By Pete Van Mullem
(May 30, 2024)

There is an inherent pressure when you serve as a coach, expectations from others to teach and lead athletes toward victory. This is an expectation of all coaches, from youth to the pros. In a 2022 national survey of over 10,000 youth sport coaches in the United States, one out of every three coaches reported parents often criticized their coaching, and 69% felt stressed from their coaching experience (Anderson-Butcher, & Bates, 2022).

Coaching tenure is short at the collegiate and professional levels. At the end of the 2023 collegiate football season, of the 134 Football Bowl Series (FBS) head coaches, 31 new head coaches were hired (Marcello, 2024), and only 23 head coaches had occupied the same position for three or more years (Fiutak, 2024). During the 2022 Major League Soccer (MLS) season, only 43% of the 28 head coaches had held their position for a full season (Bogert, 2022).

To fulfill the expectations of others is the pressure you feel every day as a coach. Yet, before others judge your ability to win, they evaluate you on the following four basic expectations; essential elements that transcend all levels of sport: 1) know the rules, 2) know how to play the game, 3) know how to provide instruction, and 4) know how to demonstrate respect for the game, the opponent, and the athletes you lead.

Of course, you will strive to achieve more than the four essential elements, and as mentioned above, others will expect you to do more. Yet, there is an expectation to meet these essential elements and when you slip in meeting one or more of them, you limit your effectiveness as a coach and potentially the opportunity to continue in your current position. Each essential element is learnable; knowledge you can acquire about how to teach and compete. By striving to meet them you establish a foundation from which your coaching career can develop. A longer career is within your reach – you have a path to stay in the game. Below is a breakdown of how you can meet the four essential elements to serve as a coach.

Know the Rules

Know the rules of the sport you coach. A fencing coach knows what counts as a valid touch to score in a bout, a football coach knows when the clock stops on downs and when it keeps running at different points in the game, and a wrestling coach follows the rules in helping an athlete make weight. If you fail to demonstrate your understanding of the rules, especially the basic rules of your sport, your competence as a coach will come into question and you may lose the ability to lead your athletes.

To know the rules of the sport you coach is 100% within your control. The governing bodies of sport publish rule books and make them available to you. For example, USA Fencing provides the rule book for all sanctioned fencing events in the United States and makes it available online for free (USA Fencing, 2024). The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) publishes rule books for each sport. In the 2023 Football Rules Book: Rule 3, Section 3, outlines when the clock starts and stops (NCAA, 2023). The National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS) Wrestling Rule Book (Rule 1-5-1) states what is acceptable for an athlete’s weight loss prior to a match (NFHS, 2024); a state high school athletic association may modify the requirement in their rule book, guidelines made available to high school wrestling coaches in each state.

You may wonder, how well do I need to know the rule book? There are rules, which happen infrequently, where you transfer the responsibility to the officials. In a 2008 collegiate softball game, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University stood at the plate with two runners on base, in a scoreless contest with Central Washington University. On the second pitch, Sara smacked a home run, her first ever. As her team celebrated, Sara rounded first base but missed the bag. When she attempted to return and touch first base, her knee buckled, and she tumbled to the ground. The game paused. The coaches from both sides met with the umpire. The umpire explained that if Sara could not finish rounding the bases on her own, the home run, by rule, would be a two-run single instead of a three-run home run. Then in a serendipitous act of sportsmanship that later became a national news story, Mallory Holtman of Central Washington asked the umpire if she and her teammates could carry Sara around the bases. The umpire stated there was no rule against it. So, Holtman and one of her teammates carried Tucholsky around the bases, touching her foot on each bag. Western Oregon University went on to win the game 4 to 2 (Hays, 2008).

What transpired in that game is an uncommon occurrence in the sport of softball. The coaches leaned on the umpire to provide clarity. So which rules of your sport do you need to know? Any rule that your athletes did not know would impact their athletic performance and any rule that you did not know would limit your team from reaching their full potential. For example, in American football, when a coach lets valuable time slip away because they do not know when the clock stops toward the end of the game. By learning the rules of your sport, you meet one of your four essential elements to serve as a coach. Yet, beyond the rules of play, every sport has a nuanced approach – how the game is played.

