1. Chapter 2 – Determining Your Coaching Objectives
I. Three major objectives of sport:
to have a winning team,
to help young people have fun,
to help young people develop physically
(sport skills, conditioning, health habits,
avoiding injury), psychologically (control
emotions, develop self-worth), and socially
(cooperation in competition, standards
of behavior)
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2. A. Assessing your objectives: Use Your Coaching Objectives questionnaire (p. 19)
B. Society’s objectives
Society offers sport programs to help young people develop.
Society seems to indicate that it values winning more than development.

3. C. Recreational versus competitive sport programs
1. Recreational sport emphasizes fun, learning, and participation by all.
2. Competitive sport emphasizes winning, performance, and participation by the best (see figure 2.1, p. 21).

4. 3. Problems arise when there is incompatibility between program objectives and coaches’ objectives (see figure 2.2, p. 21).
4. Administrators’, players’, and parents’ objectives may be incompatible with sport program objectives.

5. II. A Winning Philosophy
American Sport Education Program motto: “Athletes First, Winning Second”
1. The cornerstone of coaching philosophy
2. Philosophical foundation of the Bill of Rights for Young Athletes (see figure 2.3, p. 23)

6. B. Striving to Win
1. Striving to win should be the objective of every athlete and coach.
2. Vince Lombardi stated his coaching philosophy as “Winning isn’t everything, but striving to win is.”

7. C. Commitment
1. Youth are drawn to sport by the competition, the striving to win, and the recognition of excellence achieved.
2. James Coleman cited the importance of intense commitment and total effort in achieving success and in humanity’s great accomplishments.
3.James Michener stated that sport saved his life by rescuing him from the streets and a potential life of crime.

8. D. Ethical Behavior
1. Young people can develop morally through sport and learn a basic code of ethics that is transferable to a moral code for life.
2. Moral decisions are often required in competitive sport.

9. III. Keeping winning in perspective
A. Winning or striving to win is never more important than athletes’ well-being.
B. When winning is kept in perspective, sport programs produce positive results.

10. IV. Your personal objectives
A. Identify your personal objectives in developing your coaching philosophy.
B. Examine your personal reasons for coaching (see table 2.1, p. 27).

11. V. Conclusions
Successful coaches recognize the differences between objectives for the contest, objectives for their athletes’ participation, and their own personal objectives.
Successful coaches find ways to achieve all three objectives: to have a winning team; to help young athletes have fun; and to help them develop physically, psychologically, and socially.