Sport coaching has become a major field of employment in today's society. Almost every athlete that participates in sports today has his or her development fostered by a coach. The definition that will be used for coaching is as follows, "a coach is someone who enables the athlete to achieve levels of performance to a degree that may not have been possible if left to his/her own endeavors."(Mackenzie, 1997) It is my belief that a successful coach must be aware of many different factors that come into play in the coaching profession. A successful coach must possess; good communication skills, motivation skills, administrative skills, planning skills, as well as possessing good social skills (VanderZwaag, 1998). With all of these skills needed, it is my belief that sport coaching should be a core course in a sport management field. A good understanding of sport management concepts will allow an individual to become a much more successful sports coach. The sporting environment has become very competitive; therefore management skills are an essential part of the coaching profession today. Three essential aspects of coaching that this paper will address are communication, injury prevention, and planning. It is my belief that these are all essential aspects when it comes to coaching.
When potential coaches are asked why they want to become a coach, most of them say, "because I like kids and sports."(Taylor, p.9). It takes much more than that to be a successful coach. Most of today's coaches are missing motivational, interpersonal, and communicational skills from their repertoire (Taylor, 1971). These are essential aspects when it comes to the coaching profession. .
A coach must be able to deal with a wide variety of different people. They must communicate with their athletes, parents, fellow staff, media, and the general public. Dealing with parents could be the most complicated aspect.