ATHLETE CENTERED COACHING
-Framework for understanding individual player focused coaching in
Ice Hockey
Juha Vuori
Haaga Institute Polytechnic
2005
Abstract:
The amount of information in ice hockey coaching is vast. Athlete centered coaching is
emphasized and the coach’s responsibility is to lead a team full of individuals to commit to
playing as a team for a common purpose. Due to a substantial amount of information and
the leading thread about essential information missing, there is a need for a framework
that would help the coaches to digest all the new information. The purpose of the study
was to conduct an analytical research study in order to gather all the essential and most
important information that would contribute to a coaching framework describing and
including the knowledge and skills of an athlete centered coach. Based on the information
found I present a framework for understanding the different components of coaching. The
framework is based on the model used in the past to describe the different areas affecting
the development of an individual in physical activity and sport settings. These areas
include psychomotor, cognitive and affective domains. The framework provides an
approach to examine the factors that influence the individual and the sport. It focuses on
the object of training, the human being, reflecting his qualities with the requirements of ice
hockey as a sport. In order to understand athlete centered coaching one has to have
knowledge of the different areas of the human being and sports and skills how to train
them in practice. Coach’s responsibility remains to build awareness of the different
components included in the process of coaching and taper one’s skills through putting
knowledge into practice.
Key Words:
Athlete Centered Coaching, Psychomotor, Physical, Cognitive, and Affective Domains
1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 1
2 Understanding the Individual athlete and the training process......................................... 3
3 Physical, Psychomotor, Cognitive, and Affective Domains of an athlete ......................... 6
3.1 Physical domain and psychomotor domain ............................................................... 7
3.1.1 Human being development in physical - and psychomotor domains .................. 7
3.1.2 Physical and psychomotor development and game requirements.................... 10
3.2 Cognitive Domain .................................................................................................... 11
3.2.1 Human being development in cognitive domain................................................ 11
3.2.2 Cognitive development and game requirements............................................... 12
3.2.3 Individual meets the tactical requirements of a game (general tactics)............. 15
3.2.4 Individual meets the tactical challenges of ice hockey through game analysis
(sport specific tactics)................................................................................................. 17
3.3 Affective Domain...................................................................................................... 19
3.3.1 Human being development in affective domain ................................................ 19
3.3.2 Affective development and game requirements ................................................ 23
4 Coaching profession and central skills ........................................................................... 24
4.1The essence and importance of physical and psychomotor knowledge and skills ... 25
4.2 Training physical and psychomotor qualities ........................................................... 26
4.3 The essence and importance of cognitive domain knowledge and skills................. 27
4.4 Developing individual and team play ....................................................................... 30
4.5 The essence and importance of affective knowledge and skills .............................. 32
4.6 Developing self-esteem and team cohesion ............................................................ 33
4.7 Leadership ............................................................................................................... 34
5 FRAMEWORK FOR ATHLETE CENTERED COACHING............................................. 36
6 Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 38
1 INTRODUCTION
The core of coaching process for a coach seems to include awareness of the crossroads
between the coach, the individual, the sport, and the outside influences. Along with the
revolution of information technology, increasing amount of various educational seminars,
conferences, educational institutions, and private publications more information on
coaching is available. Prevalent notion on coaching skills seems to be the ability to use
knowledge in proper situations in adjustable ways. Theoretical knowledge and skills, off
course, are not enough in coaching. In fact, without practical experience the coaching
knowledge and skills are just mere information on coach’s head. It is then the experience
of practice that alters the mere information into true knowledge and skills in coaching. One
of the characteristics of a good coach is his ability to figure out the most essential
knowledge and skills needed by the individual athlete to improve his or her performance.
Since new information is pumped in on the field all the time, the coach has to be able to
digest new theoretical information and keep thoughts simple. Most of the coaches want to
improve continuously acquiring new ideas from theory and applying them successfully into
practice. Thus, as important as it is to have practical experience, so it is to have
theoretical background information in order to improve oneself and increase awareness of
the weaning process of coaching. The term, weaning process, best describes the process
of coaching: walking through successes and failures, cherishing the ups and downs, and
acknowledging them as the most prevalent emotions in the profession.
Terms athletic centered coaching and humanism in coaching indicate that coach’s actions
and efforts play an essential role in shaping youngsters’ total sport experience, including
the development of sports skills, positive attitude towards sports, and creation of desire to
get good at playing. Humanistic coaching, however, can be illuminated in different ways
forming a wrong impression of coaching protocols in competitive world. Hence, some of
the words that describe a coach such as empathetic, caring, understanding, concerned,
and compassionate may feel too soft for some depending on the nature of the sport.
However, a true humanistic coach is the one who with all simplicity and clarity helps
others to become more skilled and knowledgeable. Proficient coach knows the sport
inside out and knows his or her athletes allowing them with subtle range of opportunities
to trim the quality of their performance. In order to explain the range of tools one can use
in coaching, it is beneficial to clarify the different ways an athlete develops through sports
following the areas of development of a human being (Van der Mars 1997, 8).
The idea for conducting the kind of thesis comes from the interviews with the Finnish
National Team Coach, Erkka Westerlund. According to Westerlund the amount of
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coaching information is immense and scattered. This substantial amount of information
may sometimes cause confusion in coaches. Therefore, there is a need for a framework
that would act as a leading thread for coaches to study the profession and handle the
information in order to answer the demands of today’s proficient coaching in ice hockey.
Hence the purpose of the study is to look at some of the essential information in coaching
and conduct an analytical research to draw a conclusion to provide a framework for a
coach to face the challenges of athlete centered coaching. This framework will aim to help
coaches to understand the coaching process looking at human being and his or her
development in sports through different domains. The framework will act as the core
consensus of primary tools for a coach to deliver athlete centered coaching.
A critical eye interconnected with critical mind will point out that the platform for the
premise of the study is subtle and might possibly drown the reader into the deep sea of
multi-scientific information. I hope to be able to prove through different scientific studies,
possibly subjectively opinionated articles, and textbooks the different needs of
improvement and issues in athlete centered coaching. All disciplines change as
researches and practitioners discover new information and processes, so does coaching.
As needs arise and resources are available, the discipline of coaching will continue to
change. People will bring up new understandings; develop new skills and processes to
improve the quality of work. The outcome of the development will expose old ideas as
inefficient in the light of new knowledge (Cheffers 1994, 12). The purpose of the pieces of
information gathered in the literature review is not to provide the reader very detailed
definitions or description of them but to prove their essence in interconnected influences in
athlete centered coaching.
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2 UNDERSTANDING THE INDIVIDUAL ATHLETE AND THE
TRAINING PROCESS
According to Cheffers (1994, 6) thorough understanding of why people move, what
happens when they move, and how they move contributes to the structuring of successful
coaching processes. When movement takes place factors affecting and affected by
movement begin to operate. The form of movement known as exercise, and a specific
activity in this form known as weightlifting provides an example of the process of a person
moving in one form. Things happen to the individual, to his environment and to the
movement itself. As the individual employs energy to lift the weight blood pressure
increase, muscles strain, and the level of concentration on the task increases. As the
weight moves the athlete’s feelings and attitudes may be affected by the spectators’
perceptions. The strength, balance, and skill of the lifter will be the key determining factors
on the amount of distance the weight will move. Success and failure in this movement will
likely to have physical and psychological effect on the lifter.
According to Kandel, Schwartz & Jessel (2000, 318), major cognitive neural science
includes perception, action, emotion, motivation, language, learning, and memory. Hence,
as an athlete is about to perform a stroke in tennis several sensory systems act. When a
player recognizes an approaching ball, it requires usage of visual senses and calculation
of the velocity and direction of the ball. As the athlete’s eyes are calculating and reading
the speed, size, and direction of the game object, proprioceptive information allows him to
be aware of the position of his arms, legs, and trunk in space. Based on the information
the athlete has now he can set himself in the most effective position to intercept a pass.
As he prepares to execute a skill the present information interacts with past experiences.
The brain processes the planned behavior and recruits in a section of a brain that controls
emotion and social behavior. As the section processes information it starts to activate the
control of heart rate, respiration, and other processes appropriate for the individual’s
normal behavior. This section in the brain, amygdala, in addition to all the factors
mentioned above also helps to get motivated and perform well.
Athletes and coaches are becoming more and more aware of the importance of
psychological training in sports. According to Loehr (1994, 25) mere thought of developing
required physical skills to attain successful career in professional sports is many times not
enough. One needs to diligently learn the required skills of a sport and then perfect him or
her in through innovative problem-solving and communication skills. It is generally
accepted that thought and movement are in constant relationship with each other. Mental
agility and physical agility, therefore, cooperate with each other and don’t oppose each
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other. In order to win, athletes spend immense amounts of time mentally rehearsing
moves or plays to become prepared and certain for their success.
Sport performance requires an athlete to be aware of integrating many things, some
trainable (psychology, physiology, and skill), some teachable (tactics) and others outside
the control of the athlete and coach (genetics and age). Individual athlete and his or her
coach need to establish a sense of consistency in the long-term training. The time spans a
period between 10-15 years of an athlete’s competitive life. These years are divided into
phases by the degree of their advancing ability and not by the age (Smith 2003, 1121).
Smith (2003, 67) presents that a coach should become aware of and evaluate physiology,
biomechanics, psychology, tactics, and health/lifestyle of his or her athletes in season
competitions. Moreover, the coach should scale the final tapered and peaked
performance times from optimal to poor in order to determine the effectiveness of training.
Systematic evaluation and planning process should occur at the end of each macro cycle
or season (6months). The coach should be aware of the process and its components
including initial planning, implementation, training, performance, and evaluation to the
formulation of the next new plan. Lack of a systematic long-term plan will not lead to
optimal performance and will weaken the ability to repeat the series of events and
conditions that led to a peak performance in subsequent cycles. Hence, the following
questions should be considered when developing a new plan:
•
What were the objectives of the previous plan?
•
What actually happened and were the objectives met?
•
What was learned?
•
What should be done next to sustain/develop strengths and improve weaknesses?
•
Who needs to be informed about the new plan and strategies of training?
(Smith 2003, 1120).