Know How to Play the Game

To serve as a coach, the expectation is you know how to play the game. These are the strategies used to gain a competitive edge, the norms that go beyond the rules of play. There are varying degrees of strategies, often embedded in the operations of the game. For example, when a basketball team deliberately fouls an opposing team (a violation of the rules) late in the game to catch up, this is part of the game and an expected practice. Other strategies are less conventional. A basketball player feigning contact with an opposing player, such as in the act of shooting, to earn a foul call from the official. This is a strategy but debated as to its proper place in the game.

Athletes, coaches, officials, and fans share the norms of each sport. As a coach, you need to know “how the game is played.” Sticking with the basketball example stated above, if a basketball team does not employ strategic fouling late in a game to overcome a deficit, the team is likely going to lose. The team failed to implement a common competitive strategy to improve their chances to win and due to the team’s actions, the coach’s competence may be questioned.

In this basketball scenario, you, as a coach, need to understand the practice of strategic fouling. However, this does not mean you must implement all the strategies practiced in your sport. A basketball coach may not agree with the practice of an athlete faking contact to earn a favorable call from an official; therefore, they don’t allow their athletes to use this tactic. This is an example of the coach knowing “how the game is played” but choosing to play it a separate way. It is essential that a basketball coach knows that feigning contact is a strategy, but it is not essential they employ the practice. In other words, you do not need to use all strategies, but you may encounter them as a coach.

While it helps to have played the sport you coach to understand the norms of the game, you can learn which strategies you should know, and which strategies are at your discretion. In elite, high-performance environments, your athletes will already be well-versed in strategic competitive behaviors. Whereas, in youth sport you may need to help your athletes understand “how the game is played” and provide specific instruction, which leads to the next essential element to serve as a coach: your ability to provide instruction.

Know How to Provide Instruction

Teaching is an essential element to serve as a coach – you know this. But you may wonder – how good am I at providing instruction or how good of a teacher do I need to be? Coaches instruct athletes in the technical skills of the sport; how to perform individual skills on the field of play. For example, teaching the proper fielding and throwing techniques in baseball or how to execute a turn at the wall in swimming. Coaches also teach athletes tactical skills: strategies needed during competition. For example, implementing a rotational defense in volleyball or how to execute an arc offensive scheme in water polo.

Your ability to provide individual skill development and to prepare your team strategically occurs at all levels of sport. The basic skills of teaching apply to all coaches and include communication, organization, and interpersonal. You can work to improve your teaching skills and to provide competent instruction for the talent level of your athletes.

The setting you coach in dictates the level of knowledge you need to teach applicable skills to your athletes. However, the ability of an athlete goes beyond the setting in which compete in. The athlete’s ability is a combination of their age, their physical and psychological development, and their current skill level. Thus, the athlete’s ability is not directly relative to the setting they compete in, but the setting can be an indicator of what skills they need to learn. A high school team is a good example of athletes with varying abilities. A varsity soccer team may carry a roster of up to 20 or more athletes. Some athletes may demonstrate individual skill proficiency in dribbling and passing and a good understanding of space and movement on the field, others may demonstrate advanced individual skills that make them stand out from their peers, and one or two athletes may demonstrate a “feel for the game” – a combination of superior individual skills, with an understanding of space and movement.

To understand the level of instruction needed to meet your athlete’s current level of ability, you can use the American Development Model’s (ADM) 5 Stages to a Better Sport Experience, developed by USA Hockey and later adapted and implemented by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee for Team USA (USOPC, 2024). The five stages are age-related but focus on the development of the individual athlete as they progress through their sport experience. The stages are: (1) Discover, learn, and play, ages 0-12; (2) Develop and challenge, ages 10-16; (3) Train and compete, ages 13-19; (4) Excel for high performance or participate and succeed, ages 15+; and (5) Mentor and thrive, active for life. A full description of each stage is available online: American Development Model Stages.

The ADM can help you best reach your athlete’s needs as you may have athletes who demonstrate greater competency in the technical or tactical skills and operate at a stage above the majority of the athletes you are coaching. In sum, to meet this essential element as a coach, you must demonstrate the ability to teach the skills relative to the setting you coach in. By knowing the rules, knowing how the game is played, and knowing how to provide instruction, you have established a foundation to meet the four essentials to serve as a coach. But without the fourth essential element, your tenure as a coach might be short.

