Coach Assessment

Martens (1997)^[1] identified five key areas that coaches should focus on: coaching objectives, coaching styles, evaluating and developing communication skills, principles of reinforcement and understanding motivation. Coaches are responsible for conducting themselves and their services according to professional and ethical standards, promoting the interests and protecting the rights of their performers, the sport and the coaching profession.

Areas of assessment

The following are possible aspects of the coaching session that could be assessed (Martens 1997)^[1]:

Health and Safety
Communication skills
Coaching Skills
Interpersonal skills
Long and short term Planning
Training session content and structure
Knowledge and experience
Control of athletes
Monitoring of athletes
Level of flexibility

The following questions can be used by you to analyse your coaching skills or to analyse the skills of a coach who you mentor. Some of the questions have been adapted from Martens (1997)^[1].

Pre-session activities

The following are points to monitor:

Were facilities checked for safety
Was a phone point identified - in case of emergency
Was the First Aid person known - in case of emergency
Was appropriate equipment selected
Were equipment and facilities checked for health and safety
Was the status of health of each athlete checked - injuries, colds, tired etc.
Was there a clear plan of work and objectives for the session
Was there a clear coaching goal for the session
Was each athlete checked to determine what exercise they had completed that day - e.g. school football match - for potential impact on the planned training session

Session activities

The following are points to monitor:

Was each athlete's level of experience checked
Were athletes informed of the session content and aims and their understanding checked
Were athletes made aware of the rules and code of conduct for the activity and their understanding checked
Were instructions clear, concise and appropriate
Was the body language and tone of voice appropriate when giving instructions and advice
Was positive feedback and appropriate corrective action provide to each athlete
Was questioning used to encourage the athlete to self analyse performance
Were explanations and demonstrations appropriate and clear
Was the athlete's understanding of what was required checked
Were athlete's allowed to ask questions
Were appropriate coaching methods used in developing each athlete
Were athletes observed throughout the session and appropriate feedback on strengths and weaknesses provided
Was an appropriate warm up and cool down undertaken by all athletes
Was equipment regularly checked for health and safety
Were athletes asked for their feedback on the session
Were athletes monitored for tiredness or the onset of injury
Were all athletes in their training groups given equal attention
Were athletes given an appropriate amount of recovery between activities
Were athletes encouraged to keep warm between activities
Were the athletes encouraged to drink (water, sports drinks) to replace lost fluids
Did the coach show appropriate and correct use of coaching skills e.g. Instruction, Explanation, Demonstration, Observation, Analysis and Feedback

Post Session activities

The following are points to monitor:

Did the coach have control of the athletes
Did the athletes enjoy the session
Did the coach exhibit a clear understanding of the techniques and skills required by the athletes for the session
Did athletes trust and respect the coach
Did the coach provide appropriate feedback to the athletes
Did the coach use good communication skills
Did the athletes achieve their objectives from the session
Were the coach's objectives for the session achieved
Was the coach's relationship and behaviour with the athletes in line with good practice
Did the coach analyse what worked well, what did not and how it might be corrected
Did the coach ensure the athletes were collected by the appropriate people

Referenced Material

MARTENS, R. (1997) Successful Coaching. Champaign: Human Kinetics

Page Reference

The reference for this page is:

MACKENZIE, B. (2004) Coach Assessment [WWW] Available from: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/coachass.htm [Accessed

Associated Pages

The following Sports Coach pages should be read in conjunction with this page: