Does your agency train its coaches?

Both coaches and participants can benefit from a positive program.

By Todd D. Pratt

An increasing number of recreation professionals are becoming familiar with national programs for training youth sports' coaches. Courses such as the American Coaching Effectiveness Program (ACEP) and the National Youth Sports Coaches Association (NYSCA) provide expertise in this area by helping volunteer coaches shape positive attitudes toward sports participation and minimizing the negative impact for youths involved in sports programs.

However, while recreation agencies and professionals are aware of these training programs, many still fail to implement a solid coaches' training program in their community. Are you in that group?

Various states and communities now require some type of mandatory training for all coaches who work with youths in sports programs. What, then, is keeping many agencies from being involved in coaches' training, and what benefits are being lost for both coaches and program participants because of this nonparticipation? Most importantly, what negative impact can an untrained coach have on your program participants?

Coaching responsibilities

Coaches are directly responsible for your program whether it is purely instructional or in some type of league format. In many cases, your program may be the first team sport involvement, other than a physical education class, for the participants. In other instances, the program provides a major relationship between player and coach.

The coach, whether volunteer or paid, is not only a role model for participants, but he or she is also a teacher. These two factors alone should encourage park and recreation agencies to participate in a coaches' training program.

Values of participation

A 1983 study at the University of Iowa by Gill, Gross and Huddleston revealed that children participate in sports for many reasons. These include skills acquisition and improvement, fun, personal challenge, socialization and physical fitness. Although achievement and status were mentioned as reasons for participation, they were not a high priority for the boys and girls surveyed in this study.

Too often coaches place winning ahead of those things that are in the best interest of young athletes. Everyone likes to win, but the experience should teach new skills and incorporate fun as well.

A positive coaches' training program should enlighten coaches about the involvement with the young athlete first and place winning second. A properly trained coach with a frame of reference developed by the organizing agency will help to develop a more positive coaching attitude.

Participant benefits

Participant self-esteem is an area about which all youth sports' coaches should be aware. A perceptual and motor skill study of youths ages nine through twelve was conducted by Hawkins and Gruber in 1982 at the University of Kentucky. It concluded that sports participation by youths resulted in increased self-esteem, higher academic scores and improved

Illinois Parks and Recreation 34 September/October 1986

parent relationships. These ratings were linked to positive sport involvement rather than to athletic ability.

A similar study conducted in 1983 by Smith, Zane, Smoll and Coppel at the University of Washington revealed that coaching behavior accounts for a major portion of an athlete's sense of team solidarity and self-esteem. While coaches play a key role in developing either a positive or negative experience for young sports' participants, recreational professionals are a major factor in developing a positive experience through coaches' training.

Trained volunteer coaches

Volunteer coaches are generally the backbone of a youth sport's program. In many cases, they have a great deal of enthusiasm but little background about coaching. For other coaches, their philosophy is based on their exposure to televised professional sports. Is it fair to give these coaches equipment, slap them on the back and wish them good luck? Certainly not if these individuals are the key to a successful youth sports' program.

Moreover, it is the agency's responsibility to give all program participants a quality experience. Regardless of the sport, there are general areas which a coaches' training program should cover.

Training programs

Some general training topics include the basic elements of sports psychology, physiology and medicine, and teaching techniques for specific athletic skills. The psychology should focus on communication skills, the utilization of motivational tools and the importance of reinforcement, while the physiology concentrates on the importance of warm-up exercises and nutrition.

Sports medicine should provide information on handling common sports-related injuries, accidents and emergencies. Organizational skills, teaching aids, demonstrations and participant involvement are among the teaching techniques which deserve attention.

Coaches' training should also involve information about specific sports and league administration. The skills and fundamentals for each sport should be broken down into steps. This not only makes it easier for the program participants to understand, but it also provides coaches with a simplified means of implementation.

In addition, the system provides a more standardized approach for all coaches of a given sport. A variety of games, drills, contests and sports concepts should be integrated into this approach.

Agency adoption

Each agency must modify a coaches' training program to best fit its individual needs. Moreover, it must realize that a large time commitment is involved.

To gather community support for implementing a coaches' training program, organizations should promote its positive aspects as opposed to forcing participation. Coaches may be more receptive if they feel their involvement is voluntary. The program should become mandatory only as a last resort.

Conclusions

Although any program of this magnitude will take time to fully implement, coaches' training will benefit any youth sport's program, and there are many resources available to interested recreation professionals.

In addition to the national training programs, neighboring communities which already have a training program may be able to provide insight.

If your agency has not already implemented a coaches' training program, I hope that you can see its many benefits and make plans to implement one soon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Todd D. Pratt is the superintendent of recreation for the Town of Normal.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 35 September/October 1986