Characteristics of an effective coach
It is universally accepted that the role of a coach has a huge influence on sporting success. An athlete may contain all the ingredients necessary for success such as natural talent, work ethic, mental strength, hunger but if they don’t have the right coach to bring it all together, it is quite likely they will fall short of their goals. Similarly, a team may be made up of the most talented individuals, but if they aren’t moulded into an effective group that can perform as a collective, then they will more often then not find themselves failing to reach their targets. The importance of a good coach is the reason athletes and teams spend a lot of time and money hunting down the best coaches. One of the problems is that it is not an exact science, as we have seen many times where a successful coach can’t adapt his approach to a new set of players or different types of individuals.
The approach is key
What makes an effective coach is a question that is often asked, but like so many things in sport there is no simple answer. It’s a bit like asking what makes an effective parent as there are so many variables involved. For example do you grade a coach simply in terms of success? If their athlete or teams wins, then they must be an effective coach, right? Perhaps, but other factors must be considered. For example, being able to improve an athlete must be considered to be effective coaching, but it may not lead to success in terms of medals. Also, an effective coach may be someone who encourages people to stay involved in sport and live a healthier lifestyle, and also one who ensures participants have fun. All of these coaches could be considered to be effective so it would appear that when we are looking at what makes a good coach the emphasis should be on their approach, rather than the outcome. While it is impossible to come up with a precise definition for a good coach, it is accepted that there are certain characteristics that effective coaches have in common, not matter what level they are operating at. Some of these traits include the following:
Knowledge
It may seem unnecessary to point out that the first thing a coach must have is knowledge of their sport, but it is vital is so many ways. Knowledge allows a coach to improve the athlete or the tactical ability to organize and get the best out of a team. Being able to pinpoint the areas an athlete or team need to improve and implement the necessary course of action is also an essential part of being a coach. This knowledge is not finite and should be regularly updated.
Communication
Having the knowledge to improve an individual or team is of little benefit if you can’t get the message across to the athletes. Getting the message across effectively means that athletes are better prepared, know exactly what to do in certain situations and as a result the chances of success increase. Being a good listener is also part of this communication.
Inspiration
Being able to inspire an athlete to use their talent and hunger to achieve their goals is one of the greatest tools a coach can possess.
Training quality
Coaches have to ensure that training sessions are designed to get the best out of an athlete and prepare them for competition, and not just going through the motions of aimless training drills.
Athlete welfare
Being an effective coach involves looking after the overall welfare of the athlete. This includes making sure their whole approach is monitored and the focus is not simply on physical preparation. Other vital aspects that must be considered are, rest and recovery, nutrition and mental welfare.
Good coaching habits
There are many articles out there that look at the specific characteristics required to coach effectively and one that is particularly interesting is from Wayne Goulding in The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Coaches. He lists the most important traits as follows:
- Make training more challenging and more demanding that the competition your athletes are targeting: Great coaches realize that training needs to be more challenging – physically, mentally, technically, tactically and emotionally – than the actual competition
- Learn to develop as a coach at a faster rate than your athletes: Coaches must remain relevant and have to strive to improve themselves at all times
- Accelerate your rate of learning faster than your opposition: Great coaches understand that everyone is learning every day and strive to accelerate their rate of learning faster than opposing coaches
- Enhance your creative thinking skills: Creativity is the defining difference between good coaches and great coaches Good coaches can follow programs: great ones invent wining programs by creating new ideas
- Coach individuals – even in team sports: Great coaches will engage with athletes and inspire them to consistently prepare with passion and to realize their full potential
- Ensure that every athlete prepares their opposition: Winning comes from being the best in every aspect: training, preparations, skills, recovery, gym training, sleep, travel management, nutrition etc
- Adapt training sessions to optimize impact on each individual at every training session: The best coaches plan meticulously with great attention to detail and understand the importance of every training session in building to the ultimate goal
- Performance practice (not practice) makes perfect: Practice will help you master a skill but performance practice will allow you master it in a way that it can be executed in the right way at the right time in competition
- Adopt an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to talent development and performance enhancement: Being a successful athlete is not just about being ready to perform and great coaches will help prepare the human being to be all they can, and this will help the athlete perform
- Lead: The great coaches are leaders who drive change, fight hard for who and what they believe in and accept the responsibilities that come with leadership
What is Metrifit?