Know How to Demonstrate Respect for the Game, the Opponent, and the Athletes you Coach

When you respect someone, you have regard for their feelings, wishes, and rights; and you admire their unique qualities and abilities. A coach demonstrating respect toward their athletes treats an athlete as an end in themselves, as a person, not as a means to an end, a tool to help the team win. In other words, the coach would not do anything that might harm the athlete. When a coach berates an athlete with a personal insult as a motivational tactic, demeaning their self-worth, they no longer have regard for the feelings of the athletes – demonstrating a lack of respect. Also, a coach demonstrates respect by providing an equal opportunity for athletes to compete for playing time in practice, recognizing an athlete’s unique abilities and what they can contribute to the team.

As an athlete, when you compete with others, you expect them to play fair – to follow the rules of the game. This expectation applies to coaches as well. However, athletes and coaches will “bend the rules” to gain a competitive edge, an approach considered a part of “how the game is played” (see the section above). Yet, the attempt to gain a competitive edge can lead to violating the rules of fair play. If you instruct your athletes to engage in rough play and the actions of the rough play have the potential to injure (harm) an opposing athlete, you demonstrate a lack of respect for your opponent and the game. The opposing athlete and coach may enter the contest expecting a physical game, but not an injury from excessive or strategic physical play outside the norms of the game – a violation of fair play.

The effort to gain a competitive edge can also lead to cheating. When the coach deliberately breaks a rule, they violate an essential element in their role as a coach. The NFHS passed a rule in 2023 that allows a baseball coach to communicate via a one-way communication device (e.g., pitch calling device) to the catcher to call pitches. The rule prohibits the coach from using a one-way communication device with any other player on defense or when a player is batting (NFHS, 2023). If a coach used the same technology and spoke to the batter between pitches, this action would be a deliberate violation of the rules, demonstrating the coach’s lack of respect for the integrity of the game.

How do you know if you are demonstrating respect and meeting this essential element to serve as a coach? First, you treat an athlete as a person, beyond what their skill set brings to the team and you don’t exhibit any behavior that may harm them physically, emotionally, or psychologically. Second, you respect your opponent and instruct your athletes to value fair play, recognizing how competition requires both teams and performers to play fair. Lastly, you demonstrate respect for the game by following the rules on and off the field of play,

In sum, your ability to demonstrate respect for the game, the opponent, and the athletes you coach is one of your four essentials to serve as a coach. Each essential stands on its own – each is learnable. Your goals as a coach will go beyond the four essentials. Yet, you need all four. Together, they provide a foundation for you to develop as a coach and to stay in the game.

This article is part of the Stay in the Game Project. A forthcoming book (not of the same title) to remind you why you keep coaching, when it might be the right time to leave, and how to stay in the game. Packed with practical examples and stories from those doing the work.

Sources

Anderson-Butcher, D., & Bates, S. (2022). National coach survey final report. The Ohio State University LiFEsports Initiative, Columbus, OH.

Bogert, T. (2022, June 2). Who are the longest-tenured MLS head coaches during the 2022 season? Retrieved from https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/who-are-the-longest-tenured-mls-head-coaches-during-the-2022-season

Fiutak, P. (2024, February 10). Will your new college football head coach succeed? Hint: Probably not. College Football News. https://collegefootballnews.com/news/will-your-new-college-football-head-coach-succeed-hint-probably-not-2024-02-10

Hays, G. (2008, April 8). Central Washington offers the ultimate act of sportsmanship. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/college-sports/columns/story?columnist=hays_graham&id=3372631

NCAA Publications. (2023). 2023 NCAA Football Rules Book. Retrieved from https://www.ncaapublications.com/p-4669-2023-ncaa-football-rules-book.aspx

NFHS. (2023, July 14.). Electronic Communication Devices From Dugout to Catchers to be Permitted in High School Baseball. Retrieved from https://www.nfhs.org/articles/electronic-communication-devices-from-dugout-to-catchers-to-be-permitted-in-high-school-baseball/

NFHS. (2024). Wrestling. Retrieved from https://www.nfhs.org/activities-sports/wrestling

Marcello, B. (2024, May 6). College football 2023-24 coaching carousel audit: Recapping the most disruptive cycle of the playoff era. 247Sports. https://247sports.com/article/college-football-2023-24-coaching-carousel-audit-recapping-the-most-disruptive-cycle-of-the-playoff-era-231459368/

USA Fencing (2024). USA Fencing Rule Book. Retrieved from https://www.usafencing.org/usa-fencing-rule-book

USOPC. (2024). American Development Model Stages. Retrieved from https://www.usopc.org/coaching-education/adm/american-development-model-stages