Coaching
Principles and
Best Practices
Laurel Whalen, MA
Wayne State University
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
Professional Development for Coaches
and Physical Educators
35
Million
The number of kids
who play organized
sports each year
66%
52%
1 in
68
Percent of boys (5-18) who play
organized sports
Percent of girls who play
organized sports
Number of children in the US
diagnosed with ASD
Minnesota Youth Sports Commission, 2013, Autismspeaks.org, 2014
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Behind their parents, youth report that the most influential
person in their lives is….
Their
Coach!
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Be Effective
“A common mistake among those who work in sport is
spending a disproportional amount of time on "x's and o's"
as compared to time spent learning about people.”
•  Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University, Men’s Basketball
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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What is the biggest problem
in youth sports today?
ADULTS!
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Youth sports are about kids.
›  Develop a coaching philosophy
›  Determine what you VALUE as a coach.
›  How do those values impact the manner in which you coach
and the decisions you make?
›  What will make you feel successful at the end of a practice/
game/season?
›  SHARE IT! Make your athletes and their parents
aware of your philosophy.
› 
The most important thing for you to
remember is that youth sports are about
KIDS. You should design your philosophy
with a kid-centered approach!
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Understanding age-appropriateness
› 
Time
› 
› 
› 
Level of difficulty
› 
› 
› 
Understand how growth and development impacts ability
Physical and psychological differences are common
Technical vs. Tactical skills
› 
› 
› 
Attention span
“Chunking” concepts
Without technique, tactics will be unattainable
Develop appropriate tactical schematics for your age group
Expectations
› 
Competitiveness
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Effective instructional techniques
› Avoid
the L’s:
› Lines
› Lectures
› Laps
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Effective instructional techniques
›  Differentiated
instructional techniques
›  Tell,
show, reinforce
›  Provide ample response time
›  Use simple directions
AWA
For kids with autism, you may need to make additional modifications
to your instructional techniques:
›  Your directions should use only two words more than the athlete
does when communicating – ideally, you’ll stay at 5 words or less.
›  Use a visual schedule, if needed*
›  Give them choices
›  Define the physical space
›  You may need to provide additional response time for athletes with
ASD.
›  Don’t force eye contact with your athlete with ASD.
›  Provide a learning environment that supports their sensory needs.
*for more information on visual schedules, see the ASD module.
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Set goals
›  For
› 
your team:
SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic,
Timely
› 
› 
“By the league tournament, I will improve my driving accuracy
and distance by hitting more than 60% of fairways and
consistently driving the ball more than 150 yards.”
Help your players develop their own goals for the season.
› 
Work with them to develop realistic goals that fit within your expectations
for them.
Promotes buy-in
›  Allows you to see what is important to them.
› 
› 
For yourself:
› 
› 
Create goals that will help you develop as a coach
Evaluate!
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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If your goal is only…
›  “To
develop superstar athletes,” consider this:
Percent High School To NCAA
Men's Women's Men's Ice Men's Football Baseball
Basketball Basketball
Hockey Soccer
3.30%
3.70%
6.40%
6.70% 10.90%
5.60%
Percent NCAA to Professional
1.30%
0.90%
1.60%
9.70%
1.20%
0.70%
Percent High School to Professional
0.03%
0.02%
0.08%
0.51%
0.10%
0.03%
NCAA, 2012
›  “To
win,” consider:
At least 50% of all participants will be losers in
every game.
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Know your game
›  Establish
credibility
›  Understand and practice league rules
›  Use your resources
›  Seek professional development opportunities/obtain
certifications
›  Athletes
with Autism™ Training
›  Paralympic Program Training
›  Consult
› 
AWA
other coaches
When you are working with athletes with ASD, don’t make
decisions in a vacuum – consult parents, teachers, and
others with experience coaching athletes with disabilities.
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Know your athletes
›  Learn
family dynamics
›  Understand how your players want to be
coached
›  Know individual skill and fitness levels
›  Children often communicate through their
behavior.
› 
AWA
› 
› 
Understand that athletes with ASD especially tend to
communicate through behavior.
Recognize cues and respond accordingly
Depersonalize the behavior
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Be a good manager
›  Organized
›  Effective
communicator
›  Consistent,
›  DWYSYWD
reliable
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Be Intentional
“Knowledge is not enough to get desired results. You must
have the more elusive ability to teach and to motivate.
This defines a leader; if you can’t teach and you can’t
motivate, you can’t lead.”
- John Wooden, UCLA, Men’s Basketball
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Intentional skill development
›  Don’t
just train for games. Start with
fundamentals!
›  Utilize activities that emphasize fundamental
motor skills: running, jumping, throwing,
catching, and striking.
›  Incorporate
activities that promote:
health-related fitness (e.g., cardiovascular endurance,
flexibility, etc.)
›  skill-related fitness (e.g., balance, agility, etc.)
› 
› 
As kids get older, more important to focus on sportspecific skills
›  Mix
up your activities – make them fun and
reinforce athlete effort
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Intentional Feedback
›  Timing
– make it immediate
›  Feedback must be concise and consistent
Reinforce when the athlete does what we ask of them
›  Withhold reinforcement when the athlete is off task.
