Coaching Philosophy
Coaching is one of the most important roles in athletics, and for the greats; awards are named after them, statues are erected in their likeness, and books are written about their philosophies. However, it is important to remember that for all of these great coaches and their great philosophies were in a particular context. One can learn from their lessons, but it is a fool’s errand to try and replicate everything they did. Every coach needs to figure out what works best for them, and most importantly, for their athletes.
Strategies used for athletes 50 years ago (or even 10 to 20) may not be as relevant today, and it is the coach’s job to adapt. And, research backs this up; a qualitative study done on Gen Z soccer players found that what they wanted from coaches included “does not yell and remains calm, caring and encouraging, knowledgeable of sport, and involves team in decision making.” (Parker et al., 2012). This is a far cry from the cliches of old school autocratic coaching.
I began coaching ten years ago and over that time I have greatly refined my coaching philosophy. When I first began I thought that being the most knowledgeable coach would give me an edge. That having the most efficient training plans, giving the best technical breakdowns would be what made me better. While those elements are definitely important I would not say they make up the pillars of my coaching philosophy anymore. It’s easy to get caught up in the big picture and forget that the athletes are the trees that make up your forest.
My three main pillars are to educate and empower athletes, to empathize with them, and to focus on long-term development. I am not saying that these are the perfect building blocks for the ultimate coaching philosophy, but, based on both personal experience and scientific research, they are a distillation of what I believe at this point in my coaching journey.
Educate/Empower
The first tenet is in my mind the most important; I believe that a coach's main role is to educate and empower their athletes. For one, I believe that it simply makes better athletes. It is similar to the saying about teaching a person to fish; as a coach I don’t just want to tell an athlete what to do, I want them to know why they are doing it like that. This increases their engagement in the short term, but it also increases their engagement in the long-term. By encouraging critical thinking skills I’m seeking to empower them to improve.
Research seems to agree with my position, with studies indicating that for autocratic coaches “Such control can lead to the development of athletes with less autonomy, intrinsic motivation, independence, and self-esteem” (Watson, Connole, and Kadushin, 2011) Which leads me to one of my next reasons for why it’s an important tenet: I coach rowing, while some athletes might get recruited and gain scholarships for rowing, there is no professional rowing. This is not ever going to be their livelihood. So, while it is important to gain physical skills, the real benefit comes from what they gain in terms of discipline, goal-setting, leadership, critical thinking, and confidence. I want to foster those skills! I do not want them to think of themselves simply as pieces of a machine.
Another important element is that as a coach once they launch for their race everything is out of my hands. I cannot help with mid-race strategy. I cannot evaluate changing conditions and give recommendations. They are on their own. If they have been educated on how and why to change strategy, and have been empowered to make those decisions, then they will be able to adapt dynamically to changing situations. And, researchers agree with me on this position, stating that “Teaching performers to make strategic decisions in training will increase their ability to make more informed decisions under both pressure and time constraints” (Nash, Sproule, and Horton, 2011).
A few ways that I try to educate: ask questions instead of telling them what I think, this makes them an active problem solver instead of a passive receptacle. Once again, this is backed up by “research across helping professions suggests that individuals who find a solution for themselves are more likely to successfully commit and adhere to changes than if they are told what to do by someone else (Watson, Connole, and Kadushin, 2011)” Other strategies include (but are not limited to), giving responsibility to upperclassmen for leading warm up and cooldowns. And, involving the team in some decisions about what drills to do, what technical aspects to focus on, and allowing them to pick between a selection of workouts. But, it’s definitely a total mindset, not just a select few strategies.
Empathy
Another important tenet is to empathize with your athletes. Once again, this is important for a number of reasons. For one, it’s an important ability that allows a coach to connect with their players. While there is always going to be boundaries between players and coaches it’s important that they are connected. Indeed, research indicates that a “coach cannot be effective without establishing an emotional connection with her players. In order to inspire and encourage the best performance an athlete can give, that coach must be trusted and respected by the athlete” (O’Neil, 2011). Empathy is not the only way to establish an emotional connection, but it has been the most effective method for me.
Similar to empathy I’ve noticed that humor can help connect with athletes. When in the appropriate dose it can help them relax and make them feel more comfortable. A lot of athletes can be fairly tightly wound, and a little humor allows them to take a breath and feel better. Indeed, while there is not much research on humor in coaching, there are some early studies hypothesizing about the virtues of humor in coaching (Ronglan and Aggerholm, 2014). I think it also helps athletes humanize me a little more and them gain empathy for their coach.
Sometimes this means taking time away from sport-specific goals and focusing on getting to know athletes (and letting the athletes get to know the coach as well as one another). Lorimer (2013) observed that empathy can be improved if “time is taken outside of training sessions, sessions lengthened, or less attempted within the allotted time, to allow for conversation and social interaction”. This mirrors a lot of my experiences; whenever I have gone to athletes' music shows, other non-athletic events, or even just taken time to talk to them before and after practices they have always been incredibly thrilled and it’s helped to strengthen our connections. More and more research shows the importance of coaches caring for their athletes (Cronin, 2019), and that more emotionally intelligent coaches can better gauge their athletes' needs (Watson and Kleinert, 2019). That all starts with empathy.
