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Nathaniel Sedergren
Coaching Philosophy Assignment
SPED 613
Dr. Snyder
June 23, 2015
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Rating scale
−3
−2
−1
Negative self
0
+1
+2
Neutral self
+3
Positive self
Ideal self (as you
would like to be)
Public self (as you
believe you are
seen by others)
Real self (as
you perceive
yourself)
an athlete
+3
+2
+1
a coach
+3
+3
+3
a mother or father +3
N/A
N/A
successful
+3
+1
+1
honest
+3
+2
+2
anxious
0
-1
-2
empathic
+3
+1
+2
domineering
+1
+3
+2
loyal
+3
+3
+3
humble
+3
+2
+2
0
+1
+3
respected
+3
+2
+1
stubborn
0
-1
-2
powerful
+2
0
+1
Item
Knowing yourself as . . .
needing
recognition
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The best coaches are those who . . .
a. give individual help and are interested in their
athletes’ development.
2
b. make practices and games fun.
1
c. teach athletes the skills needed to win.
3
If a news story were written about me, I would like to be described as . . .
a. a coach who contributed to the development of
young people.
2
b. a coach for whom athletes enjoyed playing.
1
c. a winning coach.
3
As a coach I emphasize . . .
a. teaching skills that young people can use later
in life.
3
b. having fun.
1
c. winning.
Total score
2
7
3
Development Fun
8
Winning
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Who Am I?
1. Who am I?
I am a hard working strength coach who is strong in faith.
2. What do I want in life?
I want to be the best in my profession as a strength coach and have a family and kids
3. Where am I going?
I’m going wherever the best opportunity for my self and my family is.
4. Is my behavior in line with my life’s goals?
Yes, I am trying to take the proper paths to my goals and work hard every day.
5. Am I proud or ashamed of who I am?
I am proud, I have achieved more than anyone ever expected of me.
6. Am I happy or unhappy?
I am happy with the path I have chosen
7. Why do I coach?
I love strength and conditioning and I want to effect athletes the way my coaches effected
me.
8. Am I coaching for the right reasons?
I feel so.
9. What are my goals as a coach?
To be the best I can be and hopefully be a good role model for my players.
10. Am I a good coach?
Yes, I feel I have a great attitude towards my athletes and have been successful.
11. What would make me a better coach?
To be more prepared for every session and plan in advance.
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As a Strength and Conditioning Coach, having a philosophy is one of the most
important aspects of building a good program. As a player and a coach I have developed
my philosophy in a different way than most. I feel I have taken all of the negative things
I did not like from former coaches and used my experiences to develop my own coaching
philosophy.
I have used my experiences as a player to mold my coaching philosophy. As a
college football player I walked on at Western Carolina University. When I started my
career, I gave no effort my first year because I felt I was not getting a fair shot to play.
After realizing that that my goal was to earn a scholarship and be a starting line backer I
knew the only path to achieve that was to work as hard or harder than my teammates. It
was a long journey over those four years but I ultimately earned a scholarship, was a
captain of the team, and started at linebacker. This life experience showed me that you
have to work hard for what you want and nothing is given, it is all earned.
I had to use self-awareness as a player to understand where I was as an athlete and
now I use it to judge myself as a coach. I feel that I am the most critical of my self. I feel
that I have to strive for perfection so my athletes can use me as an example for
themselves. As a strength coach, one should have great self esteem and have the ability to
control a room with confidence.
A strength coach has to place his or her values differently than a sport coach
might. In strength and conditioning development should be your key value. The most
important aspect of your job is to develop the players’ bodies through training and mental
strength and toughness during certain drills. As a coach you have to preach the little
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things so that it is ingrained in their mind and it will transfer over when they are with
their sport coach. Winning is my second most important value. Winning means
perfection, and as a coach and a player you should always strive to be the best you can be
and shoot for perfection. Winning will come if you follow all of the little steps before the
game. My last value is fun. There is a place for fun in the weight room but it only
happens if the work is done and the group is mature enough to handle it. I feel that these
three values go in order: if you develop as a player and a team the wins will come and if
you are winning then you will be having fun.
Recreational sports in my mind are purely for a good time. Whereas a
competitive sport, in which you might be getting paid to play, it is a lot more focused on
winning and less on fun.. One way that my beliefs might not be compatible in the future
is if I was coaching a youth team. I might try to coach them the same way I coach college
athletics and that might be to intense for recreationa sports.
My three principles that I preach to my athletes are effort, attitude and consistency.
I feel that if an athlete can find a balance between those three actions they will b
successful. Players cannot control the athletic ability they were given but they can
control the effort they give every day. Also the athletes can control their attitude towards
others. I believe if you have a positive attitude you will have a positive outcome. The
third thing I harp on to my athletes is consistency. If you do the first two principles but
only when you feel like it you will never improve. Every day counts and if you are nt
getting better there is always someone else who is. If an athlete can consistently approach
workouts with a great attitude and effort I guarantee they will be a better athlete and a
better person.
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My philosophy is broad and I have a standard that I uphold with all teams I coach.
No matter if you are a national champion swimmer or a 0 and 10 football team I will hold
them all to the same standard. I make my philosophy simple so that it is easy for me to
make a decision if someone is not following the standards.
My coaching style is very energetic. I like to joke with my athletes and run around
and be high tempo to push them to their limits. I also coach the little things like finishing
a rep or starting behind the line because I want the athletes to be completely focused. I
can be very loud when complementing an athlete so the other athletes notice someone is
doing a good job. On the other hand, if I do not like something I am seeing I will pull the
athlete aside and say something so the whole team doesn’t get distracted. As a coach I
want to try to set a high energy that my athletes can feed off of.
Leadership and ethics play a huge role in my philosophy and my style of coaching.
If you follow the simple actions of giving effort, great attitude and being consistent the
next step is to try to make the athletes lead each other and keep each other accountable.
As a coach you cannot control your players off the field or weight room but if you equip
them with the proper ethical values then they should be in the right position to make the
right decisions.