Unit 5 Sports Coaching

Christian Brooke
Introduction

 In this presentation I will discuss the different

techniques used by coaches to improve
athletes performances
 I will be describing, explaining and evaluating
these.
Performance Profiling  What is it?
 This is a technique that has been used by many
successful coaches
 It involves completing a full assessment of a
athletes overall performance that link to the
requirements of the specific sport.
 It is used to monitor and assess the technical and
tactical ability of the athlete.
 Coaches use a variety of different methods to
distinguish the athletes profile.
 Sir Alex Ferguson used this technique in developing
Wayne Rooney's aggression into channelling it into
his game play rather than other players
Explained…
 After the assessment has taken place the coach will give feedback in a
form of grade or mark to show the players performance profile and will
be set specific goals to develop their performance
 www.bbc.co.uk/sport/international says “Jose Mourinho & Pep
Guardialo are two of the best performance profilers in the world of
sport.”
 An example of a target would be to a footballer who in a previous
season scored 25 goals and is half way through the current season but
has scored 8 goals the coach would give a target or goal to derive a
training programme that focuses on clinical finishing or another attribute
to focus on scoring goals
 The performance profile would sincerely be developed to the skill and
ability of the athlete as there is no point setting handicap goals to a
professional golfer.
 Performance profiling is often used in semi-profesional and elite level,
as novice or beginners would have a lesser relationship with the coach
therefore only being able to give feedback on performance, not taking
personality traits or psychological needs into perspective.
Strengths and Weaknesses.
 A strength of this would be that
it helps a coach and athlete
build a stronger relationship
 Developing an athletes
potential by including them is a
strength as it will develop them
psychologically also
 It is a reliable technique as it
has been used in many
different sports dating back to
the 1970’s in American
Football.
(www.nfl.com/usfootballhistory
) as it would be hard for a tennis
 A weakness would be that
coaches would need an in-
depth knowledge and
experience of the sport to
succesfully develop an athlete
from using performance
profiling
 Agreeing a development plan
with an athlete would dent
confidence levels as they are
openly identifying negative
attributes
 It is in subjectivity to the sport
player as a coach not to use
other techniques in
accordance to this.
Goal Setting  What it is
 Goal setting is a technique coaches use to increase the
psychological aspects of a players performance.
 It is a first stage planning process for any coach of any sport.
 It provides both direction and positive motivation for athletes of
different natures.
 Goals can be put into catergorised into time phases such as
short term, medium term or long term goals
 An example of a coach who uses goal setting is David Haye,
heavy weight boxing champions coach Adam Booth.
 David is an extremely confident boxer, but his coach focuses on
goal setting to derive a plan to become world champion. This
includes positive internal and external motivation that gives him
the confidence to beat anyone in his path.
Explained…
 Short term  This is a time phase that could extend from one day to a
month. For example a target that an athlete wishes to achieve in the
next training session or in David Haye’s case his next fight. This could
also include new techniques

 Medium Term  This should progressively support the progress of the

athlete, focusing on previous achievements to achieving long term
goals. These can be measured throughout an athletes season.

 Long Term  These are set to determine what an athlete aims to

achieve in a season or longer, even a career. For example if a team
finished in the top 4 positions in the premiership they would focus on
meeting this gradually over the course of the season, starting by
winning games. This goal setting would be used for athletes wanting to
compete in certain competitiong which may not take place in the for a
few years. For example; The World Cup. This was a goal John Toshack
gave the Welsh Squad before quitting
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strength
 The first strength is that it gives the
athlete a sense that they are able to
achieve it, giving them confidence
 Also it is reliable technique as coaches
can make the goals vague therefore if
an athlete has not completely achieved
the goal, there will be an area they
have achieved.
 Another strength would be that
because it is psychological, even if an
athlete doesn’t have the self-
confidence to achieve setting a long
term goal would motivate them into
developing their physical ability
therefore being a valid technique for all
types of sport
Weakness
 The first weakness would be that if an
athlete is unable to achieve a short
term goal their confidence would
decrease which could have drastic
effect e.g. Jamie Carragher quitting the
England Squad due to not being
picked for games
 Another would be that it is open to bias
from external sources for example the
media could criticise an athlete who
has not met a long term goal, who has
the physical ability to do so.
 It is also un-reliable in the sense that
any coach could say you can achieve
this, but would need sufficient
evidence to back it up, therefore this
could also harm an athletes
confidence. For example David Moyes,
Everton Coach told Wayne Rooney he
could achieve world player of the year,
but has yet to do so.
Effective Demonstration What is
it?
 Effective Demonstration is also a very popular technique that coaches use, they
help the physical and psychological development of athletes.
 The first consideration of a coach would be to choose whether to use video or
still images to support the development, and stick to their choice.
 Demonstrating different skills to children would be difficult for a coach as the
children's knowledge would be limited therefore if the coach has bad habits they
could amend this in the later stages of the demonstration.
 Elite athletes are not particularly keen on demonstrations as they feel they are
more talented than their coaches, and would criticise if the coach was to display
an inaccuracy.
 Demonstrations through video rather than physical would be better for elite
athletes as they can be slowed down and are able to highlight key factors for the
athlete to address their own application of a specific skill.
 A coach should determine the purpose, ensure it is clear and paints correct
image in athletes mind, repeat and invite questions when demonstrating through
video.
 A coach who uses this would be Sam Allardyce as he is succesful in developing
younger players, he has commented on using demonstrations through video as
“key to developing future potential” (www.blackburnfc.co.uk/coachingstaff.)
Explained…
The stages would be for demonstration to be effective;
 Determine the purpose of demonstration being used.
 Ensure the image is clear and psychologically painted in a
athletes mind
 Ensure they can understand and is appropriate to skill
 The coach only demonstrates one or two points at a time to
ensure full understanding
 Repeat it numerous times.
 Invite questions.
 Support the demonstration and actively evaluate in training
sessions
 Observe and work towards full development of the skill
demonstrated
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strength
 The first strength would be the athlete, in
Blackburns case Matt Derbyshire,
feeling that he will want to develop the
skill demonstrated as time has been
spend on helping him
 Another would be that if the player is
trying to grasp the technique or skill set
they are able to relate to other players
who do this skill well.
 Also it is reliable because the athlete is
able to seek demonstration through
peers in a team aswell as the coaching
staff.
 It is subject to validity as it has proved in
many footballing instances to develop a
players potential and channel them into
increasing other attributes.
 www.bbcsport.co.uk/coachinguk states
“Rafael Benitez, at Liverpool used this
technique into helping Jamie Carragher
to switch between positions
Weakness
 The first weakness is that if a coach uses
physical demonstration players/athletes
would feel they are more physically able
if they are or elite level
 Another weakness would be that if a
player/athlete feels they are unable to
perform the skill required, they would feel
they are letting the coach and club down
as time has been spend helping them
achieve
 Also it is also open to bias as its
reliabiltiy depends on how the athlete
reacts to demonstration therefore it
cannot be used on any athlete to develop
potential ability, therefore not being a
valid technique.
 Finally it also the reliability would depend
on the coach as some are unable to
demonstrate effectively therefore not
being able to develop a players/athletes
attributes sufficiently
Conclusion
 I think that from all of the techniques discussed
there are not any specific technique which is better
than the others, this therefore would depend on the
coach using them as some, depending on the
personality and characteristics would be better in
using some than others. Many coaches throughout
the world of sport use multiple technique as some
such as goal setting and demonstration have been
known to work well together 
www.brianmac.com/coachingtechniques