When coaches really believe in what they're saying and are excited to be there, athletes take notice. Curiosity is difficult to teach, but it makes all the difference. Great coaches not only want to improve others, but they are also very curious to become better coaches themselves. Successful coaches come with a variety of personalities.
Mike Ditka and Bobby Knight exuded emotion, while Phil Jackson had a stoic demeanor. Pat Summitt was the very image of intensity, while John Madden was sociable and affable. Geno Auriemma's frank and lively style contrasts sharply with Tom Landry's serene and discreet way of patrolling the bands. However, despite all their differences, great coaches share a common set of characteristics that make them successful.
Research suggests that in all types of sports, there are characteristics that successful coaches share. What are they? The survey conducted for this study showed that the five main characteristics of successful coaches are (a) the quality of the practices, (b) communication with the athletes, (c) the motivation of the athletes, (d) the development of the sports skills of the athletes and (e) the solid knowledge of the sport. How can a coach obtain these characteristics? Most coaches learn from experience, from trial and error. But for those who do not yet have much experience, the deficit can be compensated with knowledge.
Importance of 17 characteristics of coaching, according to 15 people who work as coaches at the high school level. Successful coaches are continuously looking for ways to improve the content of practices, incorporating new information into practice plans. Successful coaches can interpret the feedback given to them by players (and others) and use it to make decisions. In reality, a coach who seeks excellence has a combination of many characteristics, even those that scored poorly in the survey.
Regardless of what characteristics a coach has, success is not guaranteed if the coach doesn't feel the need to improve. Acquiring these features is essential to the coach's success and should not be overlooked. Successful college coaches with multiple winning seasons have been known to lose their jobs when those seasons are followed by a single losing season. By working to develop the five key characteristics identified in this survey on their own, coaches will be more successful.
This coach survey was an unbiased way to find out or identify the characteristics that the survey sample considered most useful for coaches at each level. Successful coaches (and teachers) know the order, or progression, in which fundamental skills can be most effectively taught. But is what I've done enough to define myself as a “successful coach”? Or have I been missing some of the features needed to be successful? If so, how can I identify and develop that feature? A coach should know as much as possible about their sport, because knowledge of the sport is the most important factor for overall training success. Number of coaches surveyed who identified a training feature as important at three specific levels of play.
Leave Message