A Qualitative Exploration of Successful High School Baseball Coaches' Silence During Practice

Abstract

For athletic coaches, there are many methods to coach athletes. One method that may not be as common, or even thought of as coaching, is silence. Silence is when the coach does not speak but is thinking of specific team, player, and competitor items. The purpose of this study was to interview consistently successful high school baseball coaches with an emphasis on their silence as a coaching behavior. Five successful high school baseball coaches in the southeastern United States were interviewed. Generally, it was found baseball coaches were strategizing, or thinking of baseball-related items while being silent during practice. The results from this study are a valuable addition to the literature, showing that coaching is not only about talking or yelling but also about a coach’s silence, a powerful form of coaching.