Unit 5: Sports Coaching
Roles and responsibilities of a sports
coach
Sports coaches are vital to the success of a number of
programmes across a range of sports. They are at the
heart of participation and performer development;
whether they coach an after-school club or are a top
international coach with support staff.
At the end of this module you should:
•understand the role, responsibilities and skills of a
coach
•understand the techniques used by coaches to
improve the performance of athletes
•be able to plan a coaching session
•be able to deliver a coaching session.
The role of the coach
• A role can be defined as: - the list of jobs that a
coach needs perform. They may need to adopt a
variety of roles when coaching to include; a
manager, trainer, role model, group control etc...
• Effective coaches tend to find new ways of
improving existing practices or theories
• Performers who work with innovative coaches
speak about how they are never bored and
always trying something new.
• What roles do coaches have?
Roles of a coach
Trainer, educator
and instructor
Manager
Friend
Role model
Motivator
Design a poster
• Students are divided into small groups of 3 or 4. Each group has a
particular theme or topic to learn about using resources and/or
through their own research. Each group member must take on a
separate role (i.e. drawer, researcher and thinking).
• Students must design a poster. The aim of the poster is to present
the information of the topic that the students have researched.
Each poster must have only
– A maximum of 10 words
– Pictures (to represent words)
– Symbols and numbers
•
•
•
•
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Group 1: Trainer, educator & instructor ( fatou, paul seb)
Group 2: Motivator (Gail, Hayden, Kyhri)
Group 3: Role Model (Albert, Marlon)
Group 4 : Manager (ferrao, klausen)
Group 5; friend (Jordan, marcel )
10 minutes for the task – important that you use your time
wisely, be concise and get to the point
Task 1.2: Present your poster & feedback
• One student from the group then stays behind to explain their
theory to other students
• Without the main notes (just the poster with your key
information)
• Remaining students ‘visit’ each of the other tables to learn
about their theories, whilst taking a notes of what they are
learning about.
• The researchers then return to their original group and
feedback what they have learnt until all the theories have
been covered.
Trainer, educator and instructor
• The difference between a teacher, educator and
instructor is hard to distinguish. Teaching implies a
transfer of learning through demonstration, modelling
or instruction. Coaches can also teach emotional and
social skills.
• Young performers in particular can be encouraged to
increase their social awareness, learn to cope with
losing and winning, and develop self-confidence.
• Good coaches will be aware that people learn in
different ways. They then adapt and use a range of
techniques to ensure that learning takes place.
• A sound knowledge of anatomy and physiology and
fitness theory is essential for coaches. In the role of
trainer, you might be expected to design and
implement training programmes for your performers.
Motivator
• Motivation can come merely by providing a stable environment in
which to learn, in a positive and safe atmosphere. Performers who
constantly find negativity are certain at some point to become
despondent and suffer a reduction in self-confidence and
improvement.
• Evidence suggests that performers who receive praise and positive
feedback are likely to get more from their performances. When
providing feedback to performers you would employ the following
techniques: KISS, KICK, KISS.
• When communicating with performers, the emphasis with this
technique would be to start your feedback with a positive
comment. Second, a corrective comment can be presented in as
positive a manner as possible. Finally, leave the interaction with a
positive comment and possible an action plan
• KISS - 'Good positioning prior to the shot and
you watched the ball well'
• KICK - 'You should consider your upper body
positioning when connecting with the ball,
you should ensure that you follow through
your shot'
• KISS - 'If you practice these changes, you will
almost certainly improve'.
Role model
• In almost every coaching situation players will look mostly,
if not entirely, to the coach as their source of inspiration
and knowledge, never more so than when working with
children. Children often imitate the behaviour and manner
of their coach. For this reason it is vital that coaching is safe
and responsible, and that behaviour is considered good
practice. The coach can influence player development in a
number of ways.
• Social
• Personal
• Psychological
• Health
• Performance
Friend
• Coaches will inevitably end up spending a lot of time
with their performers, it is therefore very important
that a friendly and respectful environment is created.
As performers and coaches may go through many
positive and negatives situations together, if the coach
can act as a 'friend' it may make the performer more
likely to discuss any issues/ideas with them.
• Acting as a friend may be more motivational to the
performer too. The stronger with coach/friend
relationship the more likely the coach is to understand
why the performer takes part in sport and what factors
affect their motivation.
Manager
• The role of a manager is not necessarily as simple as managing the
players during coaching sessions. It could involve managing training
programmes and a number of administrative tasks such as the
accounts, club subscriptions, health and safety documents etc...
• The main role of the manager is to often pick the team for
competition, however in high level performance it is likely there will
be other people such as specialist coaches and support staff that
can work it.
• Managers should always be striving to get the best ability out of the
players, ensuring all training programmes are tailored to the
individual and extra support is provided where needed, to help
optimal performance to be achieved.
• They should have a range of skills, to enable them to do this. To
include excellent leadership and the ability to delegate roles and
responsibilities to others working on the same team. This is turn
will affect the success of a manager
Responsibilities of a coach
Professional
standards
Health and
safety
Child
protection
Legal
obligations
Personal
standards
A responsibility can be defined as: - the things a coach must consider in order to
carry out their role effectively.
Group task
• You will be split into 4 groups with each group
covering a responsibility of a coach
• Professional conduct
• Legal obligations
• Child protection
• Health and safety
Professional conduct
• Coaches should demonstrate model behaviour at all times. Their
influence should always be positive and would usually mean
working to a code. They must act in the most ethical and
professional manner, showing a degree of honest, integrity and
competence. They should be considerate of all individual needs and
do their best to accommodate for everyone.
• It is not enough to achieve a coaching qualification. Coaches should
have a commitment to continual and on-going learning or
professional development. This could include:
• Attaining higher-grade qualifications
• Attending workshops and seminars
• Being aware of changes to their sport.
Legal Obligations
• All coaches need to be aware of their legal
responsibilities. We are all governed by laws in
every day life and there are also many extra
laws governing our actions and professional
conduct on the field of play.
• A coach must be aware of what is and what is
not allowed in their sport, and also how the
laws can affect their coaching practice
Child protection
• Coaching will spend a lot of time working with
children and young performers so are likely to
develop a closer relationship, becoming maybe a
parent figure or friend. Therefore they need to be
aware of what is considered inappropriate
contact or behaviour that may breach child
protection guidelines.
• All coaches should undertake a Criminal records
bureau (CRB) check, which goes through police
records to see if any offences have been
committed.
Health and safety
• A good coach should do a full health and safety check of
the surroundings and participants before any activity starts.
This can include checking for jewellery, appropriate
clothing, ensuring participants are fit to take part e.g. not
under the influence of alcohol/drugs.
• They should also perform a risk assessment to ensure there
are no hazards around that may cause harm to the
performers such as glass on the court. As well as these
checks, coaches should also follow a safe training structure
when delivering their sessions.
• These include having a warm up and cool down to make
sure the body is fully prepared for activity to reduce the risk
of injury. A cool down will also aim to return the body back
to a resting state as quickly as possible to reduce the effect
of muscle soreness etc...