Metrifit helps coaches get to know their athletes, and helps athletes get ready to perform. It is a simple, intuitive and effective approach to monitoring looking at how the ‘small picture’ of an athlete’s daily habits, shapes the ‘big picture’ of match day performance. In the modern sporting world, the gap between winning and losing can come down to fractions of seconds, millimeters, or squeezing out that last ounce of energy. Data on all aspects of an athlete’s preparation is of significant value. If a coach can keep track of how an athlete is reacting to training, how they are sleeping, how they are eating and what their mood or stress levels are, they can make decisions based on that information that might just give them the edge they need. Metrifit’s new athlete lifestyle profiling product takes up very little time for busy athletes (about 5 minutes each month) but provides you with actionable insight to help improve your team’s performance and more importantly highlights the key lifestyle stressors that are affecting the health and well-being of your athletes.
To find out more contact us at or click on ‘Request Demo’ below.
Follow us on social media where we post regular blogs related to sports, performance and well-being.
References
The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Coaches
Characteristics Contributing to the Success of a Sports Coach
An Integrative Definition of Coaching Effectiveness and Expertise by Jean Côté and Wade Gilbert
"The success of young athletes using Metrifit was an interesting challenge in the Elite Soccer space… After six months of learning, creating habit with teenagers the project is a huge success…. 90% completion rate has allowed us deal with all the key KPI’s that are needed in their development. In our space with developing athletes…Metrifit is a godsend and is the most important tool in this space."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-16T16:51:01+01:00
Niall O’Driscoll
Academy Directory, SJ.B (St. Joseph’s Bray ) Academy
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/niall-odriscoll-short/
"Metrifit has been a great asset in helping guide the numerous decisions we make on a daily basis, that have a direct impact on our athletes well-being and progress. The platform is extremely user friendly and the reports and analytics that reflect the data collected daily, can be catered to what you are most specifically curious to know about the athletes both individually and collectively"
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2021-04-29T15:31:16+01:00
Aaron Mansfield
Head Coach, LMU Lions, Loyola Marymount University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/aaron-mansfield/
"I've found Metrifit an invaluable resource. Not only to monitor daily wellness, readiness to train and training load within the squad, but also to monitor training load externally with additional external squads. Furthermore, Metrifit has acted as a key teaching tool, allowing young athletes associate good sleeping, eating and recovery habits to an improved sense of wellness and thus superior on-field performance."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-14T13:31:14+01:00
Tommy Mooney
Strength and Conditioning Coach at DCU Sport and with Dublin Minor GAA
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/tommy-mooney-short/
"Gaelic football is an intermittent high-intensity collision-based field sport requiring high levels of endurance, strength, power, agility, and speed as well as proficiency with gaelic-related skills. These components comprise the training modalities used at the elite level and the monitoring of such a vast range of modalities is central to peak performance. The athlete monitoring tool Metrifit allows us to do this and can keep us one step ahead of our competitors."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-12T14:23:50+01:00
Jason McGahan
Sports Scientist, Kildare Football, PhD Sports Science Researcher
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/jason-mcgahan/
"I wanted to reach out to thank Metrifit for an extremely successful season. Our Regis University women’s side won the ultra-competitive RMAC with a 11-0-1 record. Our student-athletes reported in post-season interviews the positive use of Metrifit that enabled their own reflection about their bodies and also found value providing information to coaches for our strategic planning purposes. On more than one occasion, we recognized deviations from norms and were able to step-in with a quick chat to help a player get back on track or refer her to the proper support personnel for further assistance. Fantastic! "
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2018-09-13T13:47:09+01:00
J.B. Belzer
Head Coach, Women's Soccer at Regis University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/jb-belzer/
"Metrifit has been used to gain a more in-depth insight into our student-athlete’s progressive athletic development and balance relative to their particular sporting and training activities, academic studies and total load. Metrifit doesn’t just help with optimising our Sports Scholarship students’ athletic performance. It assists us in helping them get the balance right between their sporting activities and academic studies."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-12T13:58:58+01:00
Richard Deuchrass
Lincoln University Athletic Performance Manager
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/richard-deuchrass/
"When COVID altered college athletics as we knew it, Metrifit came to the rescue. This intuitive athlete monitoring, health and well-being system provides the athlete, coach, and sports medicine staff a way to monitor and balance the physical, emotional, health and well-being of our athlete’s. Metrifit provided that calm in the middle of the perfect storm for our entire athletic department for the future. Thank you to the entire Metrifit family for assisting our department with a seamless process."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2021-04-07T16:43:52+01:00
