Quality Sport Coaching in Action: The Application of the National Standards for Sport Coaches in the Interscholastic Sport Context

Abstract

School sports are traditionally described as fertile ground for the achievement of diverse outcomes for student-athletes. Philosophically, this means that the adult leaders of school-sponsored sport programs have an obligation to provide developmentally appropriate outcomes for their student-athletes. While sport skill development and competitive performance are integral to a coach’s roles and responsibilities within a school’s sports program, a coach must also achieve a broader set of educational goals. Examples might include ensuring players meet academic expectations, train and compete safely, exhibit sportspersonship, model valued life skills such as cooperation and civility, and demonstrate personal health and well-being. This article provides practical examples detailing how coaches and leaders in a scholastic sport program can use the recently revised National Standards for Sport Coaches (NSSC) to aid in meeting these roles and responsibilities more effectively. Descriptive vignettes provide real-life situations that might happen to a coach in school sports, how those situations could be avoided or resolved, and discourse explains how coaches might use the standards to their benefit.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Timothy Baghurst

Timothy Baghurst, PhD ([email protected]) is the director of FSU COACH at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL;

Robert H. Benham

Robert H. Benham, PhD ([email protected]) is the director of Coach Development Services in Honolulu, HI.