DISCUSSION BOARD

I think that as a coach I like to have a contract with my athlete that sets out what is expected and gives boundaries. Once there is a firm coaching arrangement and a good working relationship is established, however these may move depending on needs. Ultimately it becomes a partnership.

Where we start and where we end is a variable depending on the athlete. I need to keep in mind safeguarding and its implications and the code of conduct for coaches. We also need to keep in focus that I cannot solve every problem and that other experts are available that we can call on and work with.

I think it's vital. With all teams I coach, i like to define parameters of expectations. I would never have a contract per se, but will ensure there are understandings of commitment from both parties. In practice - this may involve communication of non attendance, commitment, game preparation, responsibilities to the team and coach and then an understanding of exactly what the team can expect of me as a coach. I tend to set targets of my own and share them with more senior teams, so not only are they culpable to me, I am culpable to them.

It is difficult to define the role of the coach, as I feel it depends on context, level of ability and each specific scenario which you find yourself in. 

As a start and end point, I don't think there is a definitive end. We set short, medium and long term goals. Every 6 weeks, we revisit the short term goal and decipher whether it needs adapted or changed in order to move towards the medium term goal....which will then assist in pursuit of long term targets. 

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I think Flett et al. (2013) have helped my understanding on this a lot. I think in the past I've expected that just through how I interact with the people I coach they will pick up what my values are and what I expect of them. I think I also would be willing to go too far in trying to help or drive an athlete and could be soft at times in terms of discipline.

What came through in that paper was that the less effective coaches were always doing what they though was best, they would often invest more of themselves, emotionally and financially. When creating the environment a 'family' structure was typically used by less effective coaches, with the coach always leading. Having read more around decision making I can now see the flaw in this, you end up stunting an athletes ability to lead themselves and create a reliance on you.

These are just a few examples but based on these I think it's extremely important. While I think a coach could be heavily involved in an athletes personal life and still be an effective coach it needs to be as a coach. The boundaries and roles taken have to be consistent with those of coach/athlete. I think your values, philosophy,aims/goals, and the environment you want created need to be laid out the first time you meet. Depending on the type of athlete you might be able to have this go both ways.

As for where it ends, I think that is much more context specific and difficult to set out. You may have a troubled kid that you can really benefit by becoming more involved, BUT you would need to be very careful that you have the maturity, skill, knowledge, and ability to always follow through for them. Or you may want to keep all relationships quite professional. So i see the end point as something more fluid but something that may require much more caution depending on the situation. I think it's always worthwhile remembering that sport can be a way out of bad situations, I don't know if anyone has heard Ray Lewis speak but he had a tough upbringing, originally getting stronger to stop his mothers boyfriend from beating her. However if you're thinking of getting involved in these kinds of situations you would need to be certain of the character of the athlete, and that they themselves are not involved in what you want to see them get away from. This point is touched on in Fletts' paper.

FLETT, M.R,  GOULD, D,  GRIFFES, K.R,  LAUER, L (2013) Tough Love for Underserved Youth: A Comparison of More and Less Effective Coaching. The Sport Psychologist. (p.325-337)

This is for me a hard one to answer, as since I am not from a sporting background I will transfer it to dance, but even so after analysing Week 6 readings there are many common traits.

Dance like sport can be beneficial, but it can have also harmful consequences, such as negative interactions with peers, favouritism, performance anxiety, and stress (Dworkin & Larson, 2006, p. 1). However, like dance it all depends on the coach/teacher as they have greatest influence on the experience, with many researchers arguing that the coach is the most significant shaper of values and life skills for adolescent athletes (Trottier & Robitaille, 2014, p. 10). Like coaches dance teachers play a very important part in the lives of young people, they provide a framework which will later either assists or hinder emotional and mental growth, and their imparting of knowledge is highly dependent on the nature of the relationship between student and teacher (Buckroyd, 2000, p. 68).

So in both domains it seems that the defining the role of the coach is an important one. Without the teacher or coach being aware of their role they become merely technicians engaged in a transfer of knowledge (Macdonald & Tinning, 1995, p. 103). With a holistic role of the coach being defined they can thus become more effective.

As in sport, the development of a philosophy does not appear to be explicitly addressed in coach education course in the UK (Nash, Sproule, & Horton, 2008, p. 552) and in dance pedagogy for dance young teachers rarely covers how important the teacher’s role is when covering development and life skills in dancers. Buckroyd (2000, p. 68) states that the dance community could vastly improve its awareness of the psychological and emotional implications of dance training. Dance teachers should recognise that changes in the teaching profession need to start with teacher training to encourage a rounder approach involving personal growth and care for the whole person (Brinson as cited in Buckroyd, 2000, p. 68).

If this reflection starts where does it all end? I could say in a big box and it is very dark! Nash et al (2008, p. 541) suggest in their findings that reflection should never end. They explain that experts within coaching, teaching, and instruction frequently reflect upon their beliefs and coaching attitudes as a way to monitor their professional practice, thus making them expertise coaches, they are more likely to embrace new method and approaches within their practice as they re-examine their practices regularly (Nash et al., 2008, p. 541).

So dance and sport have again common straits in their coaching practices, even though dance education seems to be behind in sport in adopting these practices, university programmes in dance are now all combining a more holistic outlook to dance pedagogy taking the lessons learnt from sport, and so young dance teachers and ex-professionals like myself can understand how it is just important to include development in life skills as well as the technical training.

References

Buckroyd, J. (2000). The Student Dancer: Emotional Aspects of the Teaching and Learning of Dance. Princeton Book Co Pub.

Dworkin, J., & Larson, R. (2006). Adolescents’ negative experiences in organized youth activities. Journal of Youth Development, 1(3), 1–19.

Macdonald, D., & Tinning, R. (1995). Physical Education Teacher Education and the Trend to Proletarianization: A Case Study. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 15(1), 98–118.

Nash, C., Sproule, J., & Horton, P. (2008). Sport coaches’ perceived role frames and philosophies. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 3(4), 539–554.

Trottier, C., & Robitaille, S. (2014). Fostering Life Skills Development in High School and Community Sport: A Comparative Analysis of the Coach’s Role. The Sport Psychologist, 28(1), 10–21. http://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2012-0094