According to Smith (2003, 1107), sport performance and expertise requires hours of work
in focused effortful deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is considered as any activity
designed to enhance current performance that is effortful and not inherently enjoyable.
There is a direct relationship between the number of hours of practice and achieved level
of performance. A vast body of evidence indicates that elite performances require around
10 years of practice to acquire the necessary skills and experience to perform at an
international level. A long-term developmental training plan includes can be divided into
different categories: FUNdamentals; Train to Train; Train to Compete; and Train to Win.
Within such structure the coach can continually assess and discover the strengths and
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weaknesses of the athlete through comprehensive monitoring and testing of current and
potential performance characteristics and psychological traits. (Smith, 2003, 1109)
According to Smith (2003, 1120), optimal performance requires combination of
physiological, psychological, technical and tactical components. In addition, the coach
should be aware of life style, social environment and state of health of the athlete. Sport
scientists have become aware of three basic sources of stress that the athletes may
encounter. These sources are physiological, psychological, and social in origin. Therefore,
the athlete may be considered as a living, psychosociophysiological system. Thus, there
is a requirement for a holistic approach monitoring training instead of emphasizing only
single variables such as training load. The ultimate objective for a coach then remains to
give each element the appropriate degree of individual attention and simultaneously
observing and guiding others. The model representing factors that influence athletic
performance is presented in the following way:
Athletic Performance
(Integrated performance outcome)
Optimal
Under-performance
Periodization plan and competition sequencing
Physiology
Biomechanics
Psychology
Health/Life s.
Tactics
Sequence of training (Macro, meso, micro)
Opimal/Poor
Volume
Optimal/Poor
Optimal/Poor
Optimal/Poor
Optimal/Poor
Competition
Weight
Training
Intensity.
Muscle fat
Emotional
stability
Social
Psych
analysis
distractions
Nontraining
stress
Sickness
Confidence
Recovery
Focus &
Cognitive
training
Discipline
stress
Technique
Equipment
Repetition
Health
Work
School
Fatique
Finance
ability
Picture 1. A model of the contributing components to a measurable sport performance
outcome called ‘athletic performance’. Psych = Psychological (Smith 2003, 1120)
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3 PHYSICAL, PSYCHOMOTOR, COGNITIVE, AND AFFECTIVE
DOMAINS OF AN ATHLETE
As mentioned above the sport scientists have become more aware of the sources of
stress that the athletes may encounter. There are three basic sources, and they are
physiological, psychological, and social in origin. Hence, the sources open up a new way
to look at the individual and his or her ability to meet the stresses. In 1977 Anthony
Annarino provided a new way of understanding the individual’s development in a physical
activity. According to Annarino (1977, 22) the objectives of the development are divided
into operational taxonomy of four different domains. The first domain is known as the
physical domain, including the organic development of the human being. The second
domain is known as the psychomotor domain, including neuromuscular development of
the human being. The third domain is known as the cognitive domain, which includes
intellectual development of the human being. The fourth domain is called the affective
domain including the social, personal, and emotional development of a human being.
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3.1 Physical domain and psychomotor domain
3.1.1 Human being development in physical - and psychomotor domains
Physical domain, including the organic development, is considered as proper functioning
of the body systems so that the individual may meet the demands placed upon him by his
movement. The three big areas that a coach should know in order to train and develop
human body are strength; the maximum amount of force produced by a muscle or a
muscle group, endurance; the capacity to persist in a strenuous activity for periods of
time, and flexibility; the range of motion in joints (Annarino, 1977, 22).
According to Smith (2003, 1112) the basic physiological components of strength, speed,
and endurance cooperate in combination with skill in athletic performance. It is essential
to develop a fitness specific to demands of the sport. Exercises and activities in a sport
are a combination of strength endurance, speed strength, and speed endurance. An
athlete has to execute these qualities in coordination with each other in an efficient
developing them in sport specific characteristics.
The psychomotor domain includes the base for overall body skills and physical ability.
This domain encompasses comprehension of physical factors affecting human movement
such as body structures, its function, and mechanics. Furthermore, all voluntary human
motion ranging from reflex movements to the ability to create aesthetic movement
patterns is dependent on the development of factors inside the psychomotor domain
(Annarino 1977, 22).
The psychomotor domain encompasses the knowledge of the harmonious integration of
the nervous and muscle systems of a human being to produce desired movements. This
domain also includes perceptual-motor abilities needed for recognition, interpretation, and
response to stimuli for performing some type of task. The sub-areas of perceptual-motor
abilities include balance, kinesthesis, visual discrimination, auditory discrimination, visualmotor coordination and tactile sensitivity. In fact, the idea of training is generally known as
process where human body develops through reactions on different given stimuli. Hence
this area of development is extremely important for a further development to occur. The
other big area of the psychomotor domain comprises the fundamental movement skills.
They are considered as body manipulative skills involving the body or an object, objective
manipulative skills, and sport skills. The body manipulative skills are known as
movements restricted to moving one’s body by locomotion from space to space; and
nonlocomotor movements of moving one’s self or body part within a space. The body
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manipulative skills are divided into four smaller areas. These areas include basic
locomotor skills, moving the body from one place to another; basic nonlocomotor skills,
moving a part or body part within a space; locomotor combinations, combining two or
more locomotor skills; and nonlocomotor combinations, combining two or more
nonlocomotor skills. Objective manipulative skills are known as the use of different body
manipulative movements in propulsive and receptive skills. The propulsive skills are
considered as giving momentum to an external object and receptive skills as receiving of
external objects. Sport skills are considered as more complex skills applying to specifically
to performance in a sport, game, or dance. These skills include individual skills, dual skills,
and team skills (Annarino 1977, 22).
Physical and psychomotor qualities are the primary objective of training with 14 year old
and younger athletes. Development of sport specific qualities may start after the general
base has been constructed. In addition to training sport specific qualities, adult athlete
also has to remember to general physical qualities. The general physical qualities include
player size and composure (antropometry). In hockey different types of players can
succeed. Often the playing is always in relation to an opponent. This generally boils down
to taking place in a one against one competitive situation. Thus, size, strength, and speed
are beneficial for a player. Height and weight is used to describe player size and weight
and fat percentage control provides knowledge on nonfat weight of the body (Westerlund,
FIHA, 1997).
The psychomotor domain includes the development of motor skills. A player who has
proficient motor skills is considered to possess a broad and versatile supply of
movements, and abilities to control one’s movements in relation to the environment.
Efficient motor skills require efficient movement pathways in nervous system. Motor skills
develop the most between the ages of 7-14. The base factors of coordination are
independent of each other and different physical activities develop the different domains
of coordination. Therefore multipurpose training is important. Motor skills provide the base
for developing sport specific athletic skills. Motor skills encompass the following factors:
mobility, muscle conditioning, and cardio-respiratory system conditioning (Westerlund,
FIHA, 1997).
According to Haywood (1993, 4) learning and performing motor skills is a lifelong
challenge. They are usually perfected during late adolescence and young adulthood. Elite
athletes normally demonstrate the highest levels of motor skill development. Skilled
athletes’ excellent motor skills derive from their physical size, condition, cognitive, and
social experiences. Developmental changes are most effective early in life, but they do not
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come to an end with adulthood. Physiological changes continue to take place, and
experiences in the environment refine individual’s perceptions, mental skills, and social
relationships. Maybe adults try to perform skills in new ways, but both new and welllearned skills need to contain the ongoing, though subtle, changes. This is true as
individuals grow out of young adulthood, and the pace of physical, mental, and social
changes increases.
Mobility is considered as the range of motion of the joints. The different factors that affect
the inherited mobility in joints are the length and flexibility of muscles, tendons, and
ligaments, the shape of the surface of the joints and training. Efficient mobility enables
broad ranges of movement in performance and more effective technical skill acquisition.
(Among others, the broad range of motion of antagonist muscles provides base for faster
speed of movements). In general, mobility affects positively to the production of power,
relaxation, speed, and endurance (economy). In addition, good mobility prevents injuries
(Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
Muscle conditioning of the young athletes is considered as the development of strength
qualities through the use of motor skills development or separate drills. The type of
training ought to be dynamic, multipurpose, and modified speed strength type. Especially
under 13 year olds the training occurs through training motor skills. Children (7-13)
strength training it is recommended that to use own body weight (push-ups, chin-ups,
jumps, hops, climbing, gymnastics, back muscles and abdominal muscles strengthening
exercises, muscle strength and balance enhancing exercises etc.) In puberty
approximately at age 13 on the stimuli of strength training cause an effective training
effect and development of strength (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
Cardio-respiratory conditioning (aerobic conditioning) also plays an important part in the
development of an athlete. Cardio-respiratory system conditioning describes the general
aerobic conditioning of a player = long lasting endurance that is the base for training (= is
able to sustain training, good ability to recover) and for the development of sport specific
endurance. In physical activity in addition to the local energy supplies of muscles the
muscles require oxygen. The central factors of oxygen intake and uptake are breathing,
blood circulation, and the ability of muscle tissue to use oxygen. Stressing big muscle
groups, breathing, and blood circulation causes constructive changes in the body (new
capillaries are born, the size of the heart grows bigger and thickness of ventricles get
bigger. Therefore it is important to develop work capacity in early age (Westerlund, FIHA,
1997).
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3.1.2 Physical and psychomotor development and game requirements
Well-prepared body provides an individual an opportunity to use his or her body efficiently
to execute the movement solutions according to a situation. Therefore the coach needs to
be aware of conducting a physical analysis in order to start training the physical qualities
needed to answer the demands that the game sets for the individual player. Physical
qualities are defined as physical and movement skill qualities that act as a base for
athletic performance and later as a base for developing sport specific athletic performance
(Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
It is crucial to develop good speed of hands and arms in order to play the game of ice
hockey efficiently. They play an important part in obtaining proficient ability to handle the
puck and the stick. Stick handling (stick- / puck handling speed, shot strength / quickness, stick checks etc.) requires good strength qualities from a player. Muscle
strength and –balance, speed strength, and sport specific speed provide the essential
base for training the three qualities presented above. Considering the nature of the game,
the development of speed is beneficial to cultivate through the development of strength
and skill. Muscle strength and -balance is considered as muscle power that supports the
development of sport specific skills. It is beneficial in training to consider developing
muscle strength and coordination qualities. Thus, simultaneously along with developing
strength, the purpose of training is to create an effect on nervous system, muscle balance
and their mobility. Muscle strength – and balance training is the base for developing sport
specific strength and speed qualities. Speed strength is considered as sport specific
muscle strength and –balance. The purpose of sport specific powerful skill acquisitions
and sport specific movements is to stress the muscles used in hockey. Sport endurance
plays in integral part in optimal athletic performance. In hockey game performance
comprises of low power movement and couple of seconds lasting maximum power skill
acquisitions. Player has to maintain the level of performance throughout the game (=app.
