Purpose Statement:

 INSPIRE YOUNG PEOPLE TOWARDS EXCELLENCE, EFFORT, AND POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH ATHLETIC ACTIVITY.

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            Many young children want to pursue athletics, with a coach alongside them in order to help the athlete grow and develop within their sport.  The youth sports world of today is filled with many coaches who possess varying coaching philosophies as they pertain to their athletes, parents, and administrators.  It is important for a coach to have an ongoing foundational philosophy that is ever changing, staying current in their field of sport as it grows and develops in a diverse world.  The National Standards for Sport Coaches (NSSC) is a starting point to help coaches develop their own coaching philosophy that can motivate sports men and women of the future. Using the NSSC and other credible sources as a guideline, others can be inspired to join this incredible and rewarding profession that will allow them an ethically sound athlete-centered philosophy. In particular, a coaching philosophy should make sports fun and inclusive for all, and motivate young people to develop physical, psychological, and social skills by using ethical values such as sportsmanship, character, and moral courage. A coach needs to also consider diverse populations, bearing in mind a person’s race, their socioeconomic status, people with disabilities, their sexual orientation, and one’s gender, in order to have a well-rounded philosophy. The support for coaches and their athletes must come from parents and administrators, which are a vital part of any successful sports program, and are an essential part of my coaching philosophy. The motivations of why I decided to become a coach will be discussed first.  

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            The root of why I coach begins with a passion for children.  Children have always inspired me; as I watched them grow, see their free spirits, their energy, and how they are so full of life. I knew that the age level that I wanted to coach did not matter, but rather the impact I could potentially have on a child’s life, seeing them mature and flourish into strong ethically moral individuals.  In order for athletes to be well grounded physically and morally, I like to think of them as roots holding up a tree.  Each athlete is a root that is working together, the foundation for a tree or an athletic program. If one or two athletes (roots) do not pull their weight together, the team can suffer, and as a coach, will not feel fulfilled.

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          When I coach I get satisfaction from helping, guiding, and being able to inspire the next generation for the advancement of society. That moment when everything clicks for an athlete, after all the hours, effort and hard work put into a technique or skill, is rewarding, and as a coach you have the opportunity to witness the fruits of your labour. This, in the end, makes it all worthwhile. I want to be able to build and nurture relationships with my athletes.  I coach to inspire students to be better people than they were the day before, pushing their limits and keeping them in the sport they have come to know and love.  As Eitzen (2012) states, participating in sport prepares children for success in a competitive society. I want children to feel competent in their physical abilities as Hedstrom and Gould (2004) state; as a result, children will more often participate and continue in physical activity. Through the NSSC, Domain 1, Philosophy and Ethics, has helped guide my coaching philosophy in continuing my pursuit of becoming a positive and influential coach. 

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          The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, NASPE (2006), discusses that an athlete-centered coach needs to focus on the development and well-being of the athlete, maximizing the positive benefits of sports participation for each athlete.  As Hedstrom and Gould (2004) describes, an athletic program needs to promote a fun environment where kids can stay active, learn and improve on their skills, and feel a part of a team.  In order to maintain the previously mentioned standards, children’s sports need to be re-focused on the interest of the child instead of the interests of adults to better serve society, parents, and children (Eitzen, 2012).  Parents and society entrust coaches with their children to cultivate and support the development of these young athletes (Shields, Bredemeier, LaVoi, & Power, 2005).  With this in mind, coaches need to leave behind the win-at-all-costs mentality, in which they focus on the final destination instead of the process or journey (Eitzen, 2012).  Also, when athletes focus on the end-result or a win-at-all-costs attitude, there is a de-emphasis on the process that in turn leads to less sportsmanship and more gamesmanship (Crone, 1999). The notion of gamesmanship is the idea that coaches and athletes can use strategy (unwritten rules of the game) to alter the spirit of the game in order to gain an advantage over an opponent (Stewart, 2014).  This mentality could harm others, emphasizing self-promotion, personal benefits, and a winner-take-all approach (Lumpkin, 2011).  The coach should be the one to reinforce positive social behaviours in athletes by respecting the effort and stressing personal improvement and self-control (NASPE, 2006).  An athlete-centered or task-oriented coaching philosophy is one and the same as they both promote the idea that together the coach and the athlete want the best for the team while fulfilling an athlete’s potential (Kavussanu & Roberts, 2001). An athlete’s intentions are important for determining what motivates their moral behaviour in order to encourage ethical values such as sportsmanship, good character, and moral courage.

