Every sports coach can become good if they possess certain qualities that players and parents are looking for. However, not all coaches have these qualities inherited. They have to acquire these qualities and hone their skills to transform themselves from an ordinary coach to high-performance, legendary master coaches that every player yearns for.  

The 7 important qualities of a good sports coach

• Teach basic skills and sportsmanship.

The prime responsibility of a sports or athlete coach is to teach the basics of the sport through rigorous training and mentoring. However, the training depends on the evaluation of every player and their knowledge of the game basics. So, a good coach must know how to evaluate and provide personalized training to each player.  

The next comes sportsmanship, which is an essential quality for a lifetime. A good coach must have this quality and teach the same to the youth sports team.

• Know how to effectively communicate with players.

Communication is key when it comes to sports coaching. Unless a coach can effectively communicate with the players about the strategies, conflict management, performance improvement, and feedback, he cannot handle the players as a team. Thus, it is one of the most critical and invaluable qualities that every coach needs.    

Though offline and in-person two-way communication matters, a sports coach needs other skills like data analysis and basic computer or tech knowledge so that the coaching can be improved with tech or data intervention. 

• Make training and learning exciting.

Every sports coach cannot treat the players like regular trainees. Instead, players have to be treated as performers and for this, the coach had to make the training sessions fun-filled and engaging. By doing so, the coaching becomes casual yet impactful. Well, this quality of a coach answers the players’ most common question “How can I be comfortable on a coach?”. 

• Provide equal opportunities with absolute rationality.  

A coach must have rational thinking so that all players are treated equally and given equal opportunity in terms of athletic training, ball time, etc. This ensures fair discipline among the players and appreciable conduct that improves their sportsmanship and confidence.  

• Deploy tools to transparently and efficiently handle the team.

As mentioned earlier, tech intervention is significant in managing the sports team and player data. Ideally, a good coach must know how to use a sports team communication app. This application serves as a one-stop-tool that helps with easy communication and coordination among the team with all stakeholders kept informed of all the notifications and alerts. 

• Coach the team: patience, positivity, and perseverance.

For the sports team to learn the emphasis on sportsmanship, being patient, having positive thinking, and strict perseverance is a pre-requisite. Thus, a coach must possess all these qualities and ensure to reflect the same from the players or athletes.   

• Advise not to win but to perform as a team.

Last but not least, a good sports coach must teach the players to perform as a team and not insist on winning the game in the first place. Moreover, the coach must prepare the players’ mindset toward ‘winning and losing is a part of the game’. This is more important than the player learning the game basics and strategies. 

Conclusion

For a sports coach to acquire all the necessary skills and focus on the game performance, he or she needs sufficient time. Having said this, day-to-day team management cannot consume all of the coach’s valuable time. Thus, using a team communication tool or app can help the coach save time. Check out Actavivo—one of the best apps for coaches to communicate with players at no cost!