As I see that there is some disagreement on this subject in other places, I wanted to place the question:
What in your mind does it take to be a coach?
Please provide evidence of your experiences with coaches of different kinds, as this qualifies what you are saying.
Take for instance:
My father, coached cross-country, track and wrestling. His past experience was as a state wrestling champion, runner-up in the 800 and then as a marathon runner after college (late 60's all the way through today). He coached all of these at the high school level, and also coached at the college level (it was NAIA or DIII, I don't know which). He also was an assistant coach at my high school my last two years. I feel that he is a qualified coach because of his experience at many different levels. He read up on what he did and worked hard at it. Does his lack of high level coaching make him ill-suited to be a coach of a professional athlete, or have his athletes call him by the title "Coach"? I personally don't think so.
But I would like to hear other opinions on this.
Or take for instance my high school coach, who ran track in HS and then played football and baseball in college. Yea, he has his USATF certificate and officiated at Olympics and coached on an olympic team, but I am sure that he had to start somewhere and that his first year out they called him "coach."
Then, where should coaches begin? What do you think that it takes to be a "COACH"?
Thanks
Coaching, what does it take?
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Not trying to extend their careers vicariously through their athletes. I think that the best coaches tend to be those who weren't hugely successful at the collegiate/elite level. I think they need to be able to relate to those who have difficulty with stuff that came easy to them when they were running.
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In my opinion, it all starts with a genuine care and concern for his/her charges.
If a coach is other-centered in this way, he/she will want what's best for the athletes (most of the time, this includes the highest excellence possible within the particular discipline). To achieve this, a good coach needs to be knowledgeable (not necessarily certified, although classes training certainly helps) and is very excited about the discipline he/she is coaching. A good coach will know the athlete(s) well, and will be able to make wise decisions in regards to appropriate adaptations to training/practicing to best compliment the athlete(s) and their strengths/weaknesses (without compromising fundamental principles of the sport, though). He/she will also many times find an approach / motivational technique that an athlete responds well to. A good coach sticks with an athlete and is just as committed (if not more so) to the athlete's long-term success as the athlete him/herself (even if that means handing the athlete off to another god coach). Lastly, a good coach has an optimistic perspective regarding what he/she believes the athlete can achieve.
I am sure there are many other criteria that could go into making a good coach (organizational skills, etc.), but I believe the above to be the most important.
