Personal Trainer

Introduction to sports coaching

A sports coach is a person who teaches, advises instructs and trains a

sports team or of individual sportspeople. A coach can also be defined as

a teacher.

Sport coaching requires understanding and knowledge of athlete

development and effective communication strategies.

Sport coaching also includes coaching ethics, and code of conduct. Sport

coaching can be applied to specific population groups, including children,

older adults, females, athletes with a disability and athletes from various

cultural backgrounds.

However sports coaching can mean different things to different people.

For some, being a coach is a job, while to others it is a pastime that they

do on a part-time basis, such as running a football team on a Sunday, or

a netball team on a Saturday.

The full-time coach pursues the vocational study of sports training to

acquire certification that demonstrates a level of competence.

The objectives for coaching are to:

1. Apply basic coaching principles and plans as well as group

management and time strategies to teach sport skills

2. Demonstrate an understanding of the training requirements for

various sports and different populations

3. Conduct and interpret the results from a range of fitness and sport-

specific tests

Lesson 1: Understand the importance

placed on sport in modern society

The importance of sport in modern society

Development of sports and its place in modern society is of great

importance. As well as physical culture, sports and a healthy lifestyle play

an important role in society, which relate to sport in modern society being

directly connected with health, science, culture, upbringing and education.

In modern society, millions of people watch Olympics, and world cup

finals, on the television and this is made easy because of the amount of

sports channels available, such as sky sports, as well as many other

channels airing sports games, to the wanting viewer. This as well as

media coverage, makes sport very much part of modern society.

Sport also ascertains to improving health as well as improving the

economy of the nation. When young people are playing sport, it improves

their well-being, their sense of adventure, their self-esteem, and their

diets.

Many young sports people will adapt their lifestyles and eating habits to

coincide with their sporting activities, for example eating a high protein

diet rather that crisps and coke, hence changing their eating habits.

The performance of sport also encourages young people to stay away

from drugs and alcohol, which impacts on the reduction of crime. Sport

also helps redress social divisions around class race gender and disability.

Sport is an important social phenomenon in all levels of modern society,

providing a large impact on key areas of social life: it affects national

relations, business life, social status, fashion forms, ethical values, and

people's lifestyle.

It also helps in the development of physical abilities, as well as the

satisfaction of social and natural needs. Activity impacts on the physical

state and health, of the body. Physical development helps to prevent and

reduce the large number of diseases, as well as enhancing human health,

physical development and improvement in lifestyles.

Appreciate the context in which sports coaching currently exists

Modern sport is also important in the development of contacts between

people, not only within one country, but also internationally, playing a

significant role in deepening mutual understanding between people.

Therefore, the sport is closely connected with the mental, moral,

aesthetic, communicative, and other spheres of culture.

The Olympic movement aims participation in building a peaceful and

better world, through education of youth through sport, in a spirit of

Olympics and without any discrimination. The Olympics has allowed many

people of all genders to participate, and show their abilities, encouraging

participation amongst different cultures, as well as the able and disabled

bodies.

The Olympics allow a feeling of euphoria amongst players, and brings

wealth not only in sport but also in monetary terms to the hosting

country.

Modern sport - is also a microcosm of modern society, and therefore the

most important problems of modern sport are similar to the basic

problems of modern society, such as sexual, ethnic and racial

discrimination, crime and deception, control of violence, drug use,

gambling, alcoholism, environmental protection social, political and

international relations, etc.

Also sport, can be used as a means of strengthening the political power,

as an effective instrument for strengthening mutual understanding of

nations, as sport has an opportunity to consolidate peace, especially in

times of international tension, it can help to stabilise international

relations as part of cultural exchange.

Sport in Culture

Sports hold a variety of different meanings across cultures.

In Brazil, every city is home to at least one professional soccer team.

Different teams tend to represent different culture groups, such as

different economic levels and ethnicities.

This creates allegiances at a local level, but the team that represents a

city in the national championships will have the support of all the people

of that city, thus building political unity on a greater level.

The support represents teams and gives people something to identify

with. Their support for their team can be taken as giving support to their

nation.

