Coaches
Coaches at all levels influence their players/athletes. Their philosophy and method of coaching can shape attitudes, motivation, and impact upon participants wellbeing.
Coaches are also often recognised as role models and mentors, especially for players, but they can also influence broader behaviours and the environment in the organisation. 34, 35
Coaches at all levels exert great influence on their players/athletes. Their philosophy and method of coaching—both positive and negative—can shape attitudes, motivation, and impact upon participants wellbeing. 1, 34, 35
Good coaches not only deliver optimal physiological, technical, and tactical aspects of the sport, they also provide experiences that hook participants (and their family) into sport through providing appropriate activities, encouragement, and motivation in a safe and fun environment. 1, 34, 36
- In a 2019 survey of young people in the United Kingdom, just over 1 in 5 (22%) identified a sports coach as their role model. 13
- A 2021 Canadian study looking at strategies to address body image concerns in adolescent girls in sport identified coaches as important role models due to their authority over teams, especially during an impressionable development stage. The authors also highlighted that everyone has a role (e.g. parents, coaches, administrators, and referees) in identifying and modelling body-positivity through acting as role models themselves, facilitating mentorship opportunities, and/or presenting diverse media content focussing on skill rather than appearance. 35
- A 2020 study of young people in the United States found that coaches played a central role in keeping youth involved in sport. Current players (and their parents) reported liking their coach more than those who had dropped out of sport. The authors suggest that when participants feel that their coach cares about their growth as athletes, sets appropriate goals, and rewards both effort and skill, they were more likely to continue playing. 1
Resources and reading
- Coaches Should Be Role Models: Opportunity and responsibility for having a long-term impact, opens in a new tab, Michael W. Austin, Psychology Today, (1 November 2017). A recent study concluded that coaches have more impact on the lives of young athletes than parents, teachers, peers, school, and religion. I'm a little skeptical about this claim, but it is beyond dispute that coaches have a significant influence on the young athletes that they coach.
- Be A Role Model. The Impact of The Coach On Junior Athletes, opens in a new tab, Christopher Paish, Medium, (26 April 2017). Athletic coaches have an impact on junior athletes that stretches far beyond teaching the fundamentals of technique.
- 4 steps to becoming a role model coach, opens in a new tab. Jim Grove, Active for Life, (15 September 2016). When you become a community coach for kids, you become a role model. Part Don Cherry, part Dalai Lama. You may believe that you are simply coaching to develop young athletes, but you are also shaping the attitudes and beliefs of the citizens of tomorrow.
- Here’s to coaches, unsung heroes and role models for social change, opens in a new tab, Andrew Bennie, Director Health and Physical Education, Western Sydney University and Nicholas Apoifis, Lecturer Politics and International Relations, UNSW, The Conversation (22 August 2016). Coaches are often viewed as positive role models and mentors for their players, working behind the scenes to bring teams to victory, supporting them in their defeat and sharing in the joy of participating. Good coaching goes beyond physical skills training; it involves the development of life skills, confidence, resilience and social participation.
- Why are so few professional sport coaches from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?, opens in a new tab Andrew Bennie, Director of Program, Health and Physical Education, Western Sydney University; Demelza Marlin, Learning Advisor, UNSW; and, Nicholas Apoifis, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, UNSW, The Conversation, (13 June 2016). Sport has certainly provided inspirational athletic role models for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Only recently, meanwhile, have commentators considered the role of coaches as mentors, community leaders, and educators who can change lives.
- Role models and their influence on children and young people’s reading, opens in a new tab, Aimee Cole, Ariadne Brown, Christina Clark and Irene Picton, National Literacy Trust, (October 2022). Role models are an important influence in children and young people’s lives. Indeed, our data show that the percentage of children and young people who say they have a role model has increased over the past decade, from 78.0% in 2009 to 93.4% in 2019. This report looks at
children and young people’s role models more closely to identify who they look up to, and what seeing their role model read would make them think or feel.
- The most popular role models were mums (67.4%); dads (60.2%); followed by YouTuber (52.6%); friends (51.9%); Grandparent (41/2%); sibling (38.3%); teacher (36.5%); footballer (29.8%); other sportsperson (25.9%); sports coach (22.2%).
- Keeping Girls in the Game: Factors that Influence Sport Participation, opens in a new tab, Zarrett, N., Veliz, P.T., and Sabo, D. Women’s Sports Foundation, (2020). This report explores how key characteristics of youth (intrapersonal), their social influences (e.g., interpersonal parent and peer factors), and experiences within the sport setting may vary by gender, age, race/ethnicity, family socioeconomic background, and region. The survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of American boys and girls (N=3,041) between the ages of 7-17 and their parents (N=3,041) to inquire about child‑related, sport-related, and systemic factors expected to influence youth access, experiences, and motivations for initial participation (entrance) and sustained/continued participation in sport. Key findings relating to coaches included:
- Coaches play a central role in getting and keeping youth involved in sports. Both male and female current players reported liking their coach more than those who had dropped out of sport, who were more likely to have liked their coach only “a little” or “not at all.” Parent evaluations of the coach were similar with parents of current players more likely to rate their child’s coach as excellent compared to those whose children had stopped playing.