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          For my athletes, sport should serve as a vessel for learning.  This, in turn, would allow my athletes to cooperate with others (showing good sportsmanship), having good character in dealing with moral conflicts and display moral courage (Kavussanu & Roberts, 2001).  Lumpkin (2011) says that ethics and sportsmanship is a matter of being good (character) and doing right (action) in sport, creating the notion that ethics, sportsmanship and character are inseparable. Parents, teachers, and coaches must model or show what character is by setting examples (Hedstrom & Gould, 2004; Lumpkin, 2011).  As a coach, I must reinforce fair play, respect, and teamwork, in order to emphasize that effort, hard work, and performing to the best of one’s ability are more important than winning (Lumpkin, 2011). Our athletes, with the attainment of more knowledge, can show virtuous behaviour, depict courage, wisdom, temperance and justice; therefore creating good sportsmanship, which is essential to living a virtuous life (Malloy, Ross, & Zakus, 2000).  Sports administrators and parents continue to emphasize their desire that coaches exhibit and require sportsmanship in their athletes (Stewart, 2014). Values under the umbrella of sportsmanship, such as fairness, respect, compassion, and responsibility are integral to all sports because sport provides a medium for developing moral character (Rudd, 2008). A good program should facilitate learning-desired values such as previously mentioned, in order for athletes to develop their moral reasoning abilities and show moral courage (Lumpkin, 2011).  Through reason, my athletes are able to establish correct behaviour by coming to terms with duty and self-evident ethical conduct (Malloy et al., 2000). If an athletics program is well structured, successful, and inclusive, opportunities for development of sportsmanship, character, and moral courage can be applied inside and outside of sport (NASPE, 2006).  For an effective program, a coach must also be open and respectful, considering athletes from diverse populations.   

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          As a coach, it is important to give opportunities to all athletes regardless of the colour of their skin, their socioeconomic status, having a disability, or their sexual orientation, as the gap between Caucasians, African-Americans and Latinos is widening (Eitzen, 2012).  When they contribute equally to the team’s success and when the team is successful, athletes from different races will have positive feelings toward each other (Eitzen, 2012).  Racism and stacking (integrated teams segregated by position) is very prevalent in sports today (Eitzen, 2012).  Position stacking should not be based on race, but on a player’s skill set or techniques, while producing cohesion with the rest of the team (Eitzen, 2012).  Regardless of an athlete’s socioeconomic status, both the coach and the other athlete’s should treat them with the respect and integrity they deserve (Eitzen, 2012).  Coaches should be proactive, purposely searching, recruiting, and retaining athletes from under-represented groups (women, racial minorities, people with disabilities) with the same vigour and effort as they do with everyone else (Cunningham, Singer, Westerhaus, & Ruckdaschel, 2009). Society has seen an increase of girl participation in sports as a result of Title IX in the 1970s (Eitzen, 2012).  As coaches, we need to not demean and demoralize girls as entertainers, emphasizing their femininity or sexuality, but rather, have a respect for their abilities to perform and succeed in sports (Eitzen, 2012).  A program will be sustained when female athletes can focus their energy on positive physical and emotional relationships with their teammates and coaches (Hedstrom & Gould, 2004).  Athletes are still discovering who they are in this world (sexual orientation), and coaches must support their athlete’s decisions, as weakness does not come from an athlete’s genes, but from their lack of motivation to succeed in sport (Eitzen, 2012).  I want my athletes to have moral courage and a well-defined sense of ethics and subsequent ethical behaviour to speak up for all who are treated unfairly and unjustly (Kavussanu & Roberts, 2001; Rudd, 2008).  Athletes need support from their coaches and families to feel loved and to be shown that they matter.

