The Importance of the Coach as a Teacher

Dominic Bennett, Leah A. Nillas

Research output: Faculty Advisor of Undergraduate Research

Abstract

The importance of a successful athletic coach may be monitored by their wins, but a plethora of different factors contribute to a coach’s ability to build and cultivate a successful athletic program. Even with the most exceptional athletes, the characteristics and implementations of a coach can make or break a program’s success, or even an athlete’s career. However, athletic coaches can develop a lot of successful techniques from different teaching styles. Therefore, this study intends to examine the different teaching styles based on their success, inclusivity, and their applications to being a successful athletic coach (Aelterman et al., 2018). Investigation into different teaching styles led to two main coaching styles: need-supporting (NS) and need-thwarting (NT). Need-supporting encompasses four different approaches; clarifying: having clear and consistent goals and expectations and guiding: expressing confidence in athletes. Two other NS approaches include participative: letting athletes have a say and attuning: seeing your athletes perspective. Need-thwarting also includes four different approaches; demanding: using forceful language or threatening punishments/rewards and domineering: using power-assertive tactics. While those two are depicted as the primary NT approaches, two others were identified as abandoning: giving up on athletes, and awaiting: lack of planning and expectation of athlete initiative (Delrue et al., 2019). Through a conceptual model, this research synthesis adopts a bottom-up research approach. Sources utilized in this synthesis were chosen based on their significant findings for successful coaches and physical education programs and their different applications for coaches in their athletic programs. When athletic coaches are able to implement a lot of NS tactics and attributes into their program, athletes feel much more confident, supported, and appreciated as opposed to NT tactics. Along with applying NS tactics, athletic coaches can utilize different successful physical education program strategies to help improve the state of their program as well.
Original languageAmerican English
StatePublished - 2024

Disciplines

  • Education

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