- Liking one’s coach and viewing them as competent is related to athletes’ love for, and retention in, sport. Maintaining youth’s love of sport is critical, especially in the face of multiple competing interests (e.g., social life) and demands (e.g., academics, paid work) that emerge through the childhood and adolescent years. Fostering youths’ continued love of sport through building confidence, a sense of mastery, and connection to one’s teammates is critical. Youth who stay in sport have coaches who set team and individual goals and place an equal focus on both winning and having fun (i.e., not just winning or not just having fun). Together, these qualities of a coach may help impart/reinforce to players that their playing matters, that their efforts are paying off, and that the coach cares about their growth as athletes.
- The Influence of role models on participation in sport and physical activity among young males and females in Ireland, opens in a new tab, Eimear Kelly, Katie Liston, Kieran Dowd, et al., European Journal of Public Health, Volume 34(Supplement 2), (2024). Two sporting role model (RM) questions were included in the 2022 All Island Children’s Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study (CSPPA) Study. The sample included 5,815 participants (aged 10-19 years) from primary (N = 2,265) and post primary (N = 3,551) schools. Binary logistic regression was used to determine the relationship between RMs, such as parents, coaches, and sports stars with physical activity (PA) and sport participation (SP). The most popular sporting RMs across all youth are sports stars, coaches, Dad’s and friends. Sports stars, Dad’s, and coaches were most influential on PA and SP. Male and female youth with sports star RMs were on average twice as likely to meet PA guidelines and play sport weekly, the latter stronger for males. All youth appear to select sports star RMs in the sport they play, while males are more likely to choose male and international sports stars and females are equally likely to choose male and female, and Irish rather than international sports stars as RMs.
- Ideas for action: Exploring strategies to address body image concerns for adolescent girls involved in sport, opens in a new tab, Alyona Koulanova, Catherine M. Sabiston, Eva Pila, et al., Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Volume 56, (2021). The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify feasible and realistic strategies to mitigate and address body image concerns for adolescent girls involved in team sports at recreational or competitive levels. Seventy-one participants were involved in individual interviews across sport stakeholder groups, including 20 girl athletes, 11 parents of girl athletes, 13 coaches, 13 referees, and 14 sport administrators. Using a thematic analysis approach, 35 actionable strategies were identified that spanned four main themes: eliminating body image stigma, reconsidering uniforms and sport attire, from top to bottom - everyone has a role, and body-positive role modelling. Participants specifically discussed role models in two categories, proximal and distal:
- Proximal role models were individuals who directly interact with a person/athlete on a regular basis, such as parents and coaches. As role models they can express both positive or negative attitudes, behaviours, or communication. Coaches were highlighted as potentially important proximal role models due to their authority over teams and the impressionable developmental stage of young adult athletes.
- One suggestion, particularly from coaches, was to consider having former club alumni (e.g. university-level athletes re-engaging with their former local sports club) to help provide appropriate role models and mentors.
- The authors also highlighted that everyone has a role (e.g. parents, coaches, administrators, and referees) in identifying and modelling body-positivity through acting as role models themselves, facilitating mentorship opportunities, and/or presenting diverse media content focussing on skill rather than appearance.
- Where are the Moms? Strategies to Recruit Female Youth-Sport Coaches, opens in a new tab. Keidrich K. Strategies, Volume 33(5), pp.12-17, (Sep/Oct 2020). There are numerous benefits to sport participation among children and adolescents and coaches play a significant role in getting youth, especially girls, involved in sports and continuing participation in sports. Despite the advances of girls and women in sport participation since Title IX, the majority of youth sport coaches are men. Female coaches can be important role models for all youth in sport. The purpose of this article is to describe the benefits of having female coaches and potential strategies to encourage more women to coach.
- The impact of coaching on participants, opens in a new tab, Hopkinson M, Sports Coach UK, (2014). This report presents the findings from the first year of a four-year study of the impact of coaching (and coaches) upon sports participation. The current results provide evidence to support the belief that quality coaching can help bring people into sport, enhance their enjoyment, and increase how often they play and the likelihood of them staying involved. Key results from the survey identify how important quality coaching is. The report suggests that both adults and young people will have more positive playing experiences the higher the quality of their coach. The survey aimed to gather views from both people who are coached in their chosen sport, and those who play but do not receive coaching.
- Student responses to physically literate adult role models, opens in a new tab, G. Conlin, Science and Sports, Volume 29, Supplement, p.S17, (October 2014). The objective of this study was to identify who adolescents recognize as a physically active adult role model that might provide the motivation and added confidence needed to become physically literate themselves. Parents, family members, friends, coaches and physical education teachers were identified as active role models. There were fewer instances of coaches and physical education teachers as active role models than the others during all three phases. There were more instances of physical education teachers as an active role model after the active phase than the spectator phase or at baseline.
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