This document outlines Joanna Bertram's coaching philosophy for coaching middle school soccer. Some key points: 1) She believes sport teaches valuable life lessons like hard work and perseverance. Her goal is to pass these lessons on to her players. 2) Her coaching style will be cooperative, focusing on teaching and mentoring players. She wants them to develop a love of the game. 3) Some weaknesses are her competitiveness and stubbornness, but she hopes to overcome these through experience and learning from other coaches. 4) Respect will be her top rule. Playing time will be used to both reward good behavior and punish rule-breaking like disrespect.

1. Coaching Philosophy
Joanna Bertram
February 27, 2014
HESM 477
Philosophy Paper

2. Webster’s Dictionary defines philosophy as a particular set of ideas