This is even more so in World Cup championships, when the entire

country of Brazil unites to support their country's official team. Brazilians

are the only country to win the World Cup five times; 1958, 1962, 1970,

1994 and 2002.

Soccer was especially practiced by the lower income people throughout

the 20th century. Socially and economically deprived boys dream of

becoming the next Pele or Ronaldo and because of this, they promote the

national soccer culture even more. The prospect of playing soccer for

their county is a motivation for millions of poor children who want to

escape from their poverty.

The combination of soccer and living in poverty balances out the good and

the bad. In Brazilian life it's not uncommon for soccer culture to have a

bigger influence than politics or economics.

Sebastian Coe’s father become his coach and, developed his knowledge

and understanding as his son developed through his teenage years up to,

and including, his achievements on the international stage. He was not a

performance coach when he started, but he adapted and grew as a coach.

Research has shown that intrinsic rewards, such as being involved in

sport with their friends, mean more to children than the extrinsic rewards

of receiving trophies or prizes.

According to children, they play sport to:

Have fun develop fitness

Make friends

Learn new skills

Enjoy competition

Be challenged.

Define sports coaching

Coaches portray "learning by doing" as this is the most common way they

acquire knowledge about their sport, but many learn more through guided

education. Coaches can sometimes fail to implement the proven methods

they are taught even after completing coaching education programs,

As with all physical activity, care should be taken to consider individual

circumstances before an athlete can dedicate himself or herself to any

training program.

Sport is defined as teamwork, which can include soccer, teams, hockey

teams, etc. or individual sports such as tennis or golf. Sport can be

defined as being physical, requiring skill and competitive attitude, in order

for teams and individuals to win rather than lose.

The definition of sport also includes performance, which estimates how

well a person or team does.

The advice of correct eating from a coach to the player enhances well-

being and good health. Gaming on consoles such as the Wii also involves

some type of activity, such as bowling and tennis, and can be played

individually or within a team.

The goal of a sports coach is to improve the performance of an individual

or a team in competition. Many football managers are sacked if they

cannot achieve successful games, from their players.

Factors that affect the individual being a successful player, and the

coach’s influence on training them can be age, gender, disability,

personality, motivation, the way in which they learn and their reasons for

learning.

Lesson 8: Psychology for coaches

Sport Psychology provides information that coaches need to help

athletes build mental toughness and achieve excellence.

A coach, will gain a big-picture perspective on the mental side of sport by

examining how athletes act, think, and feel when they practice and

compete.

Mental tools to be used could include as goal setting, imagery, relaxation,

energisation, and self-talk motivation, energy management, focus, stress

management, and self-confidence leads to increased and improved life

skills, and enhanced performance.

Sport psychology is a science of

knowledge from the areas of

Kinesiology and Psychology. It

involves the study of how

psychological factors affect

performance and how participation in

sport and exercise affect

psychological and physical factors.

Instruction and training of psychological skills for performance

improvement, applied sport psychology may include work with athletes,

coaches, and parents regarding injury, rehabilitation, communication and

team building.

Sports Psychology started to become visible at the Olympic games in

1984 when the Olympic teams began to hire sports psychologists for their

athletes. The role of sport psychologist has been called on to meet the

increasing demand for anger management for athletes.

Applied sport psychology

Applied sport and exercise psychology consists of instructing athletes,

coaches, teams, exercisers, parents, fitness professionals, groups, and

other performers on the psychological aspects of their sport or activity.

The goal of applied practice is to optimise performance and enjoyment

through the use of psychological skills.

There are different approaches that a sports psychologist can use while

working with athletes. For example, the social-psychological approach

focuses on the social environment and the individual's personality, and on

how complex interactions between the two-influence behaviour.

The psychophysiological approach focuses on the processes of the brain

and their influence on physical activity, and the cognitive-behavioural

approach analyses the ways in which individual thoughts determine

behaviour. Generally, there are two different types of sport psychologists:

educational and clinical.

Educational sport psychologists

Educational sport psychologists emphasise the use of psychological skills

training (e.g., goal setting, imagery, energy management, self-talk) when

working with athletes by educating and instructing them on how to use

these skills effectively during performance situations.

