| In the United States today, athletics are a major part of the interscholastic educational system. Similar to teachers who are at the core of classroom instruction, the coach is at the core of the interscholastic experience. The current sport administrative trend shows coaches moving from strictly "coaching" which involves developing game plans and schemes and working line-ups, etc. into a CEO role, where the coach focuses on athletes' learning skills as well as serves as counselor, fundraiser, relationship builder, etc. Athletics have long been an integral part of a student's educational experiences, yet little is known about what constitutes effective coaching, or how coaching impacts students' academic, physical, social-emotional, and behavioral well-being. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to identify those skills and competencies which comprise the frameworks for effective coaching for parochial interscholastic coaches in varsity team sports. Interviews were conducted with 10 parochial interscholastic varsity team sport coaches in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The data analysis revealed 10 themes which encompassed the skills, knowledge, characteristics, and strategies of effective parochial interscholastic varsity team sport coaches. The 10 emergent themes of effective coaching included: relationships, faith development, motivational empowerment, flexible leadership style, coaching as teachers, coaching competence, coaching professionalism, empathetic communicator, culture of team cohesion, and beyond the x's and o's. The findings from this study provide coaches, athletic administrators, and school professionals a coaching framework which can guide their coaching pedagogy and their ongoing professional development. |
