Decoding the myth of the stupid coach
Plenty of people hate sports, and they’ve got a pretty specific idea about the kind of person a sports fan is.
You know the type – a beer-swilling, shouting at the telly Neanderthal with about as much cultural sophistication as a chimp throwing their muck at a tree. They stand in pubs, swilling lager like a pig from a trough, and screaming “OI! WHAT KIND OF TACKLE WAS THAT?” at widescreen televisions, before scratching their eighteen-month pregnant stomach and belching out the remnants of last night’s Chinese takeaway.
But any true fan of sports knows that this broad generalisation isn’t true. To be great at any sport requires athleticism, determination and professional knowledge that most people could barely muster.
What’s more, the broad church of the sporting profession is teeming with intelligent people making clever decisions. And few people are brighter in the sporting world than professional trainers.
Trainers have a huge number of responsibilities, including liaising between managers and players, communicating complicated information in simple terms and optimising their coaching regimes to suit the specific needs of their sport.
If all this sounds a bit complicated, that’s because it is. Depending on the sport they’re operating in, a coach is in charge of huge numbers of people and has to ensure that equal amounts of time are dedicated to everyone.
This requires a vast skillset that takes years to develop. If you wanted to become a coach, you’d need to hone quite a few of these talents. To prove the point, here are a few things coaches need to know that you might not have expected.
Variety in their profession
If you’re a boxing coach, you don’t only know about boxing. If you’re a tennis trainer, you don’t only know about tennis. If you’re a football coach, you don’t only know about football. And so on and so on.
Every sport and type of exercise informs each other. They work in symbiosis, not least because trying out a few sports gives your body an all-over workout.
This is why coaches have to understand a variety of exercising styles. To understand this more, why not try Pilates instructor courses online, the kind of course that will stretch your muscles in ways you didn’t even believe were possible?
A quick taste of this different exercise style will open your eyes – and show you exactly why a coach needs to understand every facet of the sporting and exercising world.
Communication
Speaking is a vital part of a coaches’ arsenal. You’ve got to speak to managers, team members and potentially even people funding your sport. Without a lucid way with words, any coach will suffer professionally.
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to skills necessary for becoming a coach. If you’ve got any other tips, let us know.