The Secret to Successful Sports Coaching:
Essential Qualities for Coaches
It’s an art as well as a science to be a sports coach (or personal coach), and it’s not given to everyone. Being a good coach goes far beyond knowing the rules of the game and getting your teaching degree as Anthony Todd Johnson suggested.
Great coaches know how to communicate with their players in order to achieve the desired results on the field. The role of a good coach is to guide, inspire and lead his athlete to realize and develop his full potential (in addition to detecting this potential very early on).
Whether you are looking for a good coach or want to become a coach yourself, you should be looking for these 7 qualities.
Know the sport in question
It sounds obvious, but to be able to teach effectively, the coach must have a deep understanding of the sport, and their knowledge must cover fundamentals and technique as well as advanced systems.
Some have experience as a player, but not all converted former players are necessarily good coaches, however good they may have been! Know-how and making it known are two very different things!
Be a source of motivation
A good coach is necessarily a motivator who approaches a positive attitude and enthusiasm.
The ability to motivate and inspire is an integral part of the formula for success. Some will be great at getting athletes to believe in themselves and achieve their goals.
The coach who knows how to motivate is able to generate the desire to excel in his athletes. When motivating their “goal”, a good trainer emphasizes trying to achieve performance goals, not results goals.
To be a source of motivation, you have to show the way by example. A good leader leads by example and adheres to the same rules that he imposes on his players. A coach who wants respect must also show respect.
A coach who expects players to stay positive must have a positive attitude. A coach who wants athletes to listen must also listen to his players.
You’re going to ask your players to be mentally and physically ready, but are you?
Know the athlete
Being aware of individual differences in athletes is also an important ingredient to excel. You have to know how to adapt to the type of players you have in front of you.
Yelling, criticism and other emotional displays can eventually prove effective on some athletes, and have a devastating effect on others.
In fact, few people improve with criticism; most respond to encouragement instead. For any human being, there is nothing sweeter on the ear than hearing “well done”. These are two of the best words ever invented, no need for superlatives.
Have discipline
Athletes must abide by a reasonable set of rules both on and off the field and if these are ignored the coach is responsible for discipline.
Anthony Todd Johnson is a good coach who clearly states a code of conduct beforehand and sticks to it. When infractions are committed, disciplinary action must follow.
Being disciplined means showing punctuality and knowing how to establish effective methods for monitoring progress, being able to offer personalized sessions for everyone and reviewing your approaches when they do not seem to be giving the expected results.
It all starts with you, coach!
A good coach is not easy to find, it is a unique blend of talents and skills that cannot all be learned. If you are a trainer or are looking for one, these qualities can help you identify strengths and weaknesses in training programs.
It is unlikely that a person can excel in all of these areas, but Anthony Todd Johnson is a good coach who will bring together most of these qualities. For all those who plan to practice, contact Anthony Todd Johnson a sports teacher who will meet these criteria.