True-Sport-Report

measured forms of sport anxiety. Martens 129
found that when coaches superimpose
their goals on children’s participation,
they can render a child’s experience a
negative one.
Even coaches who love and respect their
teams can lose perspective in the quest
to win. This is especially true at the elite
and college level, where coaches are under
incredible pressure to produce winning
and moneymaking teams and earn salaries
higher than even university presidents. 130
The Sport in America survey found that
78 percent of coaches surveyed noted the
inappropriate behavior of coaches as being
the most serious problem facing sport
today. Moreover, some studies have shown
that student athletes generally want a
better coach than they have—or had. 131
Yet surveys still point to coaches as a major
positive influence.
What makes a good or effective coach?
At the youth level, an effective coach may
be the person who provides encouragement
to and learning opportunities for his or
her athletes. In the book Just Let the Kids
Play: How to Stop Other Adults from Ruining
Your Child’s Fun and Success in Youth Sports,
Bigelow and colleagues 132 offer a simple
measure of whether someone is a good
coach—do children want to play again the
next season? At the collegiate level, the
metric changes. Coaching effectiveness is
measured by the percentage of games that
are won and the number of championships
that are played.
The role of coach is a complicated one.
Surveys of coaches at the youth level find
that they serve as instructor, teacher,
motivator, disciplinarian, substitute parent,
social worker, friend, manager, therapist,
and fundraiser. 133,134 Ideally, coaches
should understand the developmental
stage and limits of their athletes in order
to tailor practices and playing time appropriately.
In addition to these expectations,
coaches are expected to have an in-depth
knowledge of the sport they are coaching,
including the rules and the skills and
techniques needed to play the sport. At
more advanced levels of competition, they
need to understand basic kinesiology, sport
psychology, nutrition, and basic first aid.
Yet the average volunteer coach of a
community team has little training in any
of these areas. 135 In addition, Gilbert and
Trudel 136 found that most community
coaches became involved in coaching
because their children played the sport.
This also means that they are likely to drop
out of coaching once their children are no
longer involved. 137
Only a few states require certification
of coaches who work in school systems.
They may have been coached in their
sport, but might never have coached, and
they may have learned their coaching
skills by observing other coaches. 138,139
Research by the Michigan Youth Sports
Institute has found that volunteer youth
coaches have little knowledge of sport
safety, training and conditioning, and
child development, 137,140 despite the fact
that many surveyed coaches have asked
for effective instruction. 141
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