Jennifer McIntosh
Head Athletic Trainer, Colorado School of Mines
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/jennifer-mcintosh/
"Metrifit has been instrumental in helping our international Managers, Coaches and Medical teams to identify players who require modifications in training loads or who are struggling with some aspect of their preparation for, or recovery from, training and matches. One of the big strengths of this technology is that it allows our Managers and Medical teams to monitor players both during international competition and outside of these times."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-16T15:11:55+01:00
Dan Horan
Head of Fitness for International Football/Fitness Coach Men's Senior Team
Football Association of Ireland
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/dan-horan-short/
"The holistic approach of medical, physical, emotional and even tech/tactical; bringing together what we need to monitor and evaluate our University players. “If you can’t measure it – it doesn’t exist.” I know we were the first Canadian University to use the program and I know many more will be asking for it in the future! I highly recommend Metrifit."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-12T14:25:37+01:00
Tino Fusco, B.Sc. ChPC
Head Coach, Women's Soccer, Mount Royal University (Canada)
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/tino-fusco-b-sc-chpc/
"Metrifit is an amazingly easy-to-use yet comprehensive monitoring tool for training and recovery! The elite athletes we work with are able track and monitor their situations and states daily, in order to maximize their performance loads and recovery practices. This also helps our coaches customize the training programs more effectively. I'd recommend this for any serious team / athlete or coach in wanting to bring out the very best in their long-term performances! "
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-12T18:03:35+01:00
Edgar K. Tham
Founder and Chief Sport & Performance Psychologist, SportPsych Consulting (Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines)
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/edgar-k-tham-2/
"The ability to acutely monitor stress and recovery and make the correct adjustments was critical to our health and performance throughout the NCAA tournament. Metrifit has a very strong educational component. With the information we get, I am able to clearly understand the habits and behaviors of our athletes, and how they may be impacting performance."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-12T11:42:14+01:00
Erik Helland
Director of Strength & Conditioning and Head Strength Coach Men’s basketball, University of Wisconsin
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/erik-helland/
"We started using Metrifit to see if it gave us better predictability and allowed easier monitoring than our DIY excel sheets prior to the Tokyo qualifiers. In a sport where measuring training load is very difficult, Metrifit filled a huge gap in our ability to monitor our athletes’ performance state and recovery. After some months of collecting data I was able to clearly see when to back off and when to keep going with different aspects of the training programme, as well as when to provide extra care and support for our elite athlete – and without a doubt it is much more informative and sensitive than our DIY model, not to mention much easier! Looking forward to the next Olympic cycle with Metrifit as one of our essential tools."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2021-05-28T12:30:33+01:00
Emma Hawke, PhD Exercise Physiology
Coach - Sweden Climbing, Olympic Offensive - Female Coach Swedish Olympic Committee, Senior Lecturer - Coach education programme (Sweden)
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/emma-hawke/
"While working with the Clare Senior Hurling team (2012-2014), Horse Sport Ireland (U25 European Eventing Champions) and currently with the Limerick Senior Hurling Team, Metrifit provides our team with critical information across a number of essential aspects of elite athletic performance. You don’t really know how your players are responding to training stimuli unless you have daily data and Metrifit provides and easy to use and highly effective means of finding this critical information."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-12T13:55:49+01:00
Joe O’Connor
NISUS Fitness, S&C Coach Clare Senior Hurling, Horse Sport Ireland and Limerick Senior Hurling
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/joe-oconnor/
"The visualisation of data allows for easy discussion between athletes, performance staff and medical teams and offers the potential to predict and avoid issues which could hamper performance. Over the year the data has proven instrumental in our critical decision making. Metrifit is a excellent monitoring tool however the unsung additional aspect is the fantastic and tireless customer support."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-07-25T14:10:08+01:00
Robert Walsh
Strength Coach
Nederlandse Ski Vereniging (Netherlands Ski/Snowboard Team)
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/robert-walsh-short-testimonial/
“Metrifit has become a multifactorial platform that has helped up us provide deeper context to the decisions that we make on a daily basis in regards to the physical development of our student-athletes. We have intimately been utilizing both the subjective wellness questionnaire along with player training load data to drive professional conversation and actionable tasks to enhance the sporting results and quality of life for our student-athletes with unparalleled success.”
