How can a coach connect with their athletes?

 How can a coach connect with their athletes?

by Daniel Ferguson

Tom plays for his local cricket club. He's been going every Tuesday and Friday since he was 7 and now he's recently turned 12. He's always enjoyed cricket: it's his favourite sport. He's had many different coaches over the 5 years he's been at the club. Coaches that coach different age groups, new coaches that come in and the old ones that have now left. Some coaches have been great, some not so great. What are the different types of athlete-coach relationships, and how can a coach connect with their athletes? 


What are the 4Cs?

Coaching is about process and practice. There are multiple different levels to being a coach with there being various age groups, level of standard and multiple sports to participate in. Despite the variation, there are 4 big Cs in coaching that can be applied to every aspect of sport (UK Coaching):
  1. Closeness
  2. Commitment
  3. Complementarity 
  4. Co-orientation

Closeness

A coach must build a respectful level of trust and liking from the athlete to create a close coach-athlete bond, but how? 

A coach should be open. This doesn't mean revealing to the athlete an argument they've had with their partner. But being open about the sporting decisions they make, for example, if Tom wasn't selected for the cricket team, the coach shouldn't hide the reason why he wasn't, but be open and tell him. The coach should protect their players and be loyal to them. As well as, being reliable, predictable and consistent. To do so the coach should be on their athlete's side and stick to their promises and values. 

Commitment

This about having a willingness to maintain a strong relationship with athletes over a long period of time. Tom has been at his club for 5 years and some coaches have remained there too during his time. A particular coach (Veronica) has built a great relationship with Tom by being committed. Veronica has set up well-defined and mutually agreed goals with Tom: 

From a process perspective:
- keep going no matter what happens in a match
- remain a high focus on the match when being a fielder
- keep an eye on the ball when batting

From an outcome perspective:
- turn up to every training possible over the season
- hit three sixes over the season

These are a few examples of goals Veronica has set for Tom, based on both process and outcome, however, she's made it very clear to Tom that it's what he does in the process that will help him achieve the outcome goals, as being 12 years old, not reaching those outcomes isn't the end of the world (that's why she's kept them simple). 

A step further from Veronica, coaches can display commitment by creating developmental plans for their athletes.

Complimentarity 

This is about focusing on the collaboration and co-operation between the coach and athlete. This two-way relationship can be built by clarifying roles and reinforcing rules, ensuring both the coach and athlete are clear on the boundaries that have been set within a sporting context. A coach can create a friendly and supportive environment by being kind to their athletes and using simple communication (especially at a young age, things don't need to be complex). A coach can collaborate by gaining feedback from athletes, by asking questions and even creating feedback forms that athletes can fill in.

Co-orientation

This refers to having a common ground and understanding between coach and athlete, which can be developed by using the 3Cs above.

What are the different types of coach-athlete relationships?

There are four types of coach-athlete relationships (Frontier):
  1. Effective & successful (get along and achieve sporting results)
  2. Effective but unsuccessful (get along but don't achieve sporting results)
  3. Ineffective but successful (don't get along, but achieve sporting results)
  4. Ineffective & unsuccessful (don't get along and don't achieve sporting results)
A good example of an effective and successful relationship is Michael Phelps and Bob Bowman. Bowman started coaching Phelps when he was 11 years old and they went on to achieve 28 Olympic medals together, 23 being gold. An example of an ineffective and unsuccessful relationship will be a coach and athlete who never agree and argue, which is reflected in poor sporting results. Can you think of any examples of the relationships above? 

At the end of the day it's about forming a quality, meaningful relationship. Research from Jowett, Felton and Davis tells us that athletes are more likely going to perform better and believe in themselves more by having a higher quality connection and relationship with their coach. 

Overall, it's important for a coach to think about who they are coaching (age, level of standard, level of experience) and why they're coaching (to help their athletes and create an environment where they're enjoying themselves). 

If you're a coach, yes there are the 4Cs and different types of relationships to be inspired by. But most importantly, be kind to your athletes, put yourselves in their shoes: that's a great way to connect.

Here are some further resources from Loughborough University: Research and resources from Professor Jowett



Find Daniel Ferguson on:
LinkedIn: Daniel Ferguson
Instagram: @danferguson_sp
Twitter: @DanFergusonSP


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