Mental toughness is a psychological area that helps an athlete perform at

a high level consistently. Mentally tough athletes exhibit four

characteristics, which are confidence in their ability to perform well, an

internal motivation to be successful, the ability to focus one’s thoughts

and feelings without distraction, and composure under pressure. Self-

sufficiency is a belief that one can successfully perform a specific task in

sport.

Arousal refers to the athlete’s physiological and cognitive activation the

relationship between arousal and performance.

Motivation can be defined broadly as the will to perform a given task.

People who play or perform for internal reasons, such as enjoyment and

satisfaction, are said to be intrinsically motivated, while people who play

for external reasons, such as money or attention from others, are

extrinsically motivated.

Life skills refer to the mental, emotional, behavioural, and social skills and

resources developed through sport participation. Life skills are developed

and transferred from sports to other areas in life (e.g., from tennis to

school) and on program development and implementation.

Burnout in sport is typically characterized as having three dimensions:

emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of

accomplishment. Athletes who experience burnout may have different

contributing factors, but the more frequent reasons include perfectionism,

boredom, injuries and excessive pressure.

Coaching

While sport psychologists primarily work with athletes and focus their

research on improving athletic performance, coaches are encouraged to

improve their coaching technique and their athletes' performance.

Motivational climate refers to the situational and environmental factors

that influence individuals' goals. The two major types of motivational

climates coaches can create are task-oriented and ego-oriented.

While winning is the overall goal of sports competitions regardless of the

motivational climate, a task-orientation emphasises building skill,

improvement, giving complete effort, and mastering the task while an

ego-orientation emphasizes demonstrating superior ability, competition,

and does not promote effort or individual improvement. Coaches have

become more open to the idea of having a good professional athlete -

coach relationship.

Team dynamics

Team cohesion can be defined as a group's tendency to stick together

while pursuing its objectives Team cohesion has two components: social

cohesion (how well teammates like one another) and task cohesion (how

well teammates work together to achieve their goal). Teams may share

belief that they can or cannot accomplish a given task. Depending on the

level of competency they have to perform a task.

Leadership can be thought of as a behavioural process that influences

team members towards achieving a common goal Leadership in sports is

relevant because there are always leaders on a team (i.e., team captains,

coaches, trainers).

Evolutionary perspectives

Evolution psychology perspective

Includes studies on

testosterone changes in sports

which are similar to those in in

non-human primates; with

testosterone levels increasing and

decreasing as an individual's

status changes. A decreased

testosterone level may

decrease dominant and

competitive behaviours which when the status conflicts involved fighting

may have been important for preventing physical injury to the loser as

further competition is avoided.

Testosterone levels also increase before sports competitions, in particular

if the event is perceived as real challenge as compared to not being

important.

Arousal regulation

Arousal regulation refers to entering into and maintaining an optimal level

of cognitive and physiological activation in order to maximize

performance. This may include relaxation if one becomes too anxious

through methods such as muscle relaxation, breathing exercises, and

meditation, or

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Motivation can be divided into two types: intrinsic (internal) motivation

and extrinsic (external) motivation.

Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or

enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than

relying on external pressures or a desire for reward.

People who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to engage in the

task willingly as well as work to improve their skills, which will increase

their capabilities. Athletes are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they:

Attribute their educational results to factors under their own control,

also known as autonomy

Believe they have the skills to be effective agents in reaching their

desired goals, also known as self-efficacy beliefs

Are interested in mastering a topic, not just in achieving good

grades

Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity in order to

attain an outcome, whether or not that activity is also intrinsically

motivated. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the individual.

Common extrinsic motivations are rewards, for example, money for

showing the desired behaviour, and the threat of punishment following

misbehaviour. Competition is in an extrinsic motivator because it

encourages the performer to win and to beat others, not simply to enjoy

the intrinsic rewards of the activity. A cheering crowd and the desire to

win a trophy are also extrinsic incentives.

Explain why motivation matters in the

context of sport

Sport psychology focuses on the

mental and behavioural

processes of humans within the

sociocultural context of

competitive sport. Within this

lies social behaviour such as

achievement or competition and associated thoughts and feelings:

anxiety, self-esteem, and motivation.

