Although in sports only you are the person that can make yourself become the best version of yourself, having a good coach still plays a big role in that. Some might think that good coaches are just ones that teach you new skills, new plays, and how to kick a ball, but a good coach is so much more than that. A good coach will do their best to boost a player’s confidence and help improve their mentality as an athlete. A good coach will also help them become a more goal-oriented athlete. And finally, a good coach will have great communication and an acceptable relationship with their players. 

The first quality that makes a good coach is that they help to make a player’s mentality and confidence better. As a coach they need to be positive, respectful, and trustworthy to boost a player’s mentality. A coach who thinks with a negative attitude, will rub off on their players and they will end up being a less confident person who only thinks of the worst that can happen instead of thinking of the best possibilities for themselves and for the team.  A good coach who is looking to boost your confidence and mentality will still applaud you for taking a shot even if you missed the goal by a bit, hype you up even if you make a mistake when taking a defender on 1v1, and tell you to forget about your mistakes and will motivate you to fix those mistakes and win the ball back when losing it. For example, my club coach is the type of coach to motivate me to work harder after making mistakes. I was not playing very well in the game, I was lacking energy, nothing was going right for me, but then he pulled me out to tell me that it is ok. He told me to not let the mistakes get to my head and gave me constructive criticism for when I went back on the field. To me, that is something that makes a good coach. The ability to not let mistakes get in players’ heads is a quality that every coach should have in order to be able to maintain their confidence and keep their mentality high as an athlete.

The second quality that makes a good coach is that they give you constructive criticism and help you fix a player’s problems rather than yell at the player for them. They will give them advice and will be honest with them by telling the player what they did wrong. But unlike other coaches, a good coach will not only tell a player what they did wrong, but they will also help them to fix those problems and give them advice in order to help a player get better. Constructive criticism is so important so that a player can know what expectations they have to reach and how to reach them.

A CHS 9th grader and volleyball player, Julia Couch said “My volleyball coach is a great coach and she has helped me a lot this season. She is supportive and gives me constructive criticism which makes me work harder. She really motivates me a lot.” Constructive criticism is a skill that all coaches should have and practice in order to make an athlete be able to improve in a sport without being felt like they are not good enough. Constructive criticism creates not only a good player but also a great coach.

Another quality that all coaches should have is to be goal-oriented and to be able to make an athlete become goal-oriented as well. What does one mean by goal-oriented? Well, when saying that a coach should be goal-oriented, it means that they should be only looking ahead. Forget about the losses in the past and focus on what is coming next for someone as an athlete. In other words, a coach should be someone who teaches their athletes to not give up after hardships, but instead keep working hard.

A good coach will set goals for their players and help them work hard towards achieving those goals in order to make a better athlete. When a coach helps an athlete become more goal-oriented, the athlete will be able to gain motivation to work harder and push themselves to become the best athlete that they can be and it will allow them to set goals for themselves to be able to improve to their fullest potential.

Overall there are many things that make a good coach. It is not only teaching their players how to get better but also having the mentality of a good coach and setting a good, hard-working example for their players.