A competent coach has many qualities and should be able to cater for the individual needs of people in the session

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A competent coach has many qualities and should be able to cater for the individual needs of people in the session.

. Describe, compare and critically evaluate two successful coaches. Evidence will be in the form of a written report.

2. Design a poster presentation that identifies, compares and evaluates a range of techniques. Evidence will be in the form of a poster and notes.

3. Complete 4 observations checklists identifying, comparing and evaluating the needs of four different performers/athletes.

INTRODUCTION

For most people in life they will always remember a good coach or teacher; a good coach/teacher can be the difference for someone taking part ion sport in later life. Although I haven't experienced this, I have read that people have had bad experiences with coaches or teachers and have been put off sport for life. This shows how important a coach or teacher can be in developing children for later life.

I have to compare two coaches that I believe to be successful; I have decided to choose a former teacher and a former coach. I believe it will be interesting to compare them as they were both successful in different, one was successful as he produced good results for the team and the other was successful in producing and help develop children into good players. My first coach was Adrian Tame, he was my cricket coach but was also a Devon coach will help me develop and also get a chance regularly to show Devon selectors my ability, some people are at clubs where they don't send representatives to Devon trials, I was lucky in that sense. He was a coach that focused on developing my skill rather than looking at a way of using my skill to win games, you could say he looked at the technical side of the sport rather than the mental aspect. My other coach was my football teacher/coach at my secondary school. He was a person who I got along with and he was more of a coach that didn't coach our skills but coached us win with our skills, he used different techniques to motivate us and to help us win matches.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Whether you are a qualified coach or just someone who does it for fun your attitude towards children is a big part in whether you are a successful coach or not.

Wanted

Our

Future

This diagram shows how and where you can use your coaching skills. Even if you are not qualified you can skilled help develop sport in certain situations. It just means you are restricted to amateur set-ups where they are usually grateful for the help whether from a qualified coach or an unqualified one.

Each sport has their own way of training and educating people to become qualified coaches but there is a set structure

At the core of the Programme is a four level ladder, ranging from beginner coach to international coach, with a number of sports offering an Introduction to Coaching Course. Each level deals with three major modules: - The Sport, The Participant and The Coach.

* The Sport - Principles and Rules, Strategy and Tactics, Technique and Skill, History and Structure.

* The Participant -Motives and Needs, Physical Fitness, Mental Fitness, Skill Development.

* The Coach -Planning and Appraisal, Role of the Coach, Practice and Competition

ROLES OF A COACH

The role of the coach is a varied one. It involves being a teacher, a trainer, a motivator, a manager and a friend. It also involves being disciplined (and knowing how to discipline), being willing to listen and being willing to learn.

In a purer sense it is the art and science of sharing your accumulated knowledge with a player to improve their performance.

Coaching is not just about improving the physical performance of the player. The changes in behaviour, mental and physical condition which coaching can bring will carry over into everyday life. That's where the saying everyone remembers a good teacher/coach comes from.

In taking on the role of a coach, you must accept that the development of the player as "a whole person" is as important as that player's success in the sport. Coaches must use the influence they have on players, particularly young children, with care, consideration and concern.

Here are six of coach's most important roles they have to play within helping a young or experienced athlete to improve.

. Advisor - Advising athletes on the training to be conducted and suitable kit and equipment.

2. Assessor - Assessing athlete's performance in training and in competition.

3. Demonstrator - Demonstrate to the athletes the skill you require them to perform. To achieve this it is important that you also keep fit.

4. Mentor - When athletes attend training sessions you are responsible, to their parents and family, for ensuring that they are safe and secure. You have to monitor their health and safety whilst training and support them should they have any problems or sustain any injuries.

5. Motivator - Maintain the motivation of all the athletes the whole year round.

6. Supporter - Competition can a be very nerve racking experience for some athletes and often they like you to be around to help support them through the pressures. Role of a 'Friend' and perhaps 'Counsellor' come in here to.

I have missed one role out from this list; I believe the most important role of a coach is that of an educator. His job is not complete when he's delivered his message, but rather, when the moment comes when the athlete/player completely understands what you're saying and is able to contribute his own ideas to the conversation. Some children can learn by listening, others learn better with visual images, and still others learn best kinaesthetically, by going through the motions. So it is important that a coach doesn't use the same technique for getting information across with every child as each child is different and may find it easier to learn a different way, each coaching technique must be Taylor made for the athlete/player rather for the coach.

SKILLS OF A COACH

For a young athlete/performer it is important to have a good coach as everything you learn at an early age will transfer to later life, it isn't so bad if you get told inaccurate points when your older as you have a fair idea of what is right and wrong for you, but when your younger it sets the foundation for your later career and it is important that your coach has the correct skills to enable you to keep learning and learning in the correct way. There is a core set of skills that every coach should no matter what sport you coach as it applies to all sports.

* It is important you know how to communicate with your athletes and you know how to adapt your communication depending on the situation.

* Although knowledge of the sport isn't always essential it is important you understand the training principles and the learning process (for example to know not to overload a young performer with too much information at once.)

* Although you probably have your own coaching style it is important to be aware of all the other coaching styles as not every child or athlete is the same and you may have to adjust your style to suit a performer.

* When coaching young children you must be aware of their growing capabilities and too understand when to push them and when not to.

* For a young person to improve their performance it is also important for them to learn about their sport, for example rules and regulations.

* You must recognise how to prevent injury and the effects of over training.

* You should use evaluation tests to monitor training progress and predicting performance.

* Although it may not seem important for a young person, nut it is important for a coach to get a message across about the correct diet and the importance of nutritional needs.

