When it comes to interscholastic sports, one big, controversial piece of the equation centers around the coaches selected to lead their school teams. Prior to the last 15-20 years, nearly every school coach was also a teacher, whereas today the exact opposite is true — most interscholastic coaches are not teachers. To some, this is a minor distinction and not worthy of discussion, but when you dig just a little deeper you begin to see big, dramatic differences between the two coaching prototypes that have a direct effect on your child’s sport experience. Does the background and training of a coach make a difference, or should kids simply be happy that the school found anyone to coach at all?
Examining the different types of interscholastic coaches
To begin with, teacher-coaches already hold a college degree and teaching license, which assures that they have had training in child development, classroom management, instructional strategies, mandated reporting (child safety), and ethics in education. By contrast, community-coaches (non-teachers) often have strong sports backgrounds, but no formal coursework in education. Additionally, community-coaches may lack training in adolescent psychology and behavior management strategies. Generally speaking, their training is largely understanding sport skills, not child development. This one distinction alone provides evidence that teacher-coaches are trained more holistically, with emphasis on growth through sports rather than community-coaches who tend to focus less on sports being a part of the overall educational experience, and over-emphasize efforts needed to “make it” to college sports.
Drilling deeper on the focus, philosophy, and methods between the two types of coaches and you begin to see even more dramatic differences. For example, when working with kids directly you often see the following:
Teacher–coaches:
Trained in building relationships with adolescents, setting boundaries, and handling sensitive issues.
Familiar with school policies on discipline, mandated reporting, and equity.
Naturally embedded in the school culture, making it easier to:
Community coaches:
May be excellent at understanding the sport and X’s and O’s, but have little formal education/exposure to:
How to manage 30 teenagers with varied skill levels, personalities, learning, and problem-solving.
Recognizing signs of abuse, neglect, or mental health struggles, as well as know where to go for help and support.
De-escalating conflicts without escalating emotions, especially when dealing with frustrated kids and demanding parents..
Often need mentoring from athletic directors to align with the school’s educational mission.
The first question I often receive when pointing out these differences centers around why the shift has occurred for schools to more regularly use community-coaches over teacher-coaches? The short answer is there are fewer teachers today who want to coach. Often their reasons for not coaching including long hours, big commitments, travel, and even tough parents. This trend is not likely to reverse, so the next conversations should be directed toward how to catch community-coaches up in training? And is it possible to change the paradigm of a community-coach away from winning is #1, and toward the overall athletic experience focus on human growth and development? While winning and growth can both be done at the same time, it may take some convincing to coaches who focus largely on winning that both can occur.
Final thoughts
Most people don’t think much about their kid’s sport coach, but when you do look more closely you begin to see that very few coaches today also serve as teachers. Coaches who are not teachers are not bad people, nor are they unable to coach kids. Where they are different, however, are the ways in which they have been trained, and the focus on performance sometimes over general growth and development in the way a teacher-coach might lead. Regardless of background, try and support your child’s coach and athletic department, as interscholastic sports can be one of your kid’s best life activities with proper coach leadership.
drstankovich.com
