Developing and Implementing a Coaching Philosophy: Guidance from Award-Winning Strength and Conditioning Coaches

Abstract

Traditional examinations of coaching philosophies consider the perspective of sport coaches (e.g., soccer, cricket, rugby). The focus on sport coaches’ coaching philosophy has advanced the study of coaching effectiveness while simultaneously omitting strength and conditioning coaches from the larger body of literature on coaching philosophy. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how award winning strength and conditioning coaches shape and use their coaching philosophy. The participants include four renowned strength and conditioning coaches, one at the high school, one at the college, and two at the professional level. A summary is provided at the end that examines commonalities (e.g., all the respondents expressed the need to have a specific coaching philosophy) and differences (e.g., how discipline factors into their coaching philosophy) across the respondents’ views and connects their viewpoints to the broader literature on sport coaching.

Strength and conditioning roundtable: Strength and conditioning coach evaluation

“…Unlike previous SC coach explorations 20,21 this group of coaches reported more dissimilar than similar experiences. One coach (Banwarth) reported not having a formal evaluation while the others reported having specific formal evaluations.…”

“…The clear and definitive example of this is the frequency with which safety of athletes is addressed. The NSCA's professional standards 27 begins with safety of the athletes and the importance of safely training athletes has been mentioned by coaches talking about their coaching philosophies 20 and their mentorship practices 21 as well as being identified as an essential job task by all coaches in the current project.…”

“…Participants were recruited by Michael Doscher, who also served as a respondent. This procedure follows previous work 20,21 with different coaches recruited. Guidelines for recruitment were (a) ability and time to respond to the questions asked with detailed typed responses, including follow-up questions and clarifications; (b) extensive experience in the field of SC coaching evidenced by overseeing at least their own facility; and (c) a willingness to include their name in the article thereby making their contribution, thoughts, and contact information public.…”

A Roundtable With College Strength and Conditioning Coaches: Working With Sport Coaches

“…• SCCs need to know and be able to describe their own coaching philosophy. This is a best practice for both sport and SCC coaches (Gillham, Schofield, Doscher, Dalrymple, & Kenn, 2016;Gould, Pierce, Cowburn, & Driska, 2017). All respondents (above) described the importance of an initial meeting with new sport coaches as important to establishing a productive collaboration.…”

Working with coaches and their teams in youth and collegiate sport in the USA: An interview with Dr Andy Gillham

“…I used the tool as an entry point, even if it was just a conversation starter. I didn't use it recently at a NCAA D1 Power 5 school -it was 100% my observation, my strength and conditioning background, knowing what I've seen that's been successful, the three S&C roundtable papers I've co-authored [3][4][5] have really helped me learn from outstanding coaches. SPRJ: So the roundtable papers were borne out of your professional work?…”