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-20T12:12:33+01:00
Kevin Schultz
Associate Director of Strength & Conditioning
Director of Olympic Strength & Conditioning
University of Wisconsin
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/kevin-schultz-full/
"What’s more impressive is the ability to utilize the basics but at the same time have the capability to explore detailed and intricate correlative data points that helps us as coaches gain the most from our athletes. Metrifit has also served as an easy communications hub to ensure essential information is passed to the appropriate team. We are excited to what the future from Metrifit will bring."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-14T14:09:22+01:00
Michael Torres
CEO, Shift Performance, Miami
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/michael-torres-short/
“Metrifit has allowed us to gain better insight on our athletes and their individual stress response to training and outside factors. This has helped us to make daily adjustments when necessary, to further enhance their development which has led to higher performance levels, faster recovery, and a reduction in injuries. The new lifestyle profiling survey has been an invaluable insight into the lifestyle habits of my athletes and has helped focus on key areas that can be improved, benefiting athletes on their performance journey.“
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2021-04-27T11:02:12+01:00
Dan Rickaby
Assistant S&C Coach, Tulane University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/dan-rickaby/
"Metrifit is an integral part of the set up within the senior and intermediate inter-county Camogie. The data collected daily on the individual players is critical to the decision making of the backroom team including, managers, trainers, selectors, physiotherapist and indeed myself. As a nutritionist it allows me to monitor the quality of the player’s diet, energy levels, sleep pattern and overall wellbeing."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-13T16:38:55+01:00
Yvonne Treacy
Nutritionist, Wexford Camogie
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/yvonne-treacy-short/
"We have found metrifit to be a great tool to ensure we can monitor and adapt our athletes training loads regularly. This programme has ensured our coaches and staff can maximize all training and recovery to each individual needs on a day to day basis. It is user friendly and provides excellent visual data that can be viewed by both practitioners and athletes. With the help of Metrifit support team, we have personalized it to suit our specific sport and training needs. It's a excellent athlete monitoring tool and is essential for assisting the team to perform at their best"
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2021-06-25T11:19:31+01:00
Lee Stutely
Team Manager and Athlete Support Services Coordinator at Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/lee-stutely/
"Our coaches through Metrifit basically have an ‘X-ray’ vision into the habits and lifestyles and stressors their athletes have on a day to day basis, especially when they are not together. Thus the professional authentic relationships created through the casual conversations, reflection process and application provided is priceless."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-12T14:21:17+01:00
Brian Clarke
Head Strength and Conditioning Co-ordinator,Noblesville High School
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/brian-clarke/
"Metrifit is an outstanding platform to track your athletes’ wellness. It’s simple to use, easy to implement and gives outstanding information on your athlete’s subjective wellness which can be used to assign training loads. I highly recommend Metrifit for any coach looking to begin implementing technology into their program"
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-12T17:58:50+01:00
Brijesh Patel
Quinnipiac University, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/brijesh-patel/
“I have been using Metrifit for the past number of years and I have found it to be an excellent piece of software. It is extremely easy to use and has proved very beneficial in preparing myself for competition. The ability to view my health and wellbeing stats everyday and see how this influences my performance in both practice and competition has been very helpful. I have been able to put more effort into key areas such as fluid intake, sleep and balanced golf practice and training. Having the ability to view my detailed stats helps me to understand exactly where I am and how I need to adjust my training or health choices. I have found using Metrifit this past year has been a crucial help for me to play well. As I now have turned 50 I am playing on The Champions tour in the USA and have played well during my first year. Metrifit has been as important as my golf equipment in achieving that success.”