For me one of the most useful ways to develop my empathy was to begin training and rowing again. It helped remind me of what my athletes are going through on a daily basis, reacquainted me with the joy and frustration of sport. Additionally, it helped me gain some of their respect and empathy. When they saw that I was putting in more hours and miles than them they saw that I not only talked the talk, but would also walk the walk. One of the final benefits of empathy is that it’s also good for the coach from a health perspective! Lorimer (2013) found that “Those coaches who deal better with understanding athletes perspectives… are much more open, agreeable, and emotionally stable”. That sounds like a good enough reason for me.
Long Term Development
The third tenet of my coaching philosophy is that of long-term development. Like the other pillars of my coaching, there are a number of reasons for this perspective. While year to year the teams I coach have a number of goals (win Head of the Charles, medal at the national championships etc.) I would not sacrifice the future for these short-term accomplishments. For one, “coaches that focus on winning, provide constant authoritative direction, and provide instruction that prompts athletes to emphasize outcomes may undermine the desired result of youth sports” (Watson, Connole, and Kadushin, 2011). It is my belief that by focusing on the long-term development of athletes you normally serve the best interests of the team for the short-term as well. There are no shortcuts in athletics.
That’s not to say that it isn’t sometimes tempting to coach for short-term gain (and many coaches do not have the luxury of waiting for success after years of building). Autocratic coaching styles can have great results in the short-term. A short study on dancers comparing an autocratic style and a participative/compassionate style showed that for novices the autocratic style produced faster improvement (Castillo, et al., 2014). However, it is my belief that those short-term improvements will be quickly outstripped by athletes who are educated and empowered, as well as empathized with, because that leads to the best long-term results. In fact, some researchers agree with my perspective and believe that “Negative coaching styles may reinforce negative traits that encourage the development of so-called “hazardous attitudes” in players of youth sports” (Cogburn, Horton, and McNeil, 2014).
Another reason is because, as discussed earlier, while athletic success is one of my goals, my main goal is the development of my athletes as teammates and as people. I truly believe that athletics can help young men and women grow and develop. Maintaining a short-sighted goal on performance just short-circuits that development. Taking a holistic view of the athlete is important, and this statement echoes my values: In kids my first concern is to form the athletes. They need to grow as a person and as athletes. “As I have dedicated my coaching role to children, my main concern is about their development as a player, but also as a person.” (Stone et al., 2020).
Conclusion
These tenets are not mutually exclusive from one another, in fact they are deeply interconnected. Educating and empowering athletes, empathizing with them, and focusing on their long-term development allows me to be the best coach I can be. Educating and empowering athletes allows them to be active participants in their development as well as grow skills that will help them when a coach is not present. Empathizing with athletes helps me to better connect with them and build trust. And, long-term development ensures the continued growth of the athletes as well as the program as a whole.
Though it is important to note that I apply these principles differently depending on the context of the athletes; I don’t coach teenage girls like I do adult men. Also, different athletes respond better to different coaching styles (Horn et al, 2011), so I need to make sure that I can adapt these tenets as needed to be an effective coach for as many athletes as possible. As a coach, athletes and their parents put a lot of trust in me, so it is my responsibility to earn that trust and I take this responsibility very seriously. Over time I expect to refine my coaching, but I expect these tenets to always be core components of my coaching philosophy.
References
Castillo, D. B., & Espinosa, A. A. (2014). Autocratic and participative coaching styles and its effects on students’ dance performance. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 3(1).
Cogburn, M., Horton, R., & McNeil, S. E. (2017). Considering a relationship between dysfunctional coaching styles in youth sports and the development of hazardous attitudes in players. Psychology, 7(8), 445-452.
Cronin, C., Walsh, B., Quayle, L., Whittaker, E., & Whitehead, A. (2019). Carefully supporting autonomy–learning coaching lessons and advancing theory from women’s netball in England. Sports Coaching Review, 8(2), 149-171.
Horn, T. S., Bloom, P., Berglund, K. M., & Packard, S. (2011). Relationship between collegiate athletes’ psychological characteristics and their preferences for different types of coaching behavior. The Sport Psychologist, 25(2), 190-211.
Lorimer, R. (2013). The development of empathic accuracy in sports coaches. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 4(1), 26-33.
Nash, C. S., Sproule, J., & Horton, P. (2011). Excellence in coaching: The art and skill of elite practitioners. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 82(2), 229-238.
O'Neil, D. A. (2011). The value of emotional intelligence for high performance coaching: A commentary. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 6(3), 329-331.
Parker, K., Czech, D., Burdette, T., Stewart, J., Biber, D., Easton, L., ... & McDaniel, T. (2012). The preferred coaching styles of generation Z athletes: A qualitative study. Journal of Coaching Education, 5(2), 5-23.
Ronglan, L. T., & Aggerholm, K. (2014). ‘Humour helps’: Elite sports coaching as a balancing act. Sports Coaching Review, 3(1), 33-45.
Stone, J. A., Rothwell, M., Shuttleworth, R., & Davids, K. (2021). Exploring sports coaches’ experiences of using a contemporary pedagogical approach to coaching: an international perspective. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 13(4), 639-657.
Watson, J. C., Connole, I., & Kadushin, P. (2011). Developing young athletes: a sport psychology based approach to coaching youth sports. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 2(2), 113-122.
Watson, M., & Kleinert, J. (2019). The relationship between coaches’ emotional intelligence and basic need satisfaction in athletes. Sports Coaching Review, 8(3), 224-242.