Sport psychology is, the relationship between personality and sport

participation. Sport psychology is attempting to understand motivation as

the complex process that influences individuals to begin an activity and

pursue it with vigour and persistence.

Motivation would include self-confidence, self-esteem, and stress that

influence motivational behaviour in sport. Interpersonal and group

processes influence individuals’ behaviours in sport such as the presence

of spectators, group membership, and leadership.

Included in this area are aggression and gender socialization, which are

behaviours or characteristics that result from interpersonal social

processes.

The area of mental training or psychological-skills training encompasses

the use of intervention techniques to learn cognitive skills and behavioural

strategies that can enhance sport performance and personal

development.

Personality and Sport Participation

Personality is the psychological characteristics and behavioural tendencies

that make individuals different from and similar to each other. Successful

athletes have a more positive mood profile, more self-confidence, and

better strategies to focus attention and manage anxiety.

Sport psychology has also examined the effects of sport participation on

personality development and change. Competition reduces prosocial

behaviours such as helping and sharing, and losing magnifies this effect.

Sport participation has been shown to increase rivalries, antisocial

behaviour, and aggression, and sport participation has also been linked to

lower levels of moral reasoning.

Motivational Processes

Motivation encourages people that are motivated to feel competent,

worthy, and self-determining.

Another important factor that influences motivation is what psychologists

call perceptions of control. Humans are motivated to be self-determining,

which means we want to be in control of our own actions and behaviour.

Individuals with more internal perceptions of control are more motivated

than individuals who feel others control them or that they are lucky.

Motivation can help in achieving self-esteem and self-confidence. Self-

esteem is our perception of personal worthiness and the emotional

feelings associated with that perception.

Self-esteem is an important need for all individuals and it originates from

feeling competent and in control of our behaviour.

Lesson 9: Understanding special

populations in coaching

Athlete-centred coaching expresses the notion of humanistic coaching as

something that centres the athlete within an authentic experience of sport

that develops human character. Females; males; individuals with an

illness, disease, pregnant women; individuals with a disability: the

elderly; people from different ethnic backgrounds; elite athletes.

Modified activity includes all

participants taking part in the same

session, while providing different

challenges based on the (dis) ability of each

individual.

Parallel activity is the focus of the coaching session is the same for a

parallel activity. The challenge and the focus of coaching are the same but

participants can develop at a suitable pace for them.

Separate activity is the focus is on separate sessions. If you have a large

group and some athletes are non-disabled and some are (dis) abled then

you might need to separate the two groups for some special

requirements.

Disability sport activity: ‘reverse-integrating’ the non-disabled athletes to

include them in a disability sport activity where the rules are adaptive for

(dis) abled athletes.

Physical differences

Physical differences may include the physiological differences between

males and females such as pelvis width, shoulder width and hormone

differences. However, as a coach it is important to recognise that the

differences from one person to another as it will impact on the coaching of

that individual

Socialisation into sport is different between males and females. Socially

how men and women in sport are different can impact on every

individual’s experience of sport. For example, if a coach thinks women

are not as strong or quick as men and treats them differently; then it is

obvious that this unnecessary and damaging behaviour will impact

negatively on the coaching process. Magazines and media portray a view

of the male/female body that is often unobtainable by the vast majority of

people. However, in women in particular these feminine body images are

often slender and the body type required for sport is often more muscular

and athletic which creates a negative view of the athletic female.

Media Coverage

There is a distinct lack of sporting coverage of females in sport, and even

when there is coverage the focus is often on sexuality. This leads to the

creation of poor role models for the sporting female.

Negative Attitude

There is a negative attitude to women in sport. Often this attitude is

based on socially constructed notions of the role of men and women in

society, which is reflected in sport. Stereotypes exist around the physical

and psychological prowess of women in sport that is often misguided and

generalised. There are ideas that men are quicker than women, more

powerful and ‘better’ at sport. These stereotypes are not constructive and

are damaging to women in sport.

Competitive sports settings are often seen as a masculine (and therefore

a male domain. This can lead to issues for males and females taking part

in sports. The coach should try to encourage people to take part in sport

and not stereotype people based on the sports or physical activity they

choose. Sport, and competition can be extremely positive for individuals

used in the correct way and this is important for you to consider as a

coach.