What Kind of Coach Are You?

[kdsmith27 14]

What Kind of Coach Are You?

Brian Grasso

While it's true that you may frequent my newsletter because you want to read about training techniques, strategies and exercises, I can't help but point out to you that your ability as a coach is as much dependant on your interpersonal skills as it is on your ability in the biomotor sciences.

Sport psychology gets a fascinating amount of exposure in our industry how to best motivate athletes; challenge their innate senses of pride; draw out their inner champions.

That stuff is great when you have a receptive athlete who not only wants to hear what you have to say on that level, but also understands how to respond.

With kids though, the magic bullet doesn't exist. To me, the crux and primary issue of working with young athletes lies in pedagogical science as much as it does in the training application - maybe more.

Developing relationships with your young athletes is the most powerful thing you can do in the task of helping them create their sporting potential or adhering to a lifetime of physical activity.

It's not about "beating the drum" through vocal inspiration with all kids. One of the biggest shortcomings I have seen with many coaches and trainers is that they play the "vocal motivation coach" routine with every athlete they encounter. It's simply not prudent. The same way that not all exercise selection, arrangement or load is a one size fits all equation, so to is the same about the interpersonal relationship building sequence called coaching.

I have organized my thoughts into categories of athletes in order to best describe what I mean

A. The athlete has low motivation and skill

You know this athlete. Shy, quiet and lacking both confidence and ability (one likely begets the other). This is not the kid that is going to respond to a "rah, rah - go get 'em" style of coaching!

In my experience, I qualify the coaching style needed in this situation as "direct". Certainly, you take the time to make this young person feel comfortable in your group training settings. More often than not, I do this by speaking very quietly and directly to him/her once I have sent the other athletes on a task. Kids like this typically don't enjoy being "spoken to" or "singled out" in front of everyone. That's why I call this coaching style, direct. Direct your questions, suggestions and tasks to this youngster personally so that they do not feel "on display" in front of the group.

B. The athlete has low motivation but high skill

Here's where the "rah, rah" coach can be effective. The kid is good - he/she shows great skills and demonstrates wonderful technical ability. I have coached many athletes like this and very often their motivation is lost due to the fact that they lack challenge. Things may have come very easily to this particular athlete and he/she just never felt challenged. The coaching system warranted here I call "inspire".

In a positive and uplifting manner, challenge this young athlete to achieve more. Alter his/her set/rep/sequence design by adding an exercise or increasing the difficulty of the sequence. However, be wary of the young athlete who is talented, but lacks motivation because they simply have no interest in this sport anymore. I have also come across that scenario many times. A promising, talented kid gets "bullied" into sports by his/her parents. That's where the interpersonal skill of coaching is key. You have to know whether or not you are "inspiring" a young athlete who is just looking for a challenge or one is looking for a way out of sports!

C. The athlete has high motivation and skill

Simply put, "delegate". I have seen so many coaches and trainers try to "corral" athletes made up of these traits - almost like they want to take credit for the child's abilities. Sheltering kids like this and imposing your will and ideas on them is just not prudent. Kids like this need to be part of the decision cycle. Demonstrate and explain exercise selection to them; work at perfecting technical proficiency; have them understand the goals associated with programming - and then include them in creation development.

Kids are smart people. While some need to be "directed" others can and should be part of the coaching process. Talk to kids like this and get their feedback. Empower them to comprehend matters of technique and exercise progression and then encourage them to work with you on program design.

Now... before the emails poor in questioning me on this... The goal of coaching is to get ALL your young athletes into this category. That is the science and art that I call athletic development. The shy and quiet kid who lacks motivation and skill - artfully find a way to get him/her to this point.

The young athlete who has loads of skill but lacks motivation - artfully find a way to get him/her to this point.

D. The athlete has high motivation but low skill

Your job here is to "guide". They want to do it. They work hard at getting better. They really desire to improve. Guide them. Work hard with them on technical skills. Match their eager dispositions with an equally energetic coaching style dedicated to helping them learning and improve their skill level.

So... there you go. Four different, yet very common athletes, with four very different, yet corresponding coaching styles.

Hopefully this article will help you take a real look at the young athletes you work with and increase your awareness in terms of what they need from you.

Coaching is a beautiful art that you must strive to become better at. Far too often in this industry we look at the scientific parts of conditioning only. With kids, that's simply not enough.

[Mathound 4]

Thanks for posting this coach.