In understanding the needs of the athletes and their coach, Counsilman described eight important points:
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Love and Affection: The Coach must have a genuine affection for his athletes and he must convey that affection whenever he can.
- Security: The world of the athlete can be a forbidding place. Yet when he arrives at the sports field, this changes. He must be met with a friendly greeting by the coach, whom he respects, whom he knows to be a mature individual with an enthusiastic and positive attitude and who has his best interests at heart. He is part of the team, in a familiar environment, and he knows what to expect. It is only in the security of this type of environment that the athlete will produce his best.
- Self-esteem – an essential function of the coach is to build the self-esteem of the athlete. In a team environment, he does this by making sure that all the members of the team feel that they are contributing something to the team’s success. He is genuinely interested in the whole team, not just its champions. He must do everything in his power to avoid belittling, humiliating or ridiculing his athletes. He must never prove any of his athletes wrong by saying ‘I told you so’. He must develop a high sensitivity about what he says and does.
- Status: Life is often a desperate struggle for status. The coach must provide his athletes with an excellent programme that will allow them to become successful and will enhance their status.
- Achievement: The coach must provide his athletes with a sense of accomplishment. He must set realistic goals for each athlete and must assist them in evaluating what he or she has achieved.
- Recognition: No one ever does anything for nothing. Recognition is one of the most important goals for any athlete. The coach must always recognize his athletes during their training – a slap on the back is a form of recognition and tells the athlete that he or she is being noticed. The coach must at all times suppress his own ego, remembering the TATNAM rule – Talk About Them Not About Me.
- The Role of the Challenge: People are attracted to sport because they enjoy a challenge. So the coach must plan his programme to be innovative, interesting and challenging.
- The Group Instinct: The coach’s job is to foster group orientation, or team spirit. He must set common goals andallow his athletes to have a say in the decision-making. Authoritarianism, the use of negative psychology (hate the opponent) and self-aggrandisement (‘my team) undermine the group instinct and fail to promote team spirit. The key is to promote ‘our’ team and the feeling of ‘we’. Each individual should know that the interests of the team come first. The use of ritual, ceremony and tradition are also key in this process and are achieved through award dinners, special events and trips.
Source: Challenging Beliefs by Tim Noakes