Communication between the coach and children learning to swim

Abstract

Aim. The purpose of this study is: (a) to examine how swimming coaches perceive their communication skills and preferences; (b) to better understand the behaviour of coach-athlete communication during practice sessions; (c) to explore similarities and differences between coaches’ declared and actual communication behaviour. Basic procedures. To accomplish this purpose, 10 swimming coaches (6 males, 4 females; mage=31 years) were invited to take part in the two-part study. First, the participants were asked to answer 6 questions about their communicational behaviours towards children during typical swimming practices. Then, during a real swimming session, both verbal and non-verbal communication was recorded (content of the message, recipient of the message, body posture, gestures, proxemics, vocal aspects). Results. The obtained results show that the coaches used six of communication behaviours. The results revealed a discrepancy between the coaches’ declared and observed communication preferences. The data analysis shows that the coaches provided both feedback (40.7%) and feedforward (59. 3%) information. In the research, it is shown that swimming teachers used non-verbal messages more often (63%) than verbal ones. Conclusions. In the teaching process, it is important that the trainer/coach provides not only information regarding the tasks to be performed but also information improving the atmosphere and also the quality of the exercises performed.