environment is very strenuous
for a coach due to the long work hours and whether they are a successful team or not.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job of coaching includes organizing
practices, analyzing strengths and weaknesses of athletes, calling plays, providing
direction, and keeping records. The job outlook for coaching is a 29% increase in future
jobs. Coaching is also a very competitive job because many people want to coach and
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enjoy coaching. Becoming a coach has a bright future but these requirements are what
coaches should consider before becoming a coach.
Jimmy Chin is a popular athlete and photographer. His photographs are about
extreme adventure and thrilling sports, like mountaineering. Chin had some remarks
regarding coaching by saying: coaching is important because coaches level the playing
field, build confidence, promotes individual and team excellence, develops high
communication skills and produces valuable leaders (Why Coaching Is Important).
When coaches level the playing field, they must share their knowledge with their whole
team and make sure what they are saying is understandable to their audience.
The two levels of coaching are team and individual. The team level stipulates
that team members must work together in order to be a team. The individual level
explains that not everyone may share the same knowledge level, so coaches need to
make sure that the athletes receive the message they are trying to give them. Coaching
builds up confidence and the competence of an athlete. Coaches see their leadership in
action by determining whether a team is successful or unsuccessful.
The competence of the athlete depends on how hard coaches coach and the
coaching style they use to coach their athletes. Coaches try to promote individual and
team excellence on and off the court or field while they are coaching. These are things
that coaches really strive for and comprise the reasons why coaches are so important.
Coaches want their athletes to become something more than just an athlete; the want
them to learn life lessons and good ethics. Coaching has really helped people who have
been in need and searching for these things. When coaches promote excellence in the
team, it starts to become a habit. Thats why excellent teams stay excellent. As soon as
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coaches give their athletes constructive feedback, they should give them a compliment
if the athlete corrects what they are doing wrong. This establishes a standard that the
athletes must live up to. Its also nice for the athlete to know that they will not be unduly
chastised if they make a mistake.
If coaches meet with their athletes regularly and get to know them as a person,
there is a better chance that their team will be more successful both on and off the field.
If coaches care about the athletes it always means a lot to them and makes them want
to give a better effort for their coach. If their coach is always there for the athlete, the
coach will be viewed as someone that the athletes will work really hard for. Once
coaches set a goal for their athletes, they need to tell them what they need to do to
accomplish this goal and tell the athletes to make their own personal goal for what they
want after they finish the sport. Coaches must always be positive around their athletes
and be a good leader. They must practice what their coaching philosophy is and live by
what they are teaching athletes. If they dont do this then their athletes will not enjoy the
sport and not learn anything that they are trying to teach them. Athletes will benefit if
there is a discipline policy in place. This discipline should become part of the coachs
coaching style so as to set a good example for athletes Chin explains coaches produce
valuable leaders. This happens to seniors especially throughout their senior year.
Seniors become the main leaders of the team and usually assist the coaches in making
decisions. Seniors in high school also help other players understand the game better.
Many younger players credit most of what they learned to what the older players taught
them. The seniors influence the motivation of the younger athletes. If seniors tell the
underclassmen to carry out a task they will usually respond out of respect to the older
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players. This in turn makes the younger player feel like they are learning and
contributing to the team. Coaches creating players to be good leaders is key in having
successful players on and off the field.
Athletes play a very quintessential role in coaching. An athletes motivation will
actually determine how he or she will participate in the sport (Fanning). According to
espn.com coaches receive the criticism for defeat but when the team wins players
receive praise for their success and it is forgotten what the coach did to prepare their
athletes. Being involved with the team is very imperative for athletes so they can
achieve ultimate success. There are two types of goal-setting athletes. One type is task-
goal and the other is ego (Fanning). Task-goal types of athletes set a goal to complete a
task and they focus on getting better each day. An ego-centered athlete is exemplified
by a belief that he or she is superior to everyone else. They purely focus on whether
they are successful or not due to their wins and losses. Research shows that coaches
prefer task-goal athletes to ego-centered athletes. Task-involved athletes also have
higher levels of enjoyment, effort and satisfaction. They also attend practice on a
regular schedule. Ego centered athletes have less enjoyment, and have lowered levels
of satisfaction (Fanning). They also skip practice more often and coaches can tell that
they really dont want to be in attendance.
