Taken from ’Sport Parent’, American Sport Education Program, Human Kinetics
Many people think that if you have played the sport, you are qualified to coach it. Wrong! (if this were true, all actors would make good directors, and all students would make good teachers)
A good coach...
The successful coach is one who conveys the:
The coach’s challenge is to convey these values while striving for victory and not diminishing the fun in sport. Not an easy task!
The coach uses profanity. There is no excuse for this - especially in junior sport.
The coach argues with referees or officials. This provides a poor model for sportsmanship.
The coach criticises players - not their behavior. There is a big difference between saying ’John, you have got to keep your eye focused on the volleyball and hit it with the heel of your hand’ and ’John! We could have scored an important point if you had not hit that serve out! You have to put the ball in play’.
The coach will not listen to parents. We are not talking about parents who ’coach from the sidelines’ but those who raise legitimate questions or concerns.
The coach allows cheating. (’Hey, Coach, I thought Kate was too old to swim on our team this year.’ ’Well, she is the right age for most of the season - and it does not matter. The team that won the championship last year did the same thing with one of their best swimmers and they never got caught’).
The coach makes winning the only goal. Winning is a great goal to have, but it should not overshadow the larger goal of putting players’ development first.
The coach ignores the lesser skilled players. (Well. I have only got so much time to give - I had better concentrate on my starting lineup.’)
The coach makes the kids feel worthy only when they win. Winning is great but the outcome of a contest has nothing to do with children’s worth.