Coaching refers to a developmental process or training in which a coach (a person who does the coaching) helps an individual or group (“coachee”) to achieve a particular objective whether personal or professional. The coach is usually an individual who has more experience and expertise therefore, is in a position to offer guidance and advice. Coaching differs from mentoring because it is competence specific unlike mentoring which focuses on general overall development. In regards to sports, coaching involves teaching and supervising players. The players are given instructions, directions and even training that ensures they stay safe and protected during games and during practice. Coaching offers physical and mental development for the players. Coaching entails applying sports strategies and tactics that aid players achieve their goals in a game (Respini, 2005). Coaches serve as role models on and off the playing field. They maintain and provide a safe and drug free environment for players. More importantly, coaching involves setting rules and regulation that govern and guide the athletes to their goals. Coaching involves upholding high levels of ethics, standards and professionalism.
Youth refers to a period in life when one is young; this period in life is usually between childhood and adulthood (maturity) (Macmillan, 2013). Youth is an experience marked by a person’s cultural traditions or norms. It is a period that determines the level of dependency (rely on family economically and emotionally) of an individual (Furlong, 2013). Youth is a state of mind filled with imagination, courage and appetite for adventure (Kennedy, 1966). It is imperative to channel the youth’s strength and agility in a constructive way. Among many other ways, youth sport is good way of keeping the minds of these young people occupied hence, avoid indulging in deviant behavior. Youth sports have many rewards such as fun, fitness and even long term benefits like offering the youth a framework from which they can learn life lessons
Sport is a word derived from the French word disport meaning leisure (Harper, 2008). The oldest English definition for sport is anything that is entertaining or amusing to humans. Contemporary sports refer to all forms of competitive physical activity by individuals and teams. The main objective of sports is to use, improve and maintain the physical skills and abilities of individuals and teams. Furthermore, sports serve to entertain the participants and audiences. Sports are activities that are based in physical dexterity and athleticism. Physical sports include volley ball, soccer, basketball, rugby, football, baseball, gymnastics, running, hockey etcetera. Beside physical sports (physical activities) there is mind sports (non- physical activities) such as bridge and chess. Sports are governed by rules and regulations that ensure fairness to all participants. The aspect of competition comes about due to the fact that in a game there must be a winner and loser. Winning can be determined by scoring a goal, crossing the finish line first or judges scoring performance. Sports offer the youth chances for socialization, physical fitness, fun, forming peer relationships and athletic scholarships. Youth sport is a means of fighting illegal drug use and promoting educational participation. However, youth participating in sports may incur life altering injuries such as concussion or even death (Time, 2009). Presence or absence of incentives (wages or salary) determines whether sport is played on an amateur, semi-professional or professional basis. Factors that affect sports include politics, technology, drugs, gender and spectators. According to Sport Accord, a sport has the following characteristics: not harmful to any creature, does not depend on any equipment supplied by any one supplier, has a competitive element and does not depend on specified element of “luck” integrated into the sport.
There are many benefits of youth participating in sports. Sports for the youth function to develop them socially, psychologically and physically. Youth sports serves to counteract the present day epidemic of obesity and inactivity in the youth by improving their welfare and health. The youth learn physical skills such as motor skills and sport specific skills (Seefeldt et al.,1992), psychological skills such as emotional control, goal setting and time management (Dworkin et al., 2003) and social-emotional skills such as responsibility (Hellison,1995). The youth are motivated to exercise in order to stay in shape; therefore, sports enable them to appreciate fitness (Ewing & Seefeldt, 1989). Youth sports provide social interaction with peers which creates a sense of belonging (Weiss & Stuntz, 2004). The acquired physical skills can be transferred to other leisure activities hence increased involvement and participation in youth sport (Seefeldt et al., 1992). Youth sports instill growth, maturation, self-worth or self-concept effects. The physical activity increases fitness, social competence and moral development (Malina & Cumming, 2003). However, moral development (builds character) has been disputed as a benefit of sport (Weiss & Smith, 2002). Youth sports foster leadership, social intelligence and wisdom (Steen et al., 2003). It follows that, these benefits are not guaranteed merely through participation only but also through quality adult leadership.
Physical activity is an effective tool of combating obesity and inactivity in the youth. There are many factors that influence physical activity among the youth. Predictors of physical activity include ethnicity (Gordon et al., 1999), gender, time available after school to participate in sports, family support (parental resources including monetary and social support) and interest in physical education classes (Sallis et al., 1999). Despite the numerous benefits of youth sports, critics argue that youth sports are plagued with many major problems. These include the highly competitive nature of youth sports, the youth learning inappropriate behavior such as poor sportsmanship and aggression and excessive pressure and stress cause youth to burnout or become injured. In addition, policy makers and sport leaders lack an understanding relative to scientific research and knowledge of the youth involved in sports and sports that has evolved enormously over the past decades (Hedstrom & Gould, 2004).
There are predominant health and safety issues in regard to youth participating in sports. There are several factors and considerations that make the youth susceptible to injuries. These include adolescent growth spurts, differential growth of connective tissues, and growth of bones, bone maturation, motor skills development and training practices (Patel & Nelson, 2000). Common youth injuries include avulsion fractures (devastating when it occurs near growth plates of the arms and legs), tendonitis and sprains to the wrist. There are various areas of practice and future research that can prevent or reduce the severity of injuries. These include inadequate instructions and training mistakes, poor nutrition, coaches lacking education on injuries, decreasing levels of fitness in the youth and practice and play conditions that are hazardous (Micheli et al., 2000).