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2019-03-04T20:48:39+00:00
Robert Karlsson, Professional Golfer
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/robert-karlsson/
"Metrifit has provided me with an opportunity to get to know and understand our players on a different level. I've found our conversations to be more intentional, which has been so important in developing deeper, more authentic relationships. Ultimately, understanding their needs has allowed me to push buttons that leads them to be better people and inspires them to be better athletes"
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2021-04-27T11:10:43+01:00
Ryan Osborn
Head Basketball Coach, Carmel High School
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/ryan-osborn/
"The cutting edge technology of Metrifit enables Managers, Coaches and Players to use this innovative technology to gain these crucial percentage points over their opponents in a technologically advanced yet easy to use web-based platform. The data collated on a daily basis greatly informs Management Teams while the educational aspect of the system really appeals to modern day athletes who are constantly looking for that extra edge."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-14T13:24:03+01:00
Cian O’Neill
Kildare Senior Football Manager
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/cian-oneill-short/
"Metrifit has enabled us to bring to life the complexiities associated with managing the academic, pastoral and sporting demands of pupils aged 13 - 18 in a UK day and boarding school environment It has provided another bridge between coaches and sports pupis, giving pupils a space to provide honest self reflection on wellbeing and providing coaches a head start on appropriate freshness and fatigue balance across the school week."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-19T14:14:37+01:00
Graham Williams
Athletic Development Coach, MSc ASCC
Millfield School, UK
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/graham-williams-short/
"Metrifit has been hugely beneficial in supporting our coaches and back room staff to track and monitor our players training loads, performance and readiness to train. Having a one-stop shop for collating all relevant information across a holistic picture of the player allows us to help prevent burnout, injury and provide timely feedback and communication to all."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-12T14:01:46+01:00
Eamonn Fitzmaurice
Kerry Senior Football, Manager
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/eamonn-fitzmaurice/
"The Metrifit RTP platform is an excellent tool to monitor, evaluate and make the right decisions for your athlete’s well being and performance. It enables coaches and athletes to track and sift through all the variables that underpin well being and performance on a day to day basis and to address an issue or potential issue in real time. A simply wonderful product."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2019-03-04T21:38:45+00:00
Dr. Dale Richardson
CEO Achieve Total Performance Pty Ltd
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/dale-richardson/
"When our players have been only training with the national team Metrifit allows me to liaise very closely with our conditioning coaches to manage load and intensity of training during training camps. I recommend it to anyone who wants an easy to use monitoring system."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-15T12:51:46+01:00
Dave Passmore
Head Coach, Irish Hockey
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/dave-passmore-short/
"We have been using Metrifit for the past season at Cornish Pirates. It has been greatly beneficial for us to have our wellness and load management data on one easy to access system. We have found this invaluable over the past season whereby Coaches, Physios and Strength and conditioning coaches can monitor both the psychological and physiological load of our athletes on a daily basis."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-16T15:06:04+01:00
Paul Cremin
Head Physiotherapist, Cornish Pirates Rugby Club
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/paul-cremin-short/
"As a school that cannot spend large amounts of money on athlete monitoring, Metrifit has provided us with a great tool for monitoring stress and athlete readiness at a great rate. Being athlete driven, we're able to get buy-in from the athlete, and drive individual or team wide conversations regarding lifestyle and performance education in the direction needed. Seeing acute and chronic stress on a real-time basis has greatly improved the way we schedule workouts and arrange travel during the season."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-20T22:26:45+01:00
Derek Bol
Strength & Conditioning Coach, Valparaiso University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/derek-bol/
"Metrifit provides immediate insight and feedback on the physical and mental states of the student-athletes. It allows us to adjust practices and training sessions to accurately meet needs. We have been able to identify potential injury concerns, track current injury status and monitor return to play progress."
Metrifit Athlete Monitoring System
2017-06-16T15:08:31+01:00
Kari Thompson
Head Volley Ball Coach, Southern Illinois University
https://metrifit.com/blog/testimonials/kari-thompson/
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