* As the performer develops and has to deal with the mental aspect of sport they will need to be educated on relaxation and mental imagery skills.

* As an athlete gets older and the difference between them and other athletes grows smaller they will want to increase their chances of improving this will sometimes involve taking supplements and it is the coaches job to advise which ones are legal and which ones will help them the most.

* Probably the coach's most important skill is that to evaluate their athlete in many situations but most importantly evaluate the athlete's competition performance and evaluate their training performance.

COACHING STYLES

I would say there were three different coaching styles - autocratic (do as I say), democratic (involve the athletes in decision making) and finally probably the least used Laise Faire (which is where the coaching gives an idea or point and the athlete goes off and learns for himself. The autocratic style can be broken into two types - telling and selling and the democratic style into sharing and allowing. Coaches will use a variety of styles/types depending on the coaching situation (mostly depending on the type and personality of athlete they are coaching)

Autocratic Style - Telling

* The coach decides on what is to be done

* The athletes are not involved in the decision making

* The coach defines what to do and how to do it

This is a very straight forward style to understand, the coach will give an instruction and the way he wants it to be completed and then the athlete will go and do what the coach has said, for example the coach wants his prop to do sets of 3 with 6 reps on bench press.

Autocratic Style - Selling

* The coach decides on what is to be done

* The coach explains what is required and the objectives

* The athletes are encouraged to ask questions to confirm understanding

* The coach defines what to do and how to do it

Obviously it is similar to the other autocratic style with a slight difference, the coach will basically tell the athlete the purpose of what he is about to do and will also give the athlete a chance to ask any questions of his own but still the coach will decide what the athlete is doing. For example will tell the athlete that by doing 3 sets of 6 reps on bench press will build his strength in his chest. Then if the athlete doesn't understand he can ask the coach his questions.

Democratic Style - Sharing

* The coach outlines the training requirements to the athletes

* The coach invites ideas/suggestions from the athletes

* The coach makes the decision based on the athletes' suggestions

* The coach defines what to do and how to do it

The two democratic styles are obviously more f an interaction between the coach and the athlete, with the sharing style the coach will tell the athlete they want them to improve upper body strength and then ask the athlete what sot of exercises they prefer doing for upper body, the athlete may say 'cleans'.

Democratic Style - Allowing

* The coach outlines the training requirements to the athletes

* The coach defines the training conditions

* The athletes brainstorm to explore possible solutions

* The athletes make the decision

* The athletes define what to do and how to do it

This is the most relaxed style with the exception of Laise Faire, the coach will say to the athlete that they want them to work on the upper body and to do sets with no more than 8 reps, and will show them the correct technique for the exercise but it allows the athlete to personalise the workout suited to their preference.

Some people don't see the coaching styles falling into the categories above; the other known view on coaching styles is they fall into four sections.

* Command style - direct instruction, coach dictates

* Reciprocal style - athlete takes some responsibility for their own development - monitored by the coach

* Problem solving style - athlete solves problems set by the coach

* Guided discovery - athlete has freedom to explore various options

TWO SUCCESSFUL COACHES

ADRIAN TAME

I have tried to pick two coaches that were quite different in both their styles and approaches; this will show how two very different coaches can still be very effective. My first coach was Adrian Tame he was my first proper cricket coach, he starting coaching me from about age eleven and he probably coached me properly for at least five years. I believe when you first start a sport you don't really have to be taught by a qualified coach as you still learning the basics, which anyone can coach, but I feel once you reach the level when you are a competent player you will need to coached the correct way. Adrian is almost a professional coach, I think he has taken almost all the coaching courses available and has coached different age groups for Devon and also for the West of England section, which is very high standard. As far as Adrian is concerned I always felt he was a coach that concentrated a lot on developing my skill rather than looking at other aspects of the game, I think this was quite noticeable when I tried to transfer my skill into a game situation. I often found batting in the nets wasn't a problem for me and I felt I looked like I was improving all the time, but when I played in matches I struggled as I wasn't used to dealing with some of the other aspects of the sport especially the psychological side of the sport. I would say Adrian's roles as a coach were quite varied, he was an assessor, and he was also a mentor and an advisor. I think his most important role as far as I was concerned was a demonstrator, when learning new skills or trying to correct skills he would always demonstrate the correct technique which I believe to be a great help especially for me as I like to see the skill being performed as I struggle to digest some of the technical words used when learning a skill and I struggle to get a mental picture from just listening to someone describe the skill. I would certainly say that Adrian was an advisor to me; he would always explain things that I needed to do to improve whether that involved me buying equipment, involving different fitness techniques or to go to representative trials. Although I said Adrian's most important role, as a coach was being a demonstrator I believe he was almost equally as important being a mentor to me. I remember one incident when I was hit in the face with a cricket ball while playing with some mates in a field and he paid for me to buy a helmet so that I didn't get hit there again, I remember some occasions when some of the team were messing around and he use to stop the whole training session so that everyone was just watching us, he didn't want any proper sporting activity going on whilst we were messing around, this also made us quite embarrassed not to do it again. One thing that always found helpful was some of Adrian's techniques when coaching, believe he was a few years ahead of his time, I remember when I was twelve just before a Devon trial he recorded a whole training session and played it back to us to help us see what he was seeing I thought this was different idea especially at the time, I thought it helped me a lot and I would have liked to have done this more regularly.
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Many people see a coach as a person who hasn't got any skill in the sport so they coach it instead, most of the time this isn't true but coaching itself requires a lot of skill itself. A lot about being a good coach can come from your personality but don't underestimate the skills that a coach has. I think personally one of the most important skills a coach can have is the ability to adapt to a situation or person. For example you may have a set caching style but you may recognise a person in your ...

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