20 of 40-60 second work periods varying intervals) (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
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3.2 Cognitive Domain
3.2.1 Human being development in cognitive domain
The cognitive domain contains knowledge and intellectual capacity of various skills and
abilities. In order to play sports an athlete needs to be able to manage simple recall tasks
and evaluate inherently and externally received information. Sports and its situations
contain immense amounts of stimuli forcing an individual for problem - solving and
decision-making through cognitive process (Annarino 1977, 22).
Cognitive domain is divided into two parts. The first part comprises knowledge of the
game rules, safety measures, game etiquette, terminology and body functions. The
second part of intellectual skills and abilities is considered as the use of strategies,
whether it is a player constructing an individual strategy against opponent or a coach
constructing a strategy against a whole team. It also includes the ability to use judgment
related to distance, time, form, space, speed, and direction in the use of activity
implements, balls, and self. Subsequently, the cognitive domain encompasses the ability
to solve developmental problems through movement and understanding of relationship of
physical activity to body function and structure (Annarino 1977, 22).
Physical activity of the brain, collaboration of various parts is important for rapid thinking
(Kandel et.al. 2000, 318). Therefore, while the athlete is in motion, the physical activity of
the brain, collaboration of various parts, is crucial for the game sense. If the individual is
assumed to learn new concepts in sports, his or her senses need to work effectively.
Thus, human senses activate specific regions of the brain by different nerve signals
enabling the athlete to experience his or her body. Since the human being needs to
recognize motion to make decisions in a game, it is crucial for an individual to be aware of
the help provided by the senses. Peripheral vision, for instance, allows the athlete to
manage effectively skill acquisition while recognizing motion and available space among
other players in a game environment.
Cognitive abilities are dependent on the cerebral cortex, which governs individual’s motor
performance, memory, and reactions to emotional states (Kandel et.al. 2000, 9). It seems
important for an athlete in a ball game to appraise the importance of cognitive skills and to
focus on placement of the game objects, read the behavior of the contributors of a game,
their movement, communication, and do all this in full speed. The object is to build
athlete’s total awareness in sports and help him or her to taper motor skills into optimal
capacity in cooperation with tapering brain to attain optimal cognitive intelligence.
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Naturally, this is a weaning process that does occur over night. In fact, according to
Piaget, the cognitive development progresses in stages where human beings actively
construct and build knowledge (schemes) through the processes of integration and
adaptation to create understanding (James, 2001, 237).
Roots of any technical skills are complex, but we know that through teaching and learning
an individual can gain knowledge. Mere knowledge, however, is not enough. Capability to
apply the acquired existing information into various different situations can often establish
a hindrance in development. However, even though there are hindrances on the way,
every action is an experience. Experiences help us to formulate our thoughts, hence, they
affect what we’ll become, and help to shape the further experiences (Restak 2001, 318).
3.2.2 Cognitive development and game requirements
Hockey skills are comprised of several components. The first one presented here is game
sense. Requirement of team play for a player is to understand the objectives of the game
situations and the principles of cooperation, and based on these factors ability to make
team-benefiting decisions on ice. The game sense in defined as continuous observation of
the surroundings (reading the game), thought process and decisions based on previous
experiences (read and react) that can be seen in the actions of a player (Westerlund,
FIHA, 1997).
In fact, game sense is comprised of three factors. These factors include game
understanding, reading the game, and decision-making. The first, game understanding,
means understanding of objectives and cooperation principles in different game situations.
Cooperation of the players in different ever-changing game situations improves by dividing
the tasks into game situation roles. The roles include puck carrier in offence, non-Puck
carrier in offence, in defense against a puck carrier, and in defense against a non-puck
carrier (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997). The second game sense influencing part is reading the
game. It is defined as player’s actions based on continuous observation of game
situations and their interpretation. Reading the game requires observation of relationship
between a team and its opponent, puck positioning, direction of movement, movement
speed and their interpretation. These visual cues help the players to anticipate the next
thing that occurs. Reading the game occurs through different game situation roles.
The first role Puck carrier in offence in requires from a player an ability to make decisions
such as do I have a chance to win space, make a play, or do I clear the puck out or dump
it, and task to read the actions of the non-puck carriers and make decisions accordingly.
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The ultimate responsibility of a player in this role is to score. This may happen through
means of shooting from the scoring zone, pass to open player in the scoring zone, or
carry (challenge – fake) to open ice. The second objective in offence as puck carrier is
winning space. This may be accomplished through the means of carrying the puck from
small to big (or from one zone to another), pass forward (to open space, or on skating),
clearing the puck out of the situation or zone; lifting the game up, and change from one
role to another (pass and move). The third objective in offence as puck carrier is
maintaining possession. This may occur through movement / skating and puck protection,
or passing (back / to the side) to player in open space. The fourth objective in offence as
puck carrier is readiness to defend. This may be attained through controlled risk taking,
clearing a zone, or quick role changes from one role to another (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
The second role is a non-puck carrier in offence whose responsibilities include interpreting
the distance between players in defense and offence. Player contemplates between the
objectives of winning space and possession maintenance. Moreover, this role contains the
communication between players about the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, closest non-puck carriers
(Is the responsibility to support the puck carrier by creating man advantage situation,
create depth, or width). Finally, the second role also includes reading the game and
anticipation of the next upcoming decision of a next problem in a different role (For
instance, readiness to become a puck carrier and carry the responsibilities of it. The
ultimate responsibility of a player in this role is again to score. This may be achieved by
moving to scoring zone and offering choice to be passed to, making space by setting a
pick (to a player with and without the puck), being ready for rebound, or screening. The
second objective of the non-puck carrier in offence is to win space through offering a
passing opportunity forward, taking ice to gain space forward, or supporting the puck
carrier by setting a pick. The second objective of the non-puck carrier in offence is to
maintain possession by offering a passing opportunity behind and to the side, or making
space for a puck carrier by setting up a pick. The third objective of the non-puck carrier in
offence is to be ready to defend, supporting the puck carrier, support the attacks, and be
ready for execute quick change to defensive roles (Westerlund, FIHA,1997).
The third role is in defense against a puck carrier. That role possesses the choice making
of steal the puck from the opponent or denying space. The primary objective of the player
in this role is to prevent the opponent from scoring through cooperation with the goalie,
and blocking shots. The second objective of the player in defense against a puck carrier is
to steal the puck from the opponent. The objective requires means of defending against a
puck carrier, or defending against a player who passed the puck to someone else. The
third objective of the player in defense against a puck carrier is to deny space from the
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opponent (towards the net), Position between the opponent and one’s own net, angling
the puck carrier into smaller space (Protecting the middle), or role change into playing
against a non-puck carrier. The fourth objective of the player in defense against a puck
carrier is to be ready to attack through quick change into roles in attack (Westerlund,
FIHA, 1997).
The fourth role is in defense against a non-puck carrier. This role includes the following
tasks: Reading and making a decision based on the space of a puck carrier: man on man
defense or defending area or zone, Task distribution: Is the player 1st 2nd 3rd or 4th player
in a situation (area specific man advantage, depth, and width related to the opponent =
field balance), and Anticipation of role change. The primary objective of the player in this
role is to prevent the opponent from scoring through covering the opponents without the
puck in front of the net, or playing against players that set up screens and picks. The
second objective of the player in defense against a non-puck carrier is to steal the puck
from the opponent. This can be achieved through positioning according to a player been
covered, blocking passing lanes, being closest to puck carrier pair to retrieve the loose
puck. The third objective of the player in defense against a non-puck carrier is to deny
space from the opponent (towards the net) through positioning between the opponent and
one’s own net, blocking passing lanes to the middle, helping the player defending a puck
carrier, exchange of the defended non-puck carriers, readiness to transfer to defend
against a player with the puck. The fourth objective of the player in defense against a nonpuck carrier is to be ready to attack. This can be done through depth of defense, or quick
change into roles in attack (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
The third component of game sense is decision making. Decision-making skill is defined
as the ability to choose a game skill to solve a game situation. Thus, mere thought
process of making a decision to solve a game situation is not enough. To execute a play
in a game situation one needs game skills. The game skills demand the understanding of
the playing responsibilities in different game situations. In addition to understanding the
principles of common objectives and cooperation, a player has to possess the necessary
playing skills in different playing roles. In playing skills tactical thinking & technique
/technical skills work in unison (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
According to George Kingston (CAHA, 1989, 268), good coach is able to teach the
athletes what they need to know and help them with their problems as they occur. For
instance, helping players with their defensive game they should understand the following
defensive objectives of the game:
14
•
To limit time and space of puck possession
•
To regain puck possession
•
To force the offence to poor ice position
•
To prevent scoring
In addition to defining the objectives, it is important for an individual player to know the
means for reaching the objectives through certain principles. The objective of limiting time
and space of puck possession will be derived from the principle of pressure. The objective
of regaining puck possession will be derived from the principles of approaching the
opponent from the defensive side, and being able to close the gap when ready. The
objective of forcing the offence to poor ice position will be derived from the principle of
proper angling, delaying, deflecting, and steering. The objective of preventing the
opposition from scoring will be derived from the principles of sound individual and team
use of tactics, communication, and providing support away from the puck. These
principles enhance the individual players ability to play today’s faster pace game.
Once the objectives and principles have been clarified, then there are decisions to be
made. The decisions are affected by the amount of pressure, the type of pressure, and
the extent of risk taking required. The timing and risk taking will be determined by the
coach’s philosophy, game situation, and available support. Timing also requires
understanding of where do you want to take your risk taking, in what zone?, how
desperate you are?, and how much risk must one take? (Kingston, CAHA, 1989, 268).
