Coaching Effectiveness: A Personal Discourse on Bringing Clarity to an Overused Concept

Abstract

Coaching effectiveness is a ubiquitous term in the sport coaching literature, yet it remains ill-defined and challenging to operationalize. This paper explores the concept and provides a polemic intended to generate discussion within the field. Effectiveness is a more nuanced concept than generally accepted and is best considered a superordinate concept that synthesizes other lower order concepts. Feature matching approaches are most common but provide, at best, a partial account of effective practice. This has also led to a focus on ineffective behavior. The simplistic notion of effectiveness as goal achievement is not as straightforward as it seems and in setting the bar too high, effectiveness has been equated with excellence. Effective coaching should imply that coaches have drawn on their expertise to harness appropriately the resources available in the context of environment and ambition. In this sense, effective coaching is a realizable goal for all coaches; it may or may not lead to performance success. It remains a useful “unifying label” for reasoning about sport coaching.