HOW DEVELOPED THIS PROFESSION?

The profession of a coach has been known since ancient times. In ancient Greece, special mentors trained athletes to compete in the Olympics. Further, over the centuries, noble people had personal teachers who gave them lessons - from simple physical education to fencing and shooting. With the revival of the Olympics at the end of the 19th century and the growing popularity of high-performance sports (athletics and weightlifting) and game types (football, basketball, volleyball, hockey), sports become professional. And any good professional needs a mentor early in his career. So, by the middle of the 20th century, the specialty of a coach became widespread and necessary for all sports.

However, it wasn't until the early 1960s that IT technology first came into use in the profession. Computers helped mentors with two things: collecting sports statistics for analysis, and measuring athletes' movements to improve training and exertion regimen. Thus, computer modeling and forecasting made it possible to significantly improve the educational and training process and win medals for those athletes whose coaches were better equipped technically.

Today, IT systems for monitoring the training process make it possible to analyze every athlete's micro-movement, identify his strengths and weaknesses, correct any nuances of training, and most importantly, show the athlete himself from the outside.

However, if you want to be a coach in sports, it is important to understand that no technology can help you win if the athlete is not properly formed, tuned in and motivated. Therefore, a professional mentor teaches his ward what we call soft skills. These are perseverance, hard work, motivation, the ability to learn from failures, flexibility of thinking and, in some cases, even creativity - especially in playing sports. And the coach himself, in addition to technical and theoretical knowledge, must possess many of these qualities - in order to pass them on to his student.

Let's see in what areas a modern coach can prove himself.

WHAT SPORTS COACHES DO?

Individual trainer

A coach who works with a single athlete knows his ward by heart: his strengths and weaknesses, his character and psychological characteristics. To achieve victory, the mentor controls everything: from the stress in training to the daily routine and the athlete's nutrition. And at the same time, the coach should be a subtle motivator: support in a difficult moment, but also spur the student if he is relaxed. Sometimes trainers work in conjunction with a psychologist. Among the technologies, such mentors use portable electronic devices that record the athlete's biomechanical response during various training exercises.

Team coach

This is a painstaking systematic work that requires, in addition to the listed skills, also communication skills and the ability to resolve conflicts. Usually the head coach of a team has an entire staff at his disposal, which together makes the decisions necessary for success. IT systems also help such mentors: for example, programs that allow analyzing the behavior of each team member individually and in a complex, in interaction with other athletes.

Children's trainer

Perhaps the most responsible position for coaching. Mentors begin to work with their little charges when their character, psyche and physical abilities are just beginning to develop. And here the main thing, on the one hand, is to see and reveal the talent of a young athlete, and on the other, to motivate him for a further career in sports, if there are grounds for this, even after failures. Therefore, a children's coach must also have empathy and a special attitude towards children.

Fitness trainer

This trainer helps the physical development of ordinary people who strive to keep fit and lead a healthy lifestyle. He can use in his work many techniques and technologies from professional sports, but to a lesser extent.