Philosophy Statement

The profession of coaching is more than that of a job to me in my opinion. Its a gateway
which can lead to the improvement of my life as well as those around me; all the while providing
the background knowledge and experience needed to advance my career into new directions and
avenues. Through coaching I am able to reach students at either the high school age or college
age, both monumental in the developmental process. Martin, Oades, and Caputi (2012)
concluded that coaching was a profession that required a certain personality in order to be
successful. One has to be someone others can look up to and see a little bit of themselves in,
someone relatable to the majority, and is actually tangible. I want to get into coaching in order to
be that concrete example of positivity for the youth. Helping them to further progress not only as
successful athletes, but critically thinking socially conscious adults. The author DiSalvo (2013)
said it best when describing that people love their work and professions because of the impact it
helps them provide. At the end of the day everyone wants to feel important and useful, as a coach
the value and importance of my job is solely based on how effective I can make my athletes
better in multiple areas of their lives. The value on that is unmeasurable in that correctly molding
the youth is only bettering societies tomorrow.
In coaching I am especially ready to engage my athletes on various topics and objectives
that will lead to physical improvements and intellectual advances. I want to personally see to my
athletes understanding how to properly work out safely and effectively. They will need to know
what the proper diet consists of in an effort to improve the way they eat, creating more conscious
athletes with a clean bill of health. Weinbergs (2016) research discovered that people are more
inclined to pass on information or tips they found helpful, when the results were so easily
identifiable within their own selves. Meaning the word of mouth factor could be a huge asset,
improving lives in sort of a pass on the good news method. Separate from the physical aspect of
coaching, improving the decision making of my athletes as well as how effectively they evaluate
and critical think is another main objective of my program. Creating better thinkers means to
pass on values like being slow to anger and how might these decisions affect others around me,
seen and unseen. Just the awareness alone can lead to improvements in character and the morals
associated with good character. Upon successful completion students will not only be student
athletes, but upstanding members. They will be able to see a situation and quickly evaluate the
crucial points. Ultimately better decision makers are the main goal and those ramifications can
wring throughout society, whether it be via higher rates of college completion, or even just
improved test scores. My program and job as a coach will prepare my student athletes to be
ready to handle anything life throws at them from adversity to daily human interactions. Better
thinkers will always be valued, thus making their transition into the work place just that much
smoother because employers want someone who can critically think.

In the world of coaching there are several ways in which one could measure the
effectiveness of their program. It would simply require them to be aware of the goals set and then
determine the most efficient way to measure them. In my athletic program there will be several
things being measured. The first would be that of the physical aspect of what were doing. In my
sport, which is cross country and track that means to measure the improvements in speed and
strength. This can be measure by a time trial strategically placed at several different points
throughout the year and season. On the first day of practice, Ill have the athletes run a mile as
fast as they could, followed by a simple max out on both squat and bench. This would form my
basis at which at another point in time I could test the same exact things, only difference being
the improvements of their times and their overall strength. Diehl and Major (2015) found that
measuring the strategic effectiveness in anything is something that should be done tactful and
clean for the purity of the results. After measuring their physical growth, I would check their
critical thinking levels, both in relation to the sport and generally. This will be done though
simple conversations and questions that are aimed to gage critical effectiveness. For example,
how a decision they made may affect the team as well as themselves and myself. Making them
aware of the how powerful decisions are and the delicacy one needs to use when determining
how they should be handled. The last measurement comes in the form of how well the student
athlete improved character wise. This means maturity level and morals which can be measured
though observation and simply asking others if a change is noticed within that person. No one
should be the same as they were from when they started the program and upon completion.
My faith will be the basis of my program, and by that I mean my athletes will be able to
look at the example that is my life and see a Christ like life. I will be sure to let them know no
one is perfect and every day is a struggle, but in being honest with ones self and taking things
one step at a time its fun being a Christian. Now how open I am with this point of course
depends on my place of employment, but certain values and traditions like prayer before every
practice and race will be major pillars in my program. My aim isnt to persuade my athletes to
become Christians if they are not, but to simply let my life be the example they need. Which
means I will not be a coach who excessively curses, or condones cursing from his athletes. I will
not foster an environment of sexual misconduct in anyway, nor be someone who is quick to
anger. Always showing how love, fairness, and the conscious effort to always respect others will
make things a lot easier in life. Famous researcher Von Bergan (2013) confirmed that most
people base their views on Christianity on someone they know thats a Christian. Meaning you
never know whose watching you and how your actions make effect someones walk with God.
My top five strengths are my patience, creativity, adaptability, self-awareness, and
determination. Im not completely taken back by this but a few of my strengths did surprise me,
because things like self-awareness and patience were learned along the way. The remaining three
were no shock to me at all seeing as how theyve been my strengths my entire life. As far as my
career, patience and creativity are requirements in coaching. A coach who is more patient may be
more determined to get through to kids, even the ones that fight the system, but being adaptable
can easily provide coached with more opportunities to be themselves. Things want always go as

planned and may need to be adjusted on the fly, the skill of smoothly making that transition seem
effortless in adaptability. More importantly I think all coaches should be made aware of their
strengths in an effort to high light those skills for the better making of ones athletes. Even if I
were to transition from coaching to the administrative side of sports, those same five strengths
would prove valuable. The ability to self-correct ones own mistakes or even acknowledge them
is a skill in itself. Teaching our athletes ownership of their actions whether good or bad, or
laying in the beds we make metaphorically is one of the biggest services we can provide as
coaches and that aspect in itself can change the course of ones career.

References

DiSalvo, D. (2013). 10 Reasons Why Some People Love What They Do. Psychology Today,
46(3), 48-50
Diehl, G., & Major, S. (2015). MOE vs. M&E: Considering the Difference Between Measuring
Strategic Effectiveness and Monitoring Tactical Evaluation. Military Medicine, 180(1), 77-82.
doi:10.7205/MILMED-D-14-00171
Martin, L. S., Oades, L. G., & Caputi, P. (2012). What is personality change coaching and why is
it important?. International Coaching Psychology Review, 7(2), 185-193.
Von Bergen, C. W. (2013). God in the Workplace. Culture & Religion Review Journal, 2013(1),
111-126.
Weinberg, A. (2016). The preventative impact of management coaching on psychological strain.
International Coaching Psychology Review, 11(1), 93-105.