Finally, the individual in order to execute the objectives and responsibilities of the game
skills in different game situation roles he or she needs to have solid player skills. These
sport specific techniques provide the base for playing the game and thus need to be well
developed in order for an optimal performance to occur. In offence the individual needs
prudent skating, shooting, passing and receiving, skills. Moreover, the individual needs
solid puck handling-, faking- / deking skills, and skills to set picks and screens for the
goalie. In defense the individual needs skating-, blocking shots-, and checking skills
including stick checking-, body blocking-, and body checking skills (Westerlund, FIHA,
1997).
3.2.3 Individual meets the tactical requirements of a game (general tactics)
Participants play games with a certain goal in mind. They do not have the complete
freedom to follow impulses and are more confined because behavior becomes
subordinated to the anticipated goals. In games, players place limitations on the play
15
world and play into a contest. The limitations include prescribed space and time
boundaries, agreed upon rules, and clearly defined goals. Games are played with much
energy and involvement: the more intense and serious the play, the more likely the
rewards of success and fulfillment. Games, then, can be defined as “activities confined by
implicit rules and in which there is a contest between players in order to produce
predictable outcomes. Though games may be considered as contests, the importance
differences between games and other contests (such as professional sports, war, human
relationship) are that:
•
Games exist in a play modality (i.e., a step out of the real world)
•
Winning or losing is a short-lived condition relevant only to the game itself
•
Games may be replayed with the same opponents
•
Games require cooperation by players in adhering to explicit rules and implicit
game-play behaviours—in other words, FAIR PLAY (Morris 1989, 5).
According to Wilson (2002, 21) games can be categories net games, striking and fielding
games, and invasion games. Games have similar elements that provide global ideas for
coaches to create tools to influence athlete’s decision making. There are common factors
to all invasion games that ought to be considered when coaching an individual athlete.
They involve the movement of the players and a game object in a rectangular-shaped
area. The common shape means common movement patterns by the players using space
in order to score, and simultaneously denying space in order to prevent scoring. Since the
both teams share the space, they execute similar tactics and strategies for the purpose of
influencing the actions and movements of each other. According to Grehaigne, Godbout,
and Bouthier (1999, 166), the European school of team sports makes a distinction
between strategy and tactics. Tactics involve all orientation operations voluntarily
executed during the game by the players in order to adapt, to the immediate requirements
of an ever-changing opposition, their spontaneous actions, or those organized through the
predetermined strategy. “Strategy, instead, refers to all plans, principles of play, or action
guidelines decided upon before a match in order to organize the activity of the team and
the players during the game. The finalized strategy may either concern the major general
options of play or specify the intervention of players for different categories of play”
(Grehaigne, Godbout, & Bouthier 1999, 166).
According to Wilson (2002, 22), the similarities enable us to identify the generic
objectives, principles, or themes that govern play. The four modules of strategic and
tactical teaching concepts are:
1. Participant and their roles – players and their responsibilities
16
2. Objectives – what are the attacking and defending teams trying to accomplish
3. Action principles – general guidelines for teams in attack and defense
4. Action options – The choices available to players in making game decisions
Following you may take a look how the concepts above can be presented in framework.
Generic Framework of Cognitive Concepts for Invasive Games
Content Area
Attack
Defend
Participants and
Offensive Team
Defensive Team
Roles
Possession, attacking
Nonpossession, defending
Objectives
Score points, goals
Prevent points, goals
Retain possession
Regain possession
Advance
Prevent Advancement
Action
Mobility
Engagement
Principles
Advancement
Defensive depth
Width
Contraction
Offensive Depth
Expansion
Action Options
On-Ball
Off-Ball
On-Ball
Off-Ball
Attacker:
Attackers:
Defender:
Defenders:
(A1)
Provide depth
Prevent scoring
Provide
Attempt to
Provide width
Dispossess A1
defensive depth
score
Advance
Contain A1
Contract
Retain
Move
Channel A1
Expand
possession
Pass
(Picture 2. Wilson 2002, 22).
3.2.4 Individual meets the tactical challenges of ice hockey through game analysis
(sport specific tactics)
The game analysis sets game situation objectives of the players. According to Westerlund
(1997) the purpose of conducting a game analysis in ice hockey is to find out game
winning determining factors and the qualities required from a team and a player to play
the game up to the maximal potential. Every coach’s analysis of a game and its
requirements is based on personal knowledge and experience. Game analysis also acts
as the premise for training preparation of the athletes to play the game (Westerlund, FIHA,
1997).
17
The game requires team play. According to coaches’ manual by Canadian Amataeur
Hockey Association (1992, III), coaching education material team tactics governing team
play is defined as collective action of two or more players using technical skills and or
individual tactics in defense and in offence to create an advantage or take away the
advantage of an opponent.
Since we know the importance of established common goals, it is crucial for a coaching
process to clarify them. Ice hockey belongs into the category of invasion games, in
offence, scoring is the first objective. We also know that the game encompasses field play
that includes the following objectives of winning space, maintaining possession, and
readiness to defend. Conversely, the first objective in defense is to prevent the opponent
from scoring. In field play the players are trying to regain the possession of the puck, deny
space into scoring zone, and to be ready to attack. The measurable tactical challenges of
a game in offence include scoring efficiency, attack efficiency, attack risk, and readiness
to attack. In defense the challenges include defense security defense efficiency, and
readiness to defend (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
Attack and defense organization of teams vary according to a zone. The wholeness of
attack and defense organization is better known as a playing system. The system helps
the team to achieve the different kinds of attack and defense organization. Attack
organization may occur as offence in defensive zone, neutral zone, or offensive zone.
Similarly, defense organization takes place in defensive zone, neutral zone, or offensive
zone (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
In order for the six players to play well in coordinated fashion, there needs to be play
organization. The purpose of play organization is to divide players’ tasks in different game
situations. Play organizations are often described with different plays and positioning of
the players. For the purpose of making effective play organization, it is crucial to
determine the premise of principles the tasks are divided for closed roles, roles
determined beforehand; open, roles determined are vary and based on a specific
situation; and between the first two (Westerlund, FIHA,1997).
Play organization can be evaluated through examining the position of the players and how
it affects the attainment of the objectives of the game. Hence, the space awareness
compared to the opponent is crucial here. How do the six players utilize the available
space? The following are factors that a coach can examine the space utilization:
18
•
Depth of the six players
•
Direction of attack
•
Direction of defense
•
Width of the six players
•
Zone specific man advantage of the six players
(Westerlund, FIHA,1997).
3.3 Affective Domain
3.3.1 Human being development in affective domain
According to Melograno (1996, 18), affective domain contains the interaction between an
individual and sports. In sports one competes against others alone or as a team.
Therefore, it is important that an athlete is aware of the relationship between self and
others. An athlete perceives that he or she is constantly under social influence. Through
sports he or she socializes with others, likes or dislikes others, and develops attitudes,
values, and beliefs. Development of an established value depends on the willingness to
receive information and respond to stimuli.
The domain possesses social, personal, and emotional development. The domain is
divided into three smaller areas. The first area includes the consideration of healthy
response to physical activity. This comprises the development of positive reactions
through either success or failure in activity, appreciation of the aesthetic experiences
derived from the activities, recognition of the activity as an possible outlet for tension
release, the use of leisure time, the ability to have fun in activity, and appreciation of
outstanding physical performance as a spectator. The second area of affective domain
comprises of self-actualization; an awareness of the capability of the body at a specific
time, the knowledge of what one is and the ability to accept this knowledge of one’s
capacity and potential. It also means willingness to set a level of aspiration that is within
reach and desire to stay motivated to seek this level (Annarino, 1977, 22).
The concept, Self, is inherent in every human being and the center of attention in
humanism movement. The explanations provided on the development of normally good by
nature “Self” vary (Van der Mars 1989, 9). One of the most recognized advocates of the
kind of human development was perhaps Abraham Maslow. Maslow’s studies indicated
that self-actualization is the pinnacle of human development. Educators such as Carl
Rogers (1961;1969) Maslow (1971) and many others have stated that the primary
objective of education reflected environment is self-actualization. The content of the same
19
framework introduced people to such terms in general use as self-concept, self-worth, and
self-esteem (van Der Mars 1989, 8). It is up to the learner i.e. the athlete to find solutions
to problems according to one’s resources in different situations for themselves by making
their own decisions.
The third area of the domain is self-esteem encompassing self-perception including all of
an individual’s personal evaluation of these beliefs. Coach ought to be aware of how an
individual develops perceptions of physical performance in a specific activity or draws
conclusions of general ability (Annarino, 1977, 22).
Sport allows an individual to experience his or her body. This mental function of the
human brain provides the individual a body image, which contributes to feeling conscious
self. As an athlete moves, his or her brain receives nerve signals from the body segments
and converts them into sensations. The human brain generates a map of the body, which
helps the athlete to locate sensations that will stimulate cognitive thoughts, which are
collaborated with feelings (Kandel et. al. 2000, 318).
In order to comprehend intrinsic motivation of an athlete, it is advisable to examine
intrinsic motivation more proficiently. According to Boyd (2002, 18), there are three types
of theories of intrinsic motivation. Cognitive evaluation theory reveals us that intrinsic
motivation is a result of urge to satisfy inherent need for perception of competence and
self-determination. If a person accomplishes to feel competence, he will feel inherent
satisfaction. When Competence Motivation Theory dominates our desires individuals get
motivated to mastery behavior that satisfies an intrinsic need for challenge and perception
control. If we examine Social-Cognitive Model, Goal perspective theory, we may found out
that some athletes strive for achievement, trying to demonstrate competence avoiding the
feeling of incompetence.
Athlete’s intrinsic motivation affects person’s choice of task, performance, and
persistence. In addition, the athlete’s intrinsic motivation is affected by the energy and
effort expenditure. Subsequently, it is recommended in sports to control the amount of
energy used in a given situation. Ego oriented athletes desire to perform as well as others
but with less effort, whereas task oriented athletes facilitate their perception of
competence through mastery of skills and conceiving their true ability. Task orientation is
correlated with adaptive performance behavior characterized by athlete’s constant desire
to succeed, and Ego orientation is correlated with maladaptive performance behavior
characterized by overwhelming need to avoid failure (Boyd 2002, 18).
