According to Rainer Martens, author of the best selling coaching book Successful Coaching, there are three basic coaching styles. They are the command style, the submissive style and the cooperative style. (Martens) In addition to those styles, there are two other styles, which are the democratic style and the hanger on. .
The command style according Martens is when the make all of the decisions and the athletes have no inputs. (Martens) With this style the theory is made that the coach has knowledge and experience, it is to the coach role to tell the athlete what to do. The athlete's role in the command style is to listen, to absorb and to comply with the coach's directions. It's proven that the command style can be very effective if winning is the primary goal and its authoritarian nature does not contain the athlete's motivation. (Martens) Coaches that use this style are not letting the athletes enjoying themselves and give them room for error. In today's world, the command style is not being used as much by coaches. Young and inexperience coaches uses the command style of coaching because back when were younger athletes, they remember there coaches using the command style of coaching. (Martens) .
A coach who uses the command style is Bobby Knight. Bobby Knight is regarded as one of the successful college basketball coach in America. He is a firm believer that the command style works in any sport you coach. Knight started his command style when he was coaching at Army, thus carried at over to Indiana University at Bloomington. Knight feels that the command style works because he believes that he can get the best from is players and in addition to that, he wanted to win.
The submissive style of coaching is more less than the command style more like a babysitter type role. Very few teaching and discipline is in this style. The coach lets the athletes do whatever they want to do and let them have fun in the process.