›  Don’t reinforce approximations – only reinforce the behavior/
skill/part of the skill, if it’s correct!
› 
AWA
›  Encourage
›  Be
sure to provide as much positive reinforcement
as you do constructive feedback ›  Don’t just use “don’t”: Instead of “don’t talk in the
huddle,” try ask the offending player “when you’re
talking in the huddle, can you hear me?”
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Intentional Feedback
›  Be
a coach, not a cheerleader
›  Celebrate small victories, not just the outcome
of games
›  Progress is in the eye of the beholder
›  You
AWA
may have to make athletes with ASD aware of their
successes
›  Progress with athletes with ASD may seem slow
compared to typical learners.
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Encourage Mistakes
Don’t create an environment that makes
kids afraid to make mistakes.
›  Performance
decreases the more you
focus on just the outcome.
›  The more winning is emphasized the less
likely kids are to take a risk, to try, to set
themselves up to possibly fail.
›  Create a supportive environment that
allows for mistakes to a point – gently allow
for failure to foster learning.
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Use your sport to teach character
›  Sports
don’t develop character, good
coaches who foster the right environment do
›  Be
deliberate in talking about sportsmanship,
teamwork, and responsibility.
›  Help children understand the “transition” of skills they
learn in sport to other aspects of life.
› 
“Great job coming to practice on-time and prepared today! I
hope you do the same for school tomorrow too!”
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Use your sport to teach character
›  Contribute
to developing positive self-esteem and
confidence
›  Provide
activities that are optimally challenging and
intrinsically interesting;
›  Foster an environment that allows participants to feel
accepted by their peers, and connected to adult mentors;
›  Place your emphasis on personal achievement and group
cooperation
AWA
›  Social
behaviors must be taught for athletes with ASD
›  Create healthy opportunities for the athletes with ASD
to practice social skills through sport (e.g., How to be on
a team, How to win and lose, How to wait your turn,
What to do if a teammate gets hurt, etc.).
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Have fun
›  Let
kids PLAY
›  Engage in team building activities
›  Accept kids’ motivations for participation (fun,
friends, fitness, participation)
AWA
› 
Motivation for participation might be different for
ASD.
65%
Children who
participate in
sports to be with
friends
90%
Children who would
prefer to play on a
losing team rather
than sit the bench
on a winning team
71%
Children who said
they wouldn’t care
if no score was kept
in games
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Be a Role
Model
“The most important role models in people's lives, it seems,
aren't superstars or household names. They're 'everyday'
people who quietly set examples for you--coaches,
teachers, parents. People about whom you say to
yourself, perhaps not even consciously, 'I want to be like
that.‘”
- Tim Foley, Retired NFL Player
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Respect the game
›  Respecting
officials, coaches, parents, and
athletes
›  Teach good sportsmanship
›  Maintain composure – win and lose
graciously
›  Model the type of behaviors and
comments your want your team to display
AWA
›  Be
aware that athletes with ASD may repeat
verbatim your comments
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Be human
›  Take
your “coaching hat” off after
you’ve left the field.
›  Share some personal information about
yourself so that the kids know you as
more than just their coach.
Kids don’t care what you know until they
know you care!
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Be Safe
“Sports are vital to this country and it’s a responsibility for us to
make sure that young, talented kids…are able to participate
as safely as possible and that we are doing our job, both as
parents and school administrators and coaches, to look after
them the way they need to be looked after. That’s job
number one.”
President Obama,
White House Healthy Kids & Safe Sports Concussion Summit
• 
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Be conscious of:
›  Weather
›  Facility/Field
conditions
›  Address
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sensory needs within practice and game
environment
›  Be aware of sensory issues and then make plans to
address or accommodate sensory needs in the
environment
›  Create visual boundaries
›  Equipment
›  Athlete
AWA
pairings
›  Especially
critical for pairing athletes with ASD with
an appropriately sized and skilled teammate.
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Hydration
›  Readily
available
›  Sports drinks
›  Not necessary for young athletes, unless
it encourages them to hydrate!
›  How much do your athletes need?
› 
› 
1 cup of fluid every 15 to 20 minutes of strenuous
exercise. That means that you need to schedule
water breaks during practice (and more often than
this if its hot outside).
Don’t use salt tablets! They can cause dangerous
side effects and are unnecessary (and most children
will replace salt with their normal diet).
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Medical/behavioral concerns
›  Injury concerns
›  Don’t just “walk it off.”
›  When in doubt, sit out.
›  A good guide from the National Institute of Health for
information on children’s sports injuries:
http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Sports_Injuries/
child_sports_injuries.asp
›  Medical
concerns (e.g., low blood sugar,
medication issues, etc.)
›  Behavior management plan
Supporting Athletes with Autism Through
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Travel
›  Communication
with family (e.g., rides home,
practice times, etc.)
AWA
›  Make
sure appropriate person picks up/takes home
athlete with ASD
›  Transporting
children
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For questions or to receive
more information, contact:
Dr. Suzanna Dillon
Wayne State University…
or whatever else you are
closing your other
presentations with.