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          Parent, coaches, and administrators should not be demanding of their athletes as this turns the sport into work instead of fun (Eitzen, 2012). A coach must establish and maintain professional relationships with athletes and their parents that clearly separate the role of the coach from that of a parent, friend, or counsellor (NASPE, 2006).  With the support of the before mentioned relationships, coaches are able to plan and implement coaching techniques that emphasize the importance of enjoying sport participation (NASPE, 2006).  Parents, being the main social agents to keep children in sport, help to create motivational climates and reinforce competence, in order for a child to be confident and motivated to perform various skills (Hedstrom & Gould, 2004).  Consistent conferences with parents and administrators ensure a positive caring environment is maintained, highlighting the importance of not emphasizing winning and having unrealistic expectations (Hedstrom & Gould, 2004).  Furthermore, with the support from an athlete’s parents, it is my goal that athletes will develop a love for the game and a motivation to sustain the effort needed to pursue excellence (Hedstrom & Gould, 2004). 

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            I want to be a dynamic coach, creating the foundation for a positive successful athlete-centered athletic program.  This program must be fun and inclusive of all, treating everyone with equality.  Athletes need to constantly work on letting go of the stress and anxiety that is caused by parents and coaches.  They need to instead, learn to enjoy the game for its pleasure, joy and excitement that can come from camaraderie of teammates.  Athletes that are nurtured within a caring environment, supported by both their parents and coaches, learn to develop their physical, psychological, and social skills using ethical values such as sportsmanship, character, and moral courage.  Being within a diverse world we must learn to treat others with respect and integrity, as we all makeup smaller parts of a bigger picture. I need to use my platform, power and influence to leave athletes with rich life lessons they will take with them and use long after they stop playing their sport.  I want to run an athletic team with a purpose, teaching them compassion, character, and moral courage so they may have the confidence to go out and change the world. 

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References

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Crone, J. A. (1999). Toward a Theory of Sport. Journal Of Sport Behavior, 22(3), 321-340.

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Cunningham, G. B., Singer, J. N., Westerhaus, C., & Ruckdaschel, C. (2009). Diversity in athletics: An assessment of exemplars and institutional best practices (pp. 1-54, Rep.). National Collegiate Athletic Association.

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Eitzen, D. S. (2012). Fair and foul: Beyond the myths and paradoxes of sport. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

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Hedstrom, R., & Gould, D. (2004). Research in youth sports: Critical issues status. Michigan: Michigan State University, 1-42.

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Kavussanu, M., & Roberts, G. C. (2001). Moral functioning in sport: An achievement goal perspective. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 23(1), 37-54.

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Kidder, R. M., & Bracy, M. (2001). Moral Courage. Institute for Global Ethics, November, 3.

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Lumpkin, A. (2011). Building Character through Sports. Strategies, 24(6), 13-15. doi:10.1080/08924562.2011.10590956

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Malloy, D. C., Ross, S., & Zakus, D. H. (2000). Sport ethics: Concepts and cases in sport and recreation. Toronto: Thompson Educational Pub.

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National Association for Sport and Physical Education. (2006). Quality coaches, quality sports: National standards for sport coaches (2nd ed.). Reston, VA: Author.

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Rudd, A. (2008, March). A Qualitative Study on the Moral Reasoning of College Athletes. Journal of Coaching Education, 1(1), 1-27.

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Shields, D., Bredemeier, B. L., LaVoi, N. M., & Power, F. C. (2005). The sport behaviour of youth, parents and coaches. Journal of research in character education, 3(1), 43-59.

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Stewart, C. C. (2014). Sportsmanship, Gamesmanship, and the Implications for Coach Education. Strategies, 27(5), 3-7. 

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Vickers, B., & Schoenstedt, L. (2011). Coaching Development: Methods for Youth Sport Introduction. Strategies, 24(4), 14-19.