Athletes make mistakes, and it is how coaches respond after those mistakes is
what will determine how good a team coaches have. Coaches must keep a positive
attitude and give good advice to correct mistakes. An ego environment exists when
coaches are not positive with their reinforcement. The ego environment is considered
very toxic to a team. In order to avoid this type of environment athletes must stay
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motivated to become successful. According to the self-determination theory by Ryan
and Deci people participate for different reasons with different degrees of energy, effort
and persistence. Athletes feelings really do dictate on how a team does and will
determine how flourishing the athlete will be later in his or her life.
Some coaches say todays athletes always look for the easy way, do not listen,
have short attention spans, do not want to work hard and believe athletes in this
generation are not capable of achieving anything. Coach Wayne Goldsmith has been a
coach for 20 years and tries to help coaches all around the nation. Goldsmith says that
this generation of athletes is capable of many things. He says that contemporary
athletes are not lazy; they are just energized learners and are not afraid of hard work,
but they are afraid of boredom. He credits the short attention span to athletes being able
to learn faster. He also says that coaches must be set on their standards and should
have a good learning environment put in place. In order for players not to be lazy
coaches must be creative and not do the same drills all the time. This makes the
practice become lackluster and results in the kids becoming lazy and bored. Another tip
Goldsmith suggests is to use the Internet to their advantage. He explains, It is a great
tool to use to make new drills and learn new things about the sport they are coaching.
Goldsmiths opinion about coaching is one of the most challenging, exciting,
demanding and engaging professions in the world. He goes on to say that coaches
provide people with the opportunity to realize their full potential as athletes and as
human beings. This generation of athletes is very capable in doing good things for the
team as well as for the coaches.
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Coaches behavior solely determines how well the team responds to their
coaching. The more confident one is as a coach, the more one will offer praise and
encouragement towards your team (Short and Short). Some coaches perceive
themselves to be more ideal by using positive feedback, appropriate training and proper
instruction (Sullivan and Kent). There are two types of coaching styles that are
important to the profession. The democratic coaching style is where coaches are open
to receiving input from players with certain decisions. The players also feel that they
have some say in what is going on. The other coaching style is the autocratic coaching
style. In this style coaches run the team by making decisions by themselves and players
have no opinions in what the coach does. Of the two coaching styles the autocratic style
seems to be more unsuccessful. The principle of Hall of Fame coach John Wooden was
if the players did something wrong, he would give a brief demonstration on what they
did wrong, correct it, and continue with practice. Coach Wooden instead of scolding an
individual he scolded the whole team. This strategy makes every player try to work
harder in sports practice. Coach Wooden would only demonstrate the things he needed
to teach for about 5 seconds so he wouldnt upset the flow of practice. Coachs
behavior and how they interact with the team is an essential part in being a coach.
When athletes begin in high school sports their first coach is usually a high
school coach. For many, high school coaches were the building blocks for professional
sports players. High school coaches influence us in many ways like: teaching athletes
the game, life lessons, good sportsmanship and how to always be there for someone. A
coach recently interviewed an athlete from Centre High School, Kyle Methvin who is
currently a senior and is the quarterback of the high school football team. The coach
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asked him if a high school coach has made a difference in his life. He replied yes and
then the coach asked which of his coaches had made a difference and he responded
with his high school football coaches, Coach Wiles and Coach Steiner. The coach then
questioned why these coaches had an impact in his life. He replied Coach Wiles and
Coach Steiner teach about the fundamentals of the game and teach about how to have
exceptional character on and off the field. High school coaches give knowledge and
inspire athletes to become the best student-athlete they possibly can. These high
school coaches have already made a big impact in students lives.
