Stress is a part of everyday life, we all feel it as some point, wanting to please friends and family, do well in our jobs, trying to face all our obligations, make ends meet, whatever the case might be.
One definition of stress is "A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances." As it relates to sport performance, stress can come from the individual desire to perform well to the stage at which the competition is taking place. One would assume that the stress of playing in a Sunday pick up league won't be the same as say playing at the Olympics or World Cup. However, I think stress is also in line with the important that an individual places on the game or competition. Not all stress is bad for performance. Stress will generally affect athletic performance in two different ways. it can make one more alert, more motivated and aware of the surroundings, opponents, and the competition, In the right amount, stress helps you prepare, focus, and perform at your optimal level. This can ultimately lead to a competitive advantage. Conversely, too much stress, or bad stress, can affect an athlete's ability to perform at the required level. In extreme cases, bad stress hurts one's health, but related to athletic performance, it can lead to distraction & loss of focus, the body tightening up, the inability to properly take in competitive cues which under positive conditions lead to competitive decision making. Every competitive athlete experiences some stress; good and bad. Stress may be positive and helpful or inversely instill anxiety and apprehension. Pregame jitters can cause some athletes to not sleep well the night before competition, take away their appetite and everyone has heard the urban legends of people needing to throw up before a big game or event. You want to feel excitement or thrill in anticipation ( the so called pregame jitters everyone talks about) before competition. A high level of activation will help you perform your best – up to a point where you may be too jacked up to play well. Too little or too much intensity (or stress) can cause your performance to decline. Your ability to cope effectively with pregame nerves is critical to consistent peak performance. Even in my own case, after all these years of coaching, one game day, I get the jitters. It starts with a little ache in the stomach in the morning, nerves and excitement increasing throughout the day as kick off approaches. Funny thing though, once the game starts, the jitters go away and I am focused on just doing my best. I guess that is where the experience accumulated over the years kicks in. No athlete can ever enter competition, stress free, if they say they are, there is a little lying going on. The successful athletes are those that are able to manage their stress levels and use their effect as a positive to give them the little extra that might put them over the top. It is why many athletes invest in some form of psychological coach. Part of giving themselves every opportunity to be successful.
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We all know it’s the right thing to do, opening doors and creating opportunities for women to take on roles in coaching, being equitable in giving how female coaches are certified and assessed but most importantly, given the chance to be in charge of teams within their sport of choice. Anyone who would argue the contrary is stuck in a time and mindset that has no place in today's reality. Women's sports continue to grow, to be invested in, to received marketing dollars, publicity, recognition and more and more, viability as a profession for female athletes. So why aren't females entering the coaching ranks at the same rate as sports are growing.
We know that the coaching workforce is dominated by men. This is a reality and I hope that we wouldn't begrudge any man involved in coaching women's sport who are doing it for the right reasons. However, I have always believed that young female athletes need and deserve to have roles models in leadership position that are women, that have experienced the same issues as they will and can guide them on the how to make the best decisions. Those of us with a chance to open doors for females wishing to get into coaching, should and really have an obligation to do so. Currently about 30% of the coaching population is made up of women (and I might be generous there), most of those are coaching children and younger people at recreation or participant level and, of course as either unpaid volunteers or most often and a significant lower salary. Some would say that 30%’s is not bad but women make up 51% percent of the population and probably around the same % in sport, so how come this is not reflected in the coaching ranks. This of course is simply assuming that women would only coach women, but why limit them, why can't they coach men ( I won't deal with that fact here as I already have a previous post where I cover the subject). There is the issue of a vicious cycle that younger female athletes remain for the most part used to being coached by males. They simply do not see coaching as a viable opportunity for them to move into once their playing careers are done. Add to this that too many obstacles remain for women to be given an equitable chance to move into position of note within coaching, the doors remain firmly closed. A larger issue is that out of all qualified coaches, women only make up around 15% of the qualified coaching workforce. Why is that? Is it to do with when coaching courses run? Are weekends just not viable for women? The training content or approach is too male orientated? Women just don’t like taking qualifications to prove they are good at what they do? Coach education courses need to be more accessible and most importantly, more appealing for women. Most coach education workshops are run by men. It is widely recognized that women have a different approach to learning (this also goes for being coached) to men. Even if more women chose to take coaching qualifications and progress their careers, they are still being trained how to coach by men – developing a male orientated approach to coaching. More women as coach education tutors will start to break the cycle. Coming back to the point above about women predominantly coaching children and young people. Why is that? Is it that these roles are seen as less interesting by so called more experienced, more qualified coaches (read men)? Some apologists for men in coaching will point to studies showing that high performing female athletes prefer to be coached by men. Really ? Well, if you think that if most men are coaches, and this statistic increase the further up the food chain of coaching you get, women will have been coached by men all the way through their career – so why change when you get to the top?? It isn't that they prefer, it is that it is all they know. If they experience coaching by female coaches, might these so called studies show the same data. I am a male, who has only coached female soccer. I hope I have done my part to build the game, encourage my athletes and as much as possible, encourage those that might be interested to move into coaching, to do so. I would like to think that I am not seen as less credible being a male coaching females ( also a topic I previous covered) for the fact of being a male. However I can also accepted and strongly support the idea that female athletes should have the chance to be coached by females. Keeping that in mind, the time has come to work hard to open doors to female coaches.
Just my humble opinion |
AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
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