20
Intrinsic motivation is also enhanced through the development of self –efficacy. According
to studies, intention to exercise, exercise itself, and self-schemata are all interconnected
(Boyd 2002, 2). Research on self-esteem indicates that physical self-perceptions can
affect self-esteem. Self-perception, in fact, influences athlete’s sports competence,
physical conditioning, physical strength and task and ego orientation for exercise (Boyd,
2002, 18).
According to research self-efficacy also affects coaching efficacy. Teaching efficacy
research indicates that self-efficient teachers show commitment towards their profession,
persevere through situations of failure, and have longer time spent in teaching. Selfefficacy is developed through performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal
persuasion, and emotional arousal (Feltz, Vargas-Tonsing, & Warners 2002, ).
Motivation initiates, sustains, and directs behavior. According to studies constructed in the
field of human behavior, motivation embraces complex drive states according to the
needs of an individual. “Drive states are characterized by tension and discomfort due to
physiological and psychological needs followed by relief when the need is satisfied”
(Kandel et.al 2002, 999). These drive states can be described in three functions. The first
kind of drive state is directed toward or away from a specific goal. The second state is
characterized by organization of individual behaviors into a coherent, goal oriented
sequence. The third kind of behavior can be explained in such away that when a person
experiences an increase in general alertness, it will energize the individual to act. (Kandel
et.al 2000, 999).
Individual’s own desire and motivation to take part in the process acts as a base for
individual’s involvement in the training process. Without desire or motivation we wouldn’t
get anything done. In order to have these characteristics mentioned by so many coaches,
one needs to have motivation directed towards a purposeful objective.
According to James (2002, 236), the premise of comprehending an athlete’s psychological
commitment to sports is to understand his or her cognitive development. It is a process by
which an individual learns to recognize the larger world around him, to take in information
and process it. He starts to make distinctions between different objects and situations.
After the person is able to make distinctions he starts to value or form preferences for
different objects. Hence, it could be that this is the way young athlete starts to form
psychological commitment to different teams and sports.
According to Mike Johnston (1996), coaches need to find out the goals and desires of the
21
athletes in order to channel their energy into proper direction. Johnston further describes
the processes of conducting a practical tool for channeling the energy into proper
direction. The first objective of the coach is to find out the source of motivation for the
athletes. The second task of the coach is to assist them with creating and developing
passion. Then it becomes vital to assure the input comes from the athlete so that the
energy is channeled into proper direction. The fourth task of the coach is to encourage
and nurture accountability. Through various individual performance and team performance
goal setting plans coaches may be able to influence the commitment and responsibility of
an individual player’s commitment to his or her performance as well as his or her
responsibility and contribution for the team.
According to Jackson and Csikzentmihalyi (1999, 77) psychological well-being requires
full involvement of the entire organism. If clear demands are not set for attention, the mind
begins to turn toward personal problems. The mind becomes unfocused, productivity
decreases, as energy is not directed in specific and purposeful ways. Sport provides clear
goals and rules for action, based on the structures that have evolved and serve to define
each sport event. When the goals are not believed in or valued there will be little
motivation for doing the activity. Having the necessary motivation is usually not a problem
for dedicated athletes, although the level of motivation may fluctuate. Goals are the
building blocks of motivation, and learning to set the proper goals helps to maintain the
desired levels.
After the motivation is ignited and goals are defined and set the importance of maintaining
focus becomes essential. One of the factors that regulate the level of focus is mood.
Moods result from the interaction of different regions inside the brain. Negative thoughts
may often disturb the essential thoughts at task and drown one into disappointing events
from his or her past. Hence, it is suggested that in order to avoid any possible distraction
of focus, an athlete could control his feelings through taking control of the emotions
(Loehr 1994, 119). According to Hanin (1997, 273) mood may have debilitative or
facilitative effect on performance depends on an individual. In clinical descriptions of
emotional states the term mood is described as a sustained emotional state lasting weeks
or more. Conversely, the term affect is indicated as an immediate or momentary emotional
state of a person. Affect is, in fact, more directly responsive to external stimuli. Therefore,
the two words may be explained comparing it to weather. The word affect is to mood as
the rainy or shiny weather is to tropical, moderate, or cold climate. Team preparing for
performance is always in a certain mood before the show time. Similarly on the individual
player level, during the game, player’s mood is influenced by individual rapid or
momentary constantly changing situations (Kandel et.al. 2000, 1209).
22
3.3.2 Affective development and game requirements
As mentioned above unless a player has intrinsic desire to learn and apply the extrinsic
components of the game it will obstruct the optimal performance. Thus, it is vital to assess
the mental capacity of the players. Mental capacity can be divided into general mental
qualities (personality traits of a player) and game specific performance requirements
(=how the psyche affects 1. The actions of a player on the ice, 2. To achieve success as a
hockey player). It has been presumed that the mental requirements of the game strongly
pertain to the general mental qualities of a player. Due to this and the scarce amount of
evaluation experience mental capacity is managed as one entity. Mental readiness
includes player’s personality traits. There are sport specific mental qualities but there isn’t
a lot of research conducted in this field. However, we know that game sense and skill
qualities require strong mental capacity (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
According to tests and observations the selected factors are common traits seen in
players: 1. Goal / ego need of achievement, 2. Aggressiveness, 3. Self Confidence, 4.
Independence, and 5. Ability to tolerate pressure. Other traits include dominance,
narcism, and emotionality (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
23
4 COACHING PROFESSION AND CENTRAL SKILLS
Work of a coach carries a big responsibility. According to the Gould (2003), when an
athlete attends a sports program he’ll learn life skills. Hence, not only does a coach need
to be able to teach the sport skills but also life skills. These life skills include mental,
emotional, social attributes, characteristics, and behaviors and can apply those skills to
other life situations. The athletes will also establish an ability to set and attain short- and
long-term objectives. The athletes develop confidence, leadership, discipline, emotional
control, teamwork, and responsibility.
The Finnish Sports Federation instructor and coaching education manual (2002-2003),
provides a description of the different areas that the coach should be aware of when
educating oneself. The coaching education model presented here is divided into three
levels. Each level includes the areas of coaching knowledge and skills, coach’s role and
development, and the management of the job environment.
Levels
Level I
Coaching
The Role of the
Management of the
Knowledge and
Coach and his/her
Work Environment
Skills
Development
Practice structure
Practice
Training facilities
Development and
management
Safety
improvement of skills
Positive interaction
Learning and
teaching
Level II
Periodization
Self-evaluation
Competition
Practice
Interaction
conditions
management
Ethics of coaching
Sport specific
methods of training
Career of an athlete
Level III
Sport analysis
Methods of Self-
Clubs and
The quality factors of
analysis
associations
training
Tools of coaching
Publicity in sports
Teamwork in
Sport marketing
coaching
(Picture 3. The Finnish Sports Federation instructor and coaching education manual,
2002-2003).
24
As one can see from the table the working environment of a coach is versatile. The quality
and quantity as well as value, responsibility, and result of work are measured in results
accomplished on national as well as international level competitions. Coaching requires
ethically enduring way of working. It emphasizes the know how of management of
responsible interaction, communication skills and methods. Coach is constantly
cooperating with athletes and other coaching experts. He is an expert in his own sport and
in different situations assignments involved in his sport.
In professional level the coach should also be aware of the infrastructure of the sports
leagues. Sports dominates substantial portions of media attention and enter our homes
through print, radio, television, Internet, and plain conversation (Berry, Gould, Staudohar,
1986, xi). The sociological, psychological, and political aspects of sports are significant.
Furthermore, five interests comprise the infrastructure of professional sports leagues: Two
(leagues and clubs) are aligned with on the management side; three (players’
associations, individual players, and the agents attorneys for the players) are on the
other.” (Berry and others 1986, 4).
4.1The essence and importance of physical and psychomotor knowledge and skills
Depending on the value of comprehension a teacher (in this case a coach) sets for him- or
herself determines the quality of athlete’s attitude towards desire and purpose on doing
(Dewey 1997, 39). By this I like to emphasize the fact that the coach needs to be aware of
the vital groundwork that has to be done first in order to collect the fruit of optimal
performance later. It may be that sometimes insufficient and distorted experiences cause
the individual to misinterpret his or her needs. Growth and maturation in one
developmental area may occur at the expense of another. Thus, it is important for highly
complex sport specific skills to develop to establish the sufficient basic physical and
psychomotor skills. According to Bukatin (1984, 1), it is crucial for attaining optimal
performance to understand that development of movement capacities, (e.g. speed and
strength capacities); can be restricted by a range of technical elements, especially the
work of arms. On the other hand, an insufficient physical conditioning at an early age
might benefit the development of technical and tactical capacities of the young hockey
players.
25
4.2 Training physical and psychomotor qualities
According to Smith (2003, 1112) most sports require development of combination of the
specific components. It is essential for a skillful coach to be aware of the potential
negative of one training method to another component. For instance, strength training has
a negative effect on muscle mitochondria, which is essential for endurance. Training is a
complex process of combining and sequencing the variables and components of training.
The ultimate goal is to taper and maximize the physiological and skill components
necessary for optimal performance.
Sport specific physical qualities include skating power and speed, strength in 1 on 1
battles, speed of hands and arms, muscle strength and Muscle balance, speed strength,
and sport specific speed. Hockey requires proficient movement ability in offence as well
as in defense. Skating power and speed is defined as ability to repetitively to make short
and powerful skill acquisitions with and without the puck (quick accelerations, turns, and
stops, changes of speed and direction and fakes). The purpose of developing skating
power and speed is to answer to the demands of short duration and maximum power skill
acquisitions and also to the level of strength a player possesses (Westerlund, FIHA,
1997).