When coaching, coaches will have athletes that make errors, but it is the way
coaches correct those errors that will establish if coaches have a thriving team and how
they make athletes become successful. The coachs duty is to first determine how the
completed performance is compared to the desired performance. Coaches should
determine on how to change the performance to the desired performance. In order to
ascertain these corrections they must observe the methods the athletes are currently
using. Many coaches believe experience is the best way to correct errors. Practicing
helps the team improve on the skills they are taught by the coaches. When coaching to
correct errors try not to provide long feedback or rush into error correction (Successful
Coaching). Another method to correct errors according to the textbook Successful
Coaching is using video to watch what the team did wrong and then coaches showing
the right way to correct it. Having a positive attitude when correcting errors is key when
coaches have to teach something new to an athlete. A quote that is generally used by
coaches is a mistake undetected is a mistake uncorrected. This strategy was created
to help aid coaches in correcting errors. This is called the substitute strategy. The
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substitute strategy carried out when a player makes a mistake and the coach
substitutes another player in for the player who did the mistake. This prevents the coach
from correcting the player in front of everybody and embarrassing the player. Using the
strategy also makes sure that other players dont notice the player who encountered a
problem. If the team should happen to make a mistake the coach should just make a
simple correction and use positive feedback when doing it. Correcting blunders is a big
part of coaching and knowing how to do it right will affect the team in a positive manner.
This in return will help the team morale be more connected.
Teaching skills and planning are two indispensable abilities coaches should
possess. If coaches plan things before they do them, then coaches provide challenging
learning situations. Planning also paces learning so athletes are not overwhelmed by
material they are just being taught. There are several benefits of planning according to
the book, Successful Coaching, benefits include: making the best use of time, space
and equipment, minimize discipline, and finally increase confidence in their ability to
handle situations. Coaches indentify skills to teach by using their experience and
knowledge of the game. Many coaches use resources like books and the Internet to
learn new skills. Veteran coaches give clinics in which other coaches learn skills from
them. Lots of coaches get ideas from other coaches that are older than them. First-year
coaches usually have a mentor they can follow in order to know what is going on.
Knowing skills and planning things beforehand help the coach be better prepared
throughout the season.
Coaches will have to encounter problems with athletes as they go through their
career. It is the way coaches deal with these problems that will tell whether the coach
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will be a successful coach. In order for the players to follow the code of conduct set by
coaches, the coaches must follow it themselves. This includes the Coaches Code of
Ethics: Be Respectful, Be Fair and Trustworthy, Be Responsible and Be Competent.
Coaches must also not in engage in gambling, hazing, bullying, discriminating and use
of illegal drugs. Coaches should handle problems with class and calmness. This is a
vital part in the coaching system.
Coaches like Bill Belichick, Vince Lombardi, Gregg Poppovich, Mike Krzyzewski,
Nick Saban and Stan Wiles are all great examples of coaches that put the athlete first in
their lives. They all focus on hard work and doing their best to get the most out of their
athletes. This could have been done through team meetings and in practice. The
athletes they have coached have given these men everything they have due to the
coaching they have gotten from these certain individuals. These strategies may have
been taxing to both players and coaches alike, but once they found that common goal
and worked towards it, there was nothing that could stop their teams. These coaches
were very effective in athletes lives, and they inspire coaches today.
In conclusion the job of coaching is a complex but rewarding career that offers
more than just monetary returns but rather affords an opportunity to change for the
better. They are very important to society due to what they do in their various ways. So
when you see a coach, thank them for all they have done because they have helped
people become better in their lives.


Works Cited
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"Home of Sports Coaching." Sports Coaching. Topend Sports, Web. 27 Aug. 2013.
Martens, Rainer. Successful Coaching. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1997. Print. a
more successful coach.
McKay, Dawn. "Athletic Coach: Career Information." About.com Career Planning. Web.
29 Aug. 2013.
Methvin, Kyle. "Player Interview: Kyle Methvin." Personal interview.
"Great Coaching Great Coaches: How to Be the Best of the Best." Sports Coaching
Brain. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
"Motivation in Team Sports." Yahoo Contributor Network. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
"Sports Coaching Brain." Sports Coaching Brain. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
"The Success Secrets." : Why Coaching Is Important. Jimmy Chin. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
"History of Coaching A True Insight into Coaching." RAPIDBI. Web. 07 Dec. 2013.