Role And Leadership: The Roles Of A Sports Coach

The roles of a sport coach

In this assignment I will be discussing the roles, responsibilities and skills that it takes to be a successful coach, I will be describing in detail 4 roles and 4 responsibilities and then 3 skills. ‘A sports coach is someone who assists the learning and development of another person or team of people in order to improve their performance in a sport, and who supports the personal development of individuals using sport as a vehicle for change and development.’

BTEC national Sports book 1 Ray Barker et al

There are many roles that a sporting coach may put into practice such as things like:

• Teacher/Instructor

• Manager

• Friend

• Motivator

Teacher/Trainer:

A trainer and a teacher are very similar with subtle differences. A teacher is someone who educates you to teach you new skills and help you develop ones you already have. Teachers tend to follow a syllabus where as a coach will be more relaxed with a scheme of work. A teacher’s role may be sport specific and be relates to teaching and learning of new sport techniques and skills, or it could be related to social and general life skills. There is a large variety of teaching styles and methods and should be able to know which ways are appropriate to the skill being taught and the students that are doing the learning. For example when working with different age groups the coach who is teaching them will be expected to use different techniques to help the knowledge is taken in.

If a teacher did not use the correct and appropriate skills when teaching/coaching they are unlikely to have a positive response. For example talking at young children telling them all the new knowledge is unlikely to be successful teaching methods. As children’s attention span ...

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...hing Murray many never of risen to the ability of being able to win a major tournament such as Wimbledon.

A well organised coach will get the most out of his team or performers, By keeping up to date with rule changes and fully understanding his sport a coach will be able to pass on his knowledge and inspire others. A coach should constantly be looking for improvements at all levels in order to get the very best out of those he is coaching.

Where a coach loses the confidence of a team this can be devastating on performance e.g. the French rugby team in the 2011 World cup.

By taking his role seriously a coach not only manages and teaches but he can act as a great motivator. A team can rally behind a coach and increase in confidence. Teams who have a high skill level as well as a great bond will generally perform better than this who do not receive good coaching.