Strength in 1 on 1 battles in all the action is pertained to the opponent. In offence, a player
has to be able play through opponent’s coverage, protect the puck, take hits, escape from
the opponent or challenge the opponent. Similarly defense is based on player versus
player battles. There is number of different qualities that enable you to win the battles. In
addition to proper timing, technical skills, and speed, the battles require good qualities of
strength (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
The aim of sport specific speed training is to taper power into speed required in the game.
Sport specific speed is considered as game play specific speed such as accelerations,
stops, changes of pace, fakes, changes of direction, and agility, thus, speed of skill
acquisition (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
Player produces energy aerobically throughout the game. However, a player produces
energy an-aerobically during one individual shift. The level of technical skills has an
essential effect on energy consumption of the muscles and the economy of performance.
In hockey endurance can be defined as ability to prevent accumulation of lactic acid and,
and on the other hand, ability to tolerate lactic acid. The ability to tolerate lactic acid
occurs when a player is performing a shift in game. This shift lasting endurance requires
26
an-aerobic endurance. Anaerobic work is energy production without oxygen (Energy
consumption is bigger than its availability). Anaerobic endurance quality describes player
performance ability that a shift sets for a player. In one shift a player produces energy 6070% an-aerobically. The aim of an-aerobic endurance training is to develop muscle
capacity used in hockey so that a player is able to 1. Repeat many strength and speed
requiring skill acquisitions (ability to repeat this approximately 20 times (shifts) a game),
and 2. Tolerate lactic acid (acidity) without letting that affect the level of performance (in a
game, player works the effect of lactic acid app. 4-12 mmol/l. Anaerobic energy production
is divided into two parts: Short-term energy supplies and anaerobic glycolysis (Lactic acid
producing energy production). Short-term energy supplies mainly comprise of creatine
phosphate. This supply produces energy in maximal performance app. 3-5 seconds and
does not cause acidity to body (lactic acid). Supplies replenish during 1-2 minutes. This
constructive way of energy production is the base for strength and speed training. When
short-term energy supplies are not enough the energy is produced through an-aerobic
clycolysis. In maximum powerful performance energy supply lasts approximately 30-40
seconds. By-product of the energy production is lactic acid that inhibits the function of the
body. In addition to physical training effect, the purpose of hard anaerobic training is to
strengthen mental toughness, and will (Westerlund, FIHA, 1997).
Aerobic endurance (Game lasting endurance) is also needed in the game of ice hockey.
In aerobic work energy is produced with enough oxygen (oxygen gain and its consumption
in balance). The level of performance during a game is maintained through good aerobic
capacity. Aerobic endurance is defined as a quality through which players are able to
prevent excessive lactic acid accumulation during a shift (high anaerobic threshold), and
as ensured ability to stay fresh throughout the game; hence recovery between the shifts
(disposal of metabolic waste and replenishing of energy supplies). The most important
aerobic endurance-measuring factor is anaerobic threshold. The higher the an-aerobic
threshold, the longer it takes for a lactic acid to accumulate in a muscle. With hockey
players, the relationship between aerobic endurance to maximal oxygen uptake is quite
steady (70-80%). Therefore the measurement of aerobic endurance is maximal oxygen
uptake, which provides a good idea of the total aerobic capacity (Westerlund, FIHA,
1997).
4.3 The essence and importance of cognitive domain knowledge and skills
Coach is required to possess knowledge on the bigger whole, overall coaching process
and its different phases. According to Dr. Yessis (1987, 59), Russian studies reveal that
conditioning of the athlete should be divided into four stages: the preparatory, specialized
27
preparatory, competition, and transitional periods. Moreover, coaches should be aware of
the significance of long-term focus. Young athletes are five, ten, even, fifteen years away
from the Olympic level performance. Hence, the most effective and profound training
curriculum requires planning of multiyear program.
Coaches need to be subject matter specialists. They must master technical knowledge of
a particular sport. To become a good coach does not mean that one has to have the
experience of high-level competition for long periods of time, or history of being an
outstanding player. Proficient coaching requires from the coach desire to learn the sport in
and out, especially from an instructional perspective. A sign of a prudent coach is the
ability to create practice situations that maximize success. An institution that produces
personnel into a profession provides its students an educational process that includes the
following phases of an individual. In the first pre-training phase, the individual makes a
decision to enter a profession. The first phase precedes training phase where technical
skills and knowledge are acquired. In the final phase, post-training phase, the individual
upon leaving the training institution comprehends the value of new specialized technical
skills acquired and forms new values while performing professional work (Cheffers, 1994,
47).
Nevett, Rovengo, and Babiarz (2001, 389), provide a framework for studying the
development of sport expertise. The framework presents two main components of sport
performance: response selection and response execution. Response selection includes
awareness and of what is in long-term memory for a given sport and what knowledge and
sport-specific cognitive processes are used in sport competition. Response execution
includes factors associated with actual motor skill. Awareness of what is in long-term
memory on performing a skill and levels associated with performing the skill in controlled
and actual game contexts should be incorporated in the response-execution component
aspect. When the instruction focuses strictly on motor skill execution and lacks tactical
knowledge instruction, the athletes will not develop the needed game strategies to be
competent. It is difficult and time consuming to teach children to develop high level, sport
specific, action plan profiles and cognitive processes and have them reflect actual game
performance. Some children have participated in sport for 5 to 7 years possess poor
knowledge representations. In fact, still adult novices and youth experts exhibit poor
knowledge representations. More longitudinal research must be done to unravel exactly
what type of practice produce the different types of response-selection and executionperformance factors needed in early youth sport/educational performance (Nevett,
Rovengo, and Babiarz, 2001, 401).
28
According to Ivanov (1981, 1), signifies the importance of assessment. Assessment of the
player’s skills provides guidance and direction for the coaching of hockey players. The
study suggests that the assessment of the players should include skills or agility tasks that
require problem solving. In order to see plays develop before they do, the players have to
be able to conceptualize breadth and width and depth of the plays and see the passing
opportunities provided by the passing shade. Other vital skills include capability to change
places with the line mates, support one another, crossing each other, timing, reading
rebounds, and screening. Finally, deflection of shots often creates opportunities to attack
and score and inability to exploit these opportunities could be detrimental to attain
success.
According to Restak (2001, 13), unchallenging and repetitive jobs numb the brain.
Therefore, coaches can challenge the players in practices and helped them to increase
game sense. In concrete terms I take the latter to mean that the role of the teacher or
coach is to create situations (or arrange the environment, as a behaviorist would say) in
which learners can develop their skill and eventually an appreciation for the activity, be it
learning a foreign language, how to dance, play golf, tennis, or volleyball.
According to the Swedish Hockey News (1981) the premise of helping the players to
understand the game is to conceptualize several concepts that have the same meaning
and contribute to the development of cognitive hockey sense. (Swedish Hockey News,
1981). These concepts include problem solving, creativity, tactics, game sense, reading
the play, and techniques (technical; specialized fundamental skills) The coach has to
realize that the premise of coaching hockey sense is to establish a team that works well
together. Teamwork is essential in guiding players towards more intelligent hockey. By no
means this is an easy task because it is dependent on the capacity of the players’
thoughts and feelings. The players’ feelings and thoughts are often unpredictable and
hard to understand, since they occur independently inside their brains. Players who
understand the game possess a well-developed game sense. The players are able to
position themselves on the ice to become more effective and productive for their team.
Furthermore, the effective players are able to judge, read, and analyze and sometimes
predict the actions of the other players. They are able to make intelligent decisions in
proper moments and choose from different play execution choices to add creativity in their
game. The smart players are able to perceive offensive play as constructive playing and
defensive play as destructive play sense (Swedish Hockey News, 1985).
29
4.4 Developing individual and team play
According to Vickers & Bales (1986, 4), too many times the emphasis is on isolated skills
and not enough attention to the strategic complexities of the sport? Critical aspects are
not simply trained. Perfecting only certain aspects of the game at the cost of essential
other areas. Athlete who appears to be successful in practice develops type a false
confidence that crumbles in the face of tough competition.
According to research conducted in practice, instruction, and feedback literatures in motor
skills participant who trained highly bottom-up conditions achieve high level of success
early in the practice but often implode in the face of competition. On the contrary, people
who trained under top-down conditions, in the beginning, did not perform as well as
bottom-up participants but excelled later in the face of new, difficult, and challenging
conditions (Vickers 1996, 3). Hence, there was a reversal effect found later in
competitions. See the Methods below.
Bottom-Up and Top Down Methods
Bottom-up
Top-down
Technical, physical emphasis
Tactical, cognitive, decision-making
Part to whole training
emphasis
Simple to complex drills
Holistic-conceptual training
Technical emphasis
Competition-like drills
Blocked practice
Decision-making emphasis
Low variability
Random practice
Lots of coach feedback
High variability
Low levels of questioning
Reduced, delayed, summary feedback
Low levels of athlete detection and
High levels of questioning
correction of errors
High levels of athlete detection and
Low use of video modeling
correction of errors
Low use of video feedback
Extensive use of video modeling
Low levels of athlete cognitive effort
Extensive use of video feedback
High levels of athlete cognitive effort
(Picture 4. Vickers, 1996, 3).
Decision-making training becomes an effective tool for a coach to influence athlete’s
decision-making under competition through developing practical training tools that stimuli
the following cognitive skills: attention, anticipation, concentration, memory retrieval,
30
problem solving, automacity, and creativity. These skills can be affected by:
•
Random Practice – Drills and activities designed to combine many skills into
effective combinations under competition like situations.
•
High Variability – Each major class of skills, drills and activities develop many
variations under all various conditions that competition requires.
•
Tactical Instruction – The coach emphasizes strategic thinking skills through
demonstration and explanation of all critical concepts followed by their practice in
modified, simulated, and in real contexts.
•
Video Modeling – Learning regular part of practice through video information and
consultation of a coach and eventually on his or her own.
•
Video Feedback – The athlete learns to observe and evaluate video information of
self and others.
•
Bandwidth Feedback – A gradual decrease of corrective feedback as skill level
increases. Athletes develop confidence and independence by noticing they can
perform without intervention.
•
Questions - Frequent and sport based questions to the athlete. The coach has to
be an effective communicator about technical, tactical, mental and physiological
aspects of the athlete’s training.
(Vickers 1996, 3).
