Why Do Children Need A Coach?

Childhood is a period of development. Children are constantly improving themselves and their skills during this period, however children have to be guided through this process, as it is often quite difficult. Adults have experience and knowledge; they should pass this experience and wisdom down to children. In a sporting situation the coach is tasked with providing the right environment in order for a child to develop their skills and participate in a sport. It is a difficult task as there are many fundamental differences between coaching children as opposed to adolescents or adults, however children need to be coached in order to develop the fundamental skills required to master their sport. Coaches who train children must coach differently
Coaches can benefit from having qualifications to help them complete this task (Vickers& Schoenstedt,2011) During childhood children are developing both mentally and physically at different rates. As they are young, they do not have the same mental capacity as adolescents or adults. This makes the task presented to the coach more difficult as information has to presented in a very simple fashion. The coach must make their training sessions about the core skills needed for the particular sport. There should not be any difficult challenges as the learning capacity of a child is also less than that of a teenager or adult. Children can often get frustrated easier than an older person if presented with a difficult task. Frustration is a defining factor on productivity in training sessions. It is important to keep frustration at a minimum level in training sessions in order to create a positive learning environment. The coach must keep a fun atmosphere when coaching children whenever possible, otherwise children may give up sport. Research has shown that sedentary children become sedentary adults
The coach must realize that like teenagers and adults, children may be at extremely different stages of development. The physical stage of a child has a large impact on ability, similar to adolescent, and coaches must make sure to factor this into their decisions. While adults are generally of equal sizes, children and adolescents can have a wide range of size differences. The difference can be up to four years’ worth of growth. This is a major point of discussion amongst national governing bodies, with many organizations arguing about whether sport leagues should be based on age or size. Most players in Ireland will experience this phenomenon at least once during their early playing years. The size difference gives an extreme advantage to the bigger, more developed players. This could affect a child’s ability to improve their skills in their sport. New Zealand has pioneered weight based rugby leagues for children, with limits placed on each age group. Currently New Zealand are rated number one in world rugby. The size factor cannot be overlooked by coaches. This is especially true in contact sports such as rugby where concussions and serious injuries are an ever-present risk. Although serious injuries in children’s sports are unlikely, the coach must remain vigilant as injuries during youth can have serious implications later on in life(Shanmugam& Maffulli,