SPORTS COACH-ATHLETE RELATIONSHIPS

The role of the coach is developing a relationship with their client. This needs to be right from the outset – the athlete needs to feel from the first moment that the coach will have the knowledge and interest in them to help them develop. The Cambridge dictionary defines “rapport” as “a good understanding of someone and an ability to communicate well with them”.

Building a good rapport with your client is the way to gaining and earning their trust, and providing a positive foundation for their development.

Rapport is not unique to sports coaches and psychologists will cite many elements that need to be considered in effective communication and the building of rapport with a client. Elements to consider are formed around perceptions of the other party’s interest and receptiveness. The coach wants to encourage a positive exchange and to do this will seek to:

• Provide the right environment – the coach may not always have control entirely over the environment, but even if they are operating from, say, a small poorly decorated office in a leisure centre, they can create the right environment by inviting the athlete in and making them feel welcome and comfortable.
• Show the athlete that they are actively listening – by allowing them to speak, and encouraging them to speak by commenting or acknowledging what they have said at appropriate times.
• Adopt an open and receptive body posture. Body language and posture reveal a lot about feelings and thoughts whether openly expressed or inadvertently expressed. The coach should seek to keep the area between them and the athlete free of any obstruction. If seated, they should sit in an open position facing the athlete and without arms folded. Their posture should be upright and attentive, not slumped in their chair and disinterested.
• Match your athlete’s behaviours - this can also help in building rapport in the initial stages when working with a new athlete. The coach can match their breathing rate or their tone of voice, for example.These are behaviours which will continue through the relationship and will become second nature as the relationship between the coach and athlete develops and they become more familiar with each other.

Instruction
The coach needs to establish formal ground rules for the sessions with their athlete – after all they are the teacher and the athlete the learner. They will need to provide the athlete with clear and precise instructions if they are to expect the athlete to do what they want them to do.

Explanation
It is useful if the athlete knows why they are being asked to do certain things. For instance, the first time an athlete is told to perform exercises to warm down they may ask “why do I need to do these, I’ve finished training?” The coach will need to provide reassurance and explanation. They will need to explain that warming down is as important as warming up, allowing the body to return to its pre-exercise state, slowing down heart rate and preventing blood pooling and the removal of lactic acid to reduce the likelihood of cramping or muscle spasms later on.

Demonstration
A coach may not necessarily be a specialist in a particular sport (or particularly good at playing it – coaches can come into the profession following successful careers in a sport or because they were not themselves able to achieve performance levels allowing them to pursue a career playing that sport), however, they do need to be flexible and fit enough to be able to show or give the athlete the idea of what they are looking for.

Observation
It is important for the coach to observe what the athlete is doing when following their instructions, or playing in a competitive environment. Technology being what it is today, it is common for athletes to be filmed whilst training or playing and for them to then review their performance with their coach. In this way they can see clearly in what ways they are or are not achieving the goals that have been set.

Analysis
Just as we have said that the coach will observe and review an athlete’s performance with them, an ongoing analysis of their performance and development will give clear indications of trends and in what particular areas or particular times their performance may show weaknesses.

Again, technology helps here, and with various software packages available a variety of physical and performance aspects of the athlete can be viewed over a variety of timescales and in differing conditions.

The coach will then use the outcome from the analysis to build into the training plan for the athlete going forward, aiming in particular at identifiable weak areas in their performance.

This is also useful from a health perspective, as it may be possible to identify and suggest courses of action for any potential health problems highlighted. 

Feedback
This brings us back to the opening comments concerning rapport. Feedback from both the coach and athlete will contribute to the success of the development of the athlete going forward.

An athlete will look to the coach to provide them with feedback on their performance and observations of any deficits that are apparent.

By the same token, the coach will expect the athlete to also provide them with feedback – why perhaps they did not perform so well in a particular session.

Feedback and open discussion will again form part of the training planned for the athlete by the coach.