There are three components of coaching youth sports: the coach, the youth and the sport. To a great extent, coaching youth sports successful depend on the coaching skills and quality of leadership of the coach (Wang &Straub, 2012). Different coaches have different coaching styles, approaches, philosophies and personalities. For instance, some coaches are all for giving equal playing time to each individual, some for safety first and others have experience in the field they coach, others do not have an idea of the rules governing the game and few know about gender differences and child development. Coaching youth sports requires a couch that is trained and conditioned in the sport they are coaching, child safety and child development. He should possess the ability to communicate effectively with the youth. He should be aware of gender differences but not stereotype. He should be sociable and command respectful behaviour from the players and their parents on the sideline. He should be positive and realistic in the goals and expectations he demands from his players. He should be able to mix fun and competition in the right measure. He should be flexible thus able to change his coaching styles as the situation demands. He should be able to promote and display good sportsmanship and team work (De Lench, 1999).
The coach should teach the youth to set, pursue and achieve goals (Liberty, 2014). Coaching the youth involve setting individual and team goals at the beginning of the season. In goal setting, the goals must be attainable and within the control of the players. Winning should not be set as a goal since it is not entirely within the control of the players. The youth need to know that when pursuing goals the effort they put over time will result in success. This serves to keep them motivated and persistent even if they do not achieve success at first. Coaching involves giving positive reinforcement and valuing effort above results. After several repeated failed efforts, the coach can come up with incentives and awards that honor players such as “dirty shirt award”, to honor a player who hustled so much for the team (Liberty, 2014). However, it is crucial that these incentives and award have no great value other than signifying effort. Success or failure to achieve goal brings about a range of emotions. To aid in processing these emotions, the coach should make sure that the youth athletes set intermediate and long term goals; hence they are bound to achieve victory or defeat one time or another. Victory or defeat should be handled gracefully hence good sportsmanship (Liberty, 2014).
The effect of good coaching in regards to youth sports is confidence, competence, character and connection. These are known as the 4Cs (Little, 1993) of positive youth development and are the desirable attributes or constructs acquired by the youth when they participate in sports. They are used to assess the effectiveness of coaching the youth. However, for the 4Cs framework to be effective in measuring the effectiveness of coaching it has to be used with other measurement techniques and questionnaires (Vierimaa et al., 2012).
The behavior of the coach can positively or negatively influence the experience of the youth player. For instance, positive influence include continuing desire to participate in the sport, high self-esteem, lower anxiety and enjoyment (Conroy & Coatsworth, 2006) while negative influence include dropouts, burnouts and decreased sports satisfaction (Pelletier et al., 2002). Positive coaching behaviour keeps the youth interested in sports and results in positive psychosocial consequences. Effective coaching behaviors for the youth include encouragement and praise in addition to instructional skills and strong training.
Coaches rely on their organizational skills, work ethic, experience, education and knowledge to coach the youth in a sport setting (Carter & Bloom, 2009).The level of education of the youth sport coach significantly influences the behaviour and efficiency of the coach (Wright et al., 2007). Youth sport organizations should ensure that there are certified coach education programs that serve to alter the behavior of the coach and hence their efficiency (Sullivan et al., 2012). It is recommended that youth coaches undergo Coach Effectiveness Training (CET) and train in “positive coaching” techniques. It is unfortunate that coaching education material inadequately prepares youth sports coaches for their myriad roles (Stewart &Sweet, 1992). Firstly, couching education should focus on comprehensive approaches that offer strategies of dealing with sport development and social issues (Silvestri, 1991). Secondly, there should be continuous education or learning for the youth coaches thus enabling them to have the foundational knowledge and updated strategies for dealing with league specific concerns and sport. Finally, couching education should focus on peer learning and evaluation whereby coaches learn from, mentor and network with each other for the development and enhancement of the format of coaching education (Bloom et al., 1998). Comprehending the educational needs of youth coaches goes along way into finding a format that can reach this diverse pool of coaches. On a wide scale, coaching education practices have had limited support and success with youth sport coaches (Gilbert & Trudel, 1999).
Coaching and youth sports are not merely for those people that are gifted or excel in sport but also for disabled individuals. Coaching is important especially for those young people who have disabilities, since they are not inabilities. For this reason, the special Olympic founded in 1968 plays a crucial role in providing opportunities for young people with intellectual disabilities. In various Olympic type sports, the special Olympic provides athletic competitions and sports training all year round. For the youth, it instills valuable skills, courage, joy, friendship and physical fitness. Coaching in this regards, requires patience, empathy and skill to be able to empower these athletes with skills that go beyond the playing field into their lives. The coach has to teach these young individuals to overcome stereotype notion and rise to the challenge. Sports played by individuals or teams with disabilities are known as disabled sports, adapted sports, Para sports or adaptive sports. Disabled sports involve those with intellectual and physical disabilities. Disabled sports are modified existing sports (for able bodied individuals) to suit the needs of disabled persons or entirely new created sports for people with disabilities.
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