Who supports the head coach?

I write this after meeting my second head sports coach or team manager this week, and hearing about the pressure that they are under, the responsibility that they take on to deliver results and to support a team of paid or volunteer coaches, and having to deal with committees, governing bodies and parents.

Head coaches of sports teams of all shapes and sizes will recognise many of these. They'll also recognised the unsociable nature of the job - often working when peers are not, and not when their peers are (or just working all of the time). It can be quite isolating, as it can being in charge of any organisation.

Not surprisingly, being a sports coach can be something of a love/hate affair. Most are in it because they are passionate about the sport, but that passion can be hard to maintain when work is stressful.

In sport, the athletes get the most attention, and rightly so. But coaches often lack opportunities to refresh or develop their knowledge and skills, and the head coach arguably gets the least. They are expected to be the ones that know what to do. But we all need to learn and improve.

Many senior managers in the business world have an executive coach, because they don't have the support of colleagues or a line manager that lower level employees do. This tells us that no matter how good we are, most of us need help sometimes.

A sport psychologist with the right kind of experience, or perhaps a peer - a head coach from another sport, or other senior practitioner can provide that kind of support. Someone that can listen, support and, importantly challenge your ideas, perceptions, beliefs and actions. Someone that will call it like it is, hold a mirror up to you, however you want to express it.

All high performance clubs or programmes should incorporate some form of support for their head coach or performance manager/director. Nationally funded programmes can offer this, but what about the rest?

Don't try and do everything on your own. Whether you seek an external professional, or simply develop mutually supportive relationships outside of your own sport is up to you. Just do it...

Rob Robson

Sport Psychologist, Warwickshire | Sports Organisational Development | Sports Leadership