Effect of Coaches Attitudes Towards Student Athletes
The role sports can play in an athlete's life is extremely significant, but the attitude of their coach plays an even greater role. A coach can have both positive and negative influence on their athletes. A coach’s attitude can cause athletes to quit playing sports in high school, or enable athletes to succeed and even end up becoming coaches themselves. There are numerous benefits to be reaped by athletes that play sports throughout high school. When compared to non-student athletes, student athletes enjoy more physical health benefits, academic success, and higher levels of self-esteem.1 As for a coach, it is important to consider the major effects that we can have on our student athletes. Coaches need to try to their best to make this effect a positive one.
In addition, participants in sports and physical activities exhibit enhanced motivation and lower levels of depression and anxiety. The importance of the coach in determining the quality and success of an athletes sport experience is critical. Coaching effectiveness is mandated by the athlete’s perception and recall. Coaching behaviors are perceived and given meaning by each athlete resulting in an attitude toward both the coach and the sport, optimal coaching behaviors, and factors that influence the effectiveness of particular behaviors.
One example of a study conducted that shows why coaches attitudes are critical is the study conducted over the fitnessgram. The fitnessgram measures HFZ (healthy fitness zone) of students. Daily physical activity in sports offered by high school’s would leave one to believe that it would help all students improve in meeting their expected HFZ’s. It is hard to say where a student should be in their HFZ’s to be classified as healthy, but it is a valid test because every single student is set to meet the same standards as peers that are the same age. They measured the HFZ’s in 5 different areas: muscular strength, muscular endurance, muscular flexibility, cardiovascular fitness, and body composition. Students were also asked how many sports they had participated in over the past 12 months. Results of the study indicated that males who played more sports seemed to achieve more HFZ’s than males who didn’t play as many sports or maybe just didn’t play any sports at all. This particular study showed that students are more likely to reach the expected healthy fitness zones if they are active in sports2 . This is just one example of why it is critical for coach’s to always have a friendly, positive impact on their athletes.
References
1.Athletics in the Lives of Women & Girls. (1999). Retrieved Sept. 17,1999, from World Wide Web:http:/www.feminist.org/research/sports6 .html.
2. Renfrow, M. S., Caputo, J. L., Otto, S. M., Farley, R. R., & Eveland-Sayers, B. M. (2011). The Relationship between Sports Participation and Health-Related Physical Fitness in Middle School and High School Students. Physical Educator, 68(3), 118-123.
I agree, coaches can have a huge impact on their player’s lives in both a positive and negative way. To me, a good coach is someone who can get the best out of their players while having them respect the sport at the same time. It is important for coaches to promote sports and to encourage young athletes to begin playing and keep playing. Getting athletes started at a young age is important because it will set the standards and lay a basis for them to build on when they get older. This is why I feel that youth sports are very important. Also being able to relate playing sports to a healthier student by using the fitnessgram helps the cause as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the way the coaches handle and relate to their players is a huge element of coaching. If a coach has a positive, fiery attitude, the players will respond in a positive way and vice versa. If players know that their coach is passionate about the game and has built relationships with his players, it will motivate them to put everything on the line and fight for their coach. As coaches, it is a major duty of theirs to build relationships with their players and have a positive impact on someones life.
ReplyDeleteCoaches do impact their players more then they might think and that is why I agree that it is important to be a positive role model for them. Players are going to react to things that way a coach reacts whether it is passion, anger or verbally. They way a coach treats players also affects them in their daily lives as well so it is important that players see the positive from coaches so that way their attitudes towards people and different things will also be positive.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree, as a former athlete when my coach was unhappy and yelling and angry we all knew what was happening later and I fell like that made the practice or game play worse. you don't just have to have a positive attitude throughout the players the coaches also have to be on board with the positive attitude to achieve the best performance.
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