Lost Opportunity

Post date: Oct 24, 2016 8:26:59 AM

Frederick L. de Guzman

Teacher I, COBNHS

To improve one’s skills in sport, an athlete needs a coach. But coaching is no easy task. It entails a lot of duties and responsibilities. Unfortunately, most coaches never had a formal training in terms of handling athletes’ needs to better perform in their chosen sport.

One of the most important duties a coach should know is the physical training. Many can tell they know how to train. But the basic question I think that a coach should answer is, “Is my knowledge in training based on current trends and research and based on science?” We must admit that many coaches are guilty of this. Therefore, they need more coaching education to teach their athletes, to enhance their skills and to perform at their best.

Moreover, we fail to consider the acquired skills of the athlete with regard to the foundation of movements. Most of the time, the coach simply start from what their player know without correcting the “form” of every movement. That is very tedious thing to do though! And that is where the problem lies. What a player used to do ever since he/she started to play is hard to correct when teaching a higher level of skills. Form should never be compromised over result. If we want to get a better result, we must invest in teaching the proper form from the start. One of the avenues where they can learn the proper form is by enrolling them in Summer Sports clinic. It may cost something, but at the end of the day, isn’t it amazing to see that a child is able to execute the proper skills of a certain sport in a competitive way?

Another thing that a coach should understand is the psychology of coaching. There is no single strategy in handling athletes’ psychological needs. It varies in every coach and in every situation and in every athlete. Unfortunately, not all coaches are able to guide their players whenever it is badly needed. It plays a very crucial role to manage the psychological aspect of an athlete. If not properly monitored, the effect will reflect on the performance of an athlete. Therefore, a coach should know when and how to include and discuss this aspect of training. If guided properly, the athlete will definitely have an edge over his/her competitor.

Given the least emphasis in training is the lack of knowledge in sports nutrition. Different sports needs a variety of diet and nutrients before, during and after competition, and during pre- and post-season. Evidently, we fall short in providing them with proper nutrition. Our concern rather is, to make sure that they are not going to compete in an empty stomach.

In a school setting, these three aspects of training is shouldered only by the coach. No wonder our players are not motivated to push their career in sports! Coaches themselves aren’t equipped enough with the necessary skills.

Having said all of these, we still have a long way to produce a top caliber athletes. Coaching is an opportunity but we are lost in the middle of nowhere simply because our duty as coach is taken for granted.