What should a coach really know about his athletes to help improve performance?
Communication is key in any coach – athlete relationship. The coach needs to know valuable information from his / her athletes in order to plan training sessions and prepare for competitions accordingly, and visa versa. Yet what are some of the important examples of information that could lead to success for everyone involved?
RPE – Let’s start by focusing on what is significant during training. Athlete feedback to the management is an important aspect, especially with regards to the usefulness and effectiveness of training. For this, the Rate of Perceived Exertion scale or RPE scale is often used. This scale, designed by Gunnar Borg, is a common method for determining exercise intensity levels. The scale is used extensively in estimating training intensity across a number of sports, along with being validated in research studies. The scale of perceived exertion is how hard you feel your body is working, and therefore is a subjective measurement. It is usually marked on a scale 1 – 10. The scale should ideally be used within 10 minutes after the session finishes to obtain the most accurate results.
The RPE scale measures feelings of effort, strain, discomfort, and/or fatigue experienced during both aerobic and resistance training. The major advantage of the session-RPE method over other methods of quantifying session load is that it is simple to measure and easy to interpret, and has proven to be very effective when used in team sports (Coutts 2003). Perceived exertion reflects the interaction between the mind and body. From the RPE scale, managers and coaches can tailor their sessions to suit the time of year and the requirements of the players – Training load can then be tailored and modified to suit. Being able to quantify training load will benefit players in terms of avoiding burnout and chronic injury, and would be of great help too coaches.
Goal / Target-setting – Following on from RPE, setting targets and goals are of vital importance for the athlete and management. These can range from short term, medium term and long term goals. Goals agreed upon by between athletes and coaches can have a marked effect on performance over time. The acronym S.M.A.R.T.E.R. represents useful criteria that you can use to get the most out of your goal setting.
- Specific: Your goals should be specific to what you want to accomplish
- Measurable: Set goals that are measurable and objective
- Accepted: Set goals that YOU believe in
- Realistic: Set goals that are both realistic and challenging
- Time Limited: Set a time limit for the achievement of your goals
- Exciting: Set goals that inspire and excite you
- Recorded: Writing down your goals helps make them more tangible and real
Adhering to these rules will allow both management and athletes create realistic and effective goals. Indeed goal setting has been proven to achieve results and is increasingly being used by coaches as a new technique to improve performance. Sports psychologists are concentrating more and more on setting goals and targets with their athletes, which in turn allows the training to become more “athlete-centred”. It has been proven that athletes react better to training when they have played a part in putting it together.
Athlete Wellbeing – Some institutions, teams and companies have devised their own “readiness to train” formula. This encompasses subjective information such as sleep duration, muscle soreness, sleep quality, stress levels and other key performance variables. These can be looked at altogether to create a score on the athlete’s current ability to train or compete at optimal levels. This idea of readiness to train focuses on aspects of the body and mind that influences performance.
Research has highlighted the importance of these aspects in sport in their own right. Collectively, they play a huge role in athletic performance. The identification and documentation of these aspects of body and mind can be of great importance between athlete and coach, with the interpretation of results key when it comes to planning and organizing training.
Feedback – Finally, we can conclude that feedback on performance is something that all athletes crave from management. Athletes always want to improve, and feedback from their mentors is a great way of addressing issues in performance. This feedback can be positive or negative in nature, and can come in the form of “1-on-1” meetings, team meetings or video analysis to name but a few. As the coach assumes many different roles (advisor, assessor, councilor, friend, motivator, organizer), it’s imperative that their feedback is constructive and aids athlete performance.
Studies have shown that athletes react positively to coach feedback, for example positive feedback given in a positive manner leads to increased levels in motivation for the athletes. This in turn enhances performance and develops the coach-athlete relationship. Athletes thrive on positive messages from management, and feedback establishes a link which allows athletes to improve their game accurately.
What we have touched on here in this is just a small amount of information that can help performance, but it can certainly go a long way into making better coaches and athletes. There are so many variables that contribute to athletic success, with the complete understanding of the athlete as an individual one of the most important.
About Metrifit
Through our innovative app and intelligent analytics, we are bringing athlete well-being to the forefront of training and performance. Metrifit is an excellent tool to monitor, evaluate and make the right decisions for your athlete’s wellbeing and performance on a day to day basis and to address an issue or potential issue in real time. To find out more visit our Metrifit Product Overview page or contact at for a free demo.
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References
Rating of Perceived Exertion Scales
Make Your Sports Goal Setting S.M.A.R.T.E.R. by Jim Taylor
What is Goal Setting and How to Do it Well
The Motivating Role of Positive Feedback in Sport and Physical Education
The effect of coach’s feedback behaviors on intrinsic motivation and satisfaction in elite athletes