In the type of training random and variable drills are used daily. The activities require the
athlete to incorporate technical and physical skills within tactical situations in a competition
like situations. Tactical instruction is taught by providing needed strategic knowledge and
crucial insights needed to attain success. Direct feedback is gradually reduced and
delayed over the course of the season and/or athlete’s career. Finally, the questioning
style is introduced and the athlete becomes more directly involved in making decisions
about his or her own development (Vickers 1996, 3).
According to the Swedish Hockey News (1985) it is crucial to understand that teamwork
involves tactical and social thinking. Tactical thinking includes collective thinking,
independent thinking, and critical thinking. Collective thinking means that a player is able
to pass the puck as agreed upon. Independent thinking instead contains skills such as
player’s ability to solve situations on their own. The third, critical thinking encompasses
player’s ability to analyze his or her actions and knowledge to carry out constructive
solutions to instantly occurring game situations. Hence, coach’s responsibility is to
gradually integrate technical and tactical training with individual’s fundamental skills and
expose players to long-term training process with drills that promote enhancement of
hockey comprehension. Drills where the players have to constantly solve problems
31
facilitate the process of understanding the game with five-man-unit (Swedish Hockey
News, 1985)
In order for a coach to be able to teach his or her players the playing skills needed to
attain the game objectives coach needs to be creative and know the sport. For instance,
according to Erkka Westerlund (1994, 58), in order to enhance offensive and/or scoring
efficiency (goalkeeping) efficiency coach needs to develop breakout, regroup, and other
offensive attack drills in one direction. In order to learn and apply transition from offence to
defense the coach needs to create drills that emphasize the readiness following the loss
of possession. Coach whose team lacks defensive efficiency should be able to create
fore-checking, back checking and defensive zone drills in one direction.
4.5 The essence and importance of affective knowledge and skills
It is during the development stages of youngsters’ lives that sport takes on its meaning,
character and importance. That is what they (can) learn to be a sportsperson. It should
come as no surprise that the sport experience gets violated at these levels of participation
too. Examples are plentiful, including high school coaches who try to gain an edge on the
competition by violating formal rules set forth by their state association’s governing board,
the commencement of practice sessions earlier in the year than allowed, the use of
football pads during spring practices, and actively practicing maneuvers which violate
game rules. Other coaching practices, not necessarily related to formal regulations, could
be considered inappropriate as well. Coaches of successful programs who will force their
athletes to choose between sports (i.e., forcing athletes to specialize at an early age), or
coaches who have mandatory year-round training programs for athletes are but two
additional examples (Van der Mars 1989, 6).
Humanistic Coach’s task within the context of (youth) sport, coaches’ tasks thus revolve
around providing athletes and foremost with the opportunity to develop their basic play (or
sport) skills, that is, those skills needed to be successful in playing games valued in a
culture. Being successful would thus become a prerequisite for the growth of players’ Self
within the motor play or sport setting. Notice, that even though the humanistic coach is not
supposed to take on a leadership role in terms of the learning process she or he IS the
pivotal figure in selecting and creating the most appropriate learning environment for
youngsters that will allow them to be successful (Van der Mars 1989, 9).
32
4.6 Developing self-esteem and team cohesion
One interesting addition to the notion Self, was the possibility of a person having more
than one Self. One can well imagine how we each act differently and feel differently about
our self from one situation to the next. That is, we do not have just one level of selfconcept, self-confidence etc. We may have a high degree of self-concept or self-esteem
when it comes to golf, while at the same time feel terribly inadequate about swimming.
Consequently, in any educational setting one primary objective would be to have
individual learners develop their Self for a particular subject, as in our case, sport. The
role of a teacher from this perspective would be one of creating appropriate learning
situations by placing learners in that situation and then allowing them to seek out solutions
to problems. Problems in the sport context, of course, would be defined as learning how to
dive, throw a ball at a target, catch a ball, making a throw to a base, etc. (Van der Mars
1989, 8).
According to Kirchner & Fishburne (1995, 32), coaches should not just provide interesting
and challenging game activities but also provide opportunities for exploration and creative
expression regardless of the nature of the activity. Children enjoy competition, but they
are also fond of interpersonal relationships with each other. Without difficulty, failure, or
challenge there would be little growth. If the child has no difficulties to work out during
childhood, then the child cannot develop a sense of resilience. If an adolescent does not
experience conflict, then conflict-resolution skills will be undeveloped. Adventure-based
groups offer not only physical challenges, but challenges that center on social dynamics.
Adventure-based research indicates that participants display more anxiety and fear
related to the social realm than to the physical challenges. In the outdoor experiential
environment, a variety of social/Psychological-based fears might include: fear of not fitting
in with the group, holding back others from reaching their goals, and appearing foolish or
inept in front of others or to one’s self. The transference of increased self-esteem gained
through success in adventure challenges can help to reduce the defensiveness common
in children and adults with low-esteem (Holder 1999, 12).
According to Holder, success improves self-confidence, which, in turn, improves selfesteem. This process reduces defensiveness, which in turn, improves self-esteem.
Success is the most essential ingredient in self-esteem, and the sincere recognition of
those successes by a significant adult is a critical complement to building self-esteem.
Too much failure can create the opposite effect. Constantly displaying negative behavior,
especially in front of others, sets the stage for social rejection and subsequent
defensiveness (Holder 1999, 12).
33
Self-esteem is created by success and the resulting self-confidence; but one may take
action in order to experience success. As the person’s level of self-esteem is increased,
his or her defensiveness decreases and communication improves. The better we
communicate, the better we function, and the more success we have. We must break the
cycle of failure and inertia. Taking action is the key to success and to a good self-esteem
(Holder 1999, 12).
A team consists of individuals and they have to work in cooperation with each other. The
objective of team building is to create a cohesive team where the athletes work in
cooperation towards a common goal game requires. According to Janssen (1999, 135),
several factors affect the levels of cohesion in a team. A coach should be aware of the
following factors affecting the level of cohesion when selecting and coaching his or her
team: 1. Team size, Only a certain number of players are able to get the most playing time
and the others are relegated to a substitute role. Too many players can disrupt the
chemistry of the team. 2. Distinctiveness, The second way of developing team cohesion is
to emphasize the importance of a special privilege to be a member of a team. A team
believes in values and wears same uniforms to express their unity. 3. Distinctiveness, the
third way of developing cohesion is to have minimal turnover of players and staff. Through
shared hours of work people tend to know each other better and trust each other. This
creates a sense of confidence in a team. 4. Shared adversity, the fourth way to promote
cohesion is to value the importance of the tight pond developed through the shared tough
times – injuries, slumps, close losses, conflicts and success.
4.7 Leadership
According to Cheffers, people involved in coaching need to be able to provide leadership,
not only for the players but also to peers, administrators, and community residents. The
leader is the one the person who influences others more than is influenced by the others.
There are two types of leadership functions: process oriented and task oriented. The
process-oriented person is concerned with the social emotional climate of the group or the
personal processes taking place inside the group. The person oriented in task is generally
concerned with achieving group goals by maintaining positions and function and planning
procedures that assure accomplishment of the task objectives (Cheffers 1994, 121).
According to Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, leaders move us, ignite our passion, inspire
us to overcome our potential and work through emotions. Efficient leaders / coaches need
to have certain abilities in order to be successful. The first leadership competency
34
includes self-awareness. Self-awareness includes abilities of emotional self-awareness,
accurate self-assessment, and self-confidence. The second leadership competency is
self-management. Self-management includes abilities of self-control, transparency (An
authentic openness to others, adaptability, achievement, initiative, and optimism. The third
leadership competency is social awareness. Social Awareness includes abilities of
empathy, organizational awareness, and service. The fourth leadership competency is
relationship management. Relationship management includes abilities of inspiration,
influence, developing others, change catalyst, conflict management, teamwork and
collaboration. (Goleman Boyanzee, and McKee 2002 Appendix B)
35
5 FRAMEWORK FOR ATHLETE CENTERED COACHING
On the basis of Annarino’s model and information about the requirements of sports I here
present the framework for athlete centered coaching. The goal of the athlete-centered
coach is to be aware of the information on the ways he or she can make the athletes more
knowledgeable and skills to provide them equal opportunity to become a professional. As
we have seen the athlete meets the requirements of the sport every day. The coach
should always keep in mind the whole picture and keep everything balanced. Therefore, I
present a framework based on the information I have gathered for the study. I have shown
the domains of a human being and the demands that the sport sets for an individual. To
be able to keep it clear I have combined psychomotor and physical domain as one to
meet the qualities of a human being. Hence, here I present a framework where you can
see the three different domains.
Training phys.
Developing a
qualities
team/ Ind.play
Leadership and
developing team cohesion
S
KNOWLEDGE
K
I
L
G
A
Sport specific
physical qualities
Tactics
Group Dynamics
M
Team Play
Cooperation
E
Game Skills
Team Cohesion
L
S
S
K
I
LEARNING
Function
Thought
Structure
Memory
Player identity
H
L
U
L
M
S
A
N
Perception
Senses
Psychomotor
Cognitive
Affective
Domain
Domain
Domain
36
On the bottom of the box you will see the premises of development of a human being. A
coach needs to know the physical structure and function of a human being, know about
human brain’s and human body’s developmental effect on teaching and learning, and also
about how the identity develops in social surroundings. On the top level, in front of the
box, you will see the requirements that the game sets for an individual coach and a player.
The coach needs to be familiar with the demands and stresses that the game sets for the
human being. The sport requires certain sport specific qualities that need to be trained in
order to play the game in an optimal way. The game is also based on rules. The game
includes tactics and strategies that need to be comprehended by the player. Therefore,
the athlete needs to know how to play the game and acquire needed technical skills in
order to read the game and select a proper game skill to solve a situation at hand. Team
sport, such as ice hockey includes a team that performs together. Therefore, in order for a
team to play well together, the players need to get along with each other and play as a
team. Hence, building of every team includes the process of group dynamics. It is
important for a coach to be aware of the ways to get a team to play together for common
purpose with a good chemistry.
As you may see from the picture the box is divided into two halves one including
knowledge about a human being and the other side being the skills in practice that the
coach needs to have when training and working with athletes and their development. You
could argue that every piece in the framework has its place in coaching. They are all
connected and the coach needs to be aware of all of them. Different coaches emphasize
certain areas more than others. Some coaches use experts on some areas if they do not
have the skills or knowledge or time to prepare to take care of them. The purpose here is
to help the reader to understand that motivation to play and ability to commit to sports
should come from within and in athlete centered coaching it all comes down to knowing
about individual players and how their role provides them sense of purpose to play the
game for himself and play for the team. The player also has strengths in some areas and
needs to develop in others. As a coach it is your responsibility to make sure that you have
enough knowledge about the different areas of coaching in order to have the individuals to
develop in the different areas of playing and ability to function as a team with a common
purpose. I hope that this framework will help coaches to ponder the different areas in
coaching and to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of themselves, their staff and
the players in order to the coaching process successful and worthwhile.
37
6 DISCUSSION
It is clear that different philosophies emerge from time to time. As stated initially historical
research reveals us the importance of time or era what we think is important in the
science of coaching. Historical or concept analysis is a dynamic area of educational
inquiry because each generation reinterprets its past. However, perhaps it is the matter of
respecting the past educational concepts examines the changes by reflecting all the new
information with what we know about human being and what we know about the game. By
looking at the coaching profession from a broader view I hope to provide enough essential
information about the different areas of coaching so that a future coach can look at the
framework and let it work as a leading thread when working in different areas of coaching.
The study comprised wide range of science concepts. It is the matter whether there is
proven need for a certain approach. As the examination of the three different domains’
effects on the human being development reveal us the coaches’ need to be aware of the
different areas that affect the process of coaching. For instance, a player, possibly, will not
attain the optimal level of performance without genuine motivation. We cannot demand an
individual to show passion or desire. A coach needs to create the proper atmosphere for
someone to get motivated on something they are motivated to do. It is logical to think that
coaches and players’ optimal level of performance comprises a genuine constant desire to
seek for self-fulfillment through the experiences in sports.
Everyone can offer an opportunity to gain information, but the challenge is to locate the
right personnel, examine the right degree of information, in other words when to intervene
the participants, and intelligently choose the proper ways of delivery that will provide
meaning and purpose for the participants. The premise contains the notion, that thought
and action are in constant relationship which each other. The body of a human being will
allow experiences to take place. Hence, instructors need to constantly be aware of human
being’s nerve signals that will allow sensations, that will enable him or her to stimulate
cognitive process, maps that will lead into meaningful feelings. A human being recognizes
motion, when he starts to construct new concepts into series of action sequences.
Meaningful and purposeful knowledge will trigger motivation that will lead into initiation,
sustaining, and directing of drive and effort i.e. behavior.
The individual begins through the physical processes of the brain construct the bigger
whole. This can be reflected to development of game sense, formulation of personality,
and intelligent creativity. The experiences formulate our thoughts and the thoughts are
under constant influence of social reality – team dynamics and process of personality. The
38
purpose is to suggest causal explanation under the influence of changing meanings of
various concepts or trends to comprehend genuine needs of individuals where everyone
will have genuine opportunity to contribute to competence. Moving spirit of a group will
allow chance to channel energy and effort into proper direction. The individuals learn to
make distinctions of individual concepts and situations and become psychologically
committed for executing actions. Psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains of human
being development will allow premise for an individual to make decisions in a socially
functional and organized action content where group- and self-efficacy will flourish.
Hence, the nature of the process is gradually developing phenomenon through the intra as well as interpersonal interaction. Furthermore the two interaction types are formulated
under the influence of interaction with the surrounding environment. This will lead into
enhancement of intellectual capacity – problem solving and decision – making. These
cognitive processes will allow the individual to comprehend the true value of the PCA
model. This will be the consensus for motivation to do athletics that has to be channeled
into right direction. Intrinsic drive will enhance the individual to maintain the focus during
the gradually developing educational process. During the process the individual
leadership skills reflected by discipline driven consistency in action. The genuine
leadership skills, therefore, will require the information provided by the PAC approach.
This information about the requirements of sports and needs of a human being needs to
be then applied into meaningful and purposeful knowledge with the use of intelligent
strategy. This will provide the profession meaning, character and importance, which will
lead into true reliability and validity of the profession. Hence, intelligent coaching will
require the knowledge of communication that will play an important role in applying the
information into knowledge in appropriate timing –what, when, why, who, where, and how.
Improved communication of context appropriate channel will allow proficient action to be
taken that will lead into experiences followed by possible success. Hence, intelligent
coaching will require making sense of existent information and formulate it into proper
knowledge with right direction. Strategy will possibly lead into optimal efficiency but it will
require awareness of the importance of various methods of delivery. Therefore, an
institution needs to be well structured. Delivery of information of the subjects will help the
individual to gain knowledge that will in the course of the educational process turn into
genuine purpose.
Someone indicates that autonomy is the outcome of interaction between political,
economic and occupation representation sometimes facilitated by educational institutions
that persuade that occupation’s work is reliable and valuable. Hence, it is vital for the
coaching profession, in order for it to be a profession, to offer institutions that help its
39
representatives to construct a status for the profession that reflects reliability and validity.
There is a growing part of sports participants in high levels is the youth. Hence, the
amount of amateur coaches in youth development is constantly growing. The role of these
coaches is, in fact, increasing. Thus, there is a genuine need for a global expansion of
coaching education programs. Through the programs coaches improve the skill of time
management which results in increased motor engagement time. While the players’ are
engaged in the activities effective for their development, there is a need to analyze the
atmosphere the kids are in. Hence, for a good quality atmosphere there is a need to look
who contributes the most for the experience in the task and observe coaches’ behavior.
Through the experiences we may be able to start understand different personalities and
their development in athletics (Wade, 2004, 235).
There is a need for effective training programs that use intervention. As mentioned before,
in order for a profession to develop itself, it must never maintain static. Different
interventions in the curriculum or coaching style of its coaches are essential part of
improving the status of validity and reliability of the profession. Today, strategies of
coaching are generally presented to coaches in a controlled research context. This may
be interconnected to the fact that what seems to be the current trend in philosophical
approach on different sciences, is taught to the coaches of today, in order words, blind
sided to one dimension.
Some of the issues today prevail coaching programs training coaches using many course
conductors not been evaluated therefore unknown effectiveness. Hence, there is a need
for assessing the effectiveness of the coaching programs through the outcome of its
services. There seems to be a need to notice the amateur coaches generally in the design
of courses. Progressively correct transfer from content analysis is to focus next on the
way courses are conducted. By this the researchers desire to indicate to focus on
coaching skills concerned with specific times of different activities i.e. time management,
and content guidelines; strategic skills.
Dominant concern seems to be inconsistency in course delivery among instructors.
Therefore, it is advisable for the instructors to conduct well-structured resource packets
training of course conductors. Without structured training packages there is no guarantee
that any two groups of coaches graduating from the same program have been exposed to
the same material. It is beneficial to notice here that standardized tests focused on
stereotypical & simplistic interpretation of education do not help us to evaluate complex
contextual factors. Conversely, practical knowledge is needed pen and paper tests are no
40
longer considered appropriate. In conclusion, more efficient testing includes performance
tests, interviews, and observation (Popham 1993).
Moreover, before the future coaches enter a coaching education institution course, precourse assessments ought to be used, find out the existing knowledge, and increase
awareness of different contextual influences. Hence, multiple methods of data collection
and analysis providing information about the institution’s services include: 1) How the
course is delivered?, 2) Evaluate coach’s knowledge and contest before the course, and
3) Coaching behaviors and the related cognitive processes.
According to Brinkerhoff’s (1987) institution’s strategy is confined in course delivery,
knowledge gain, and knowledge use. (Brinkerhoff’s (1987). If knowledge is scattered it is
not organized and well structured. It may be advisable to incorporate of formative, process
oriented aspects of educational and social program models with the result orientation of
business and industry models. The premise of course delivery is concerned with
organizational issues such as program design and program payoff. After the course it is
essential for the further improvement of the program content and delivery to evaluate
coaches knowledge base after training via a post-course knowledge test and post-course
summary interview (Brinkerhoff’s (1987).
Coach’s behavior observation objective for example can be to improve coaches’
instruction given to players when they are most receptive for it e.g. stopped. Moreover, the
feedback should remain specific, positive, and distributed among individual players
subgroups of players, or the entire team. However, it is crucial to remember oneself that
the most important factor of effective coaching is, in fact, coach’s attitude i.e. desire to
coach. It is the attitude of a coach that has stronger influence on his instructional
behaviors than any guidelines offered in the course.
Pre- and post course evaluation is composed of background interview, knowledge test,
post summary interview, and content analysis.
John Cheffers (1994) discusses the bridge between theory and practice. Theoreticians are
obliged, by the nature of their work, to ensure that practitioners are acquainted with and
understand what the theory teaches, and every practitioner is obliged to search for
theoretical guidance when developing curricula, techniques, skills, tactics, and systems for
their activities. It is when theoretician and practitioners acknowledge the interrelationships
of their responsibilities that beneficial and productive activities result. Research results
must be delivered in readable form, with discussion and interpretation in a suggestion
format. Theoreticians benefit from when practitioners work alongside them and
41
practitioners are a little less lonely when collegial relationships are established with the
theoreticians. It is important to know what occurs on the playing field can introduce new
theories that require supporting research. The motion flows both ways. Knowledge,
research, and logical analysis are the cornerstones of theory. The land of practice
consists of need to master skills that in turn promote team performance and the
recognition that individual movement and growth rates differ. Programs, curricula,
personnel, and resources are important structures sustaining this bridge. Throughout the
history mind and body distribution of importance has continued. Activities in a theoretical
vacuum could look like chickens running around without their heads, active but
purposeless. Hence, it is important to that bridges be constructed for both groups to travel
from one domain to the other. Rarely does one appear without the other in the human
existence both mutually dependent, if not one and the same thing. The status of theory
and practice are both essential; we cannot have one without the other.
For a coach it seems to be crucial to establish environment where the athlete may be able
to remove the obstacles to personal fulfillment and help to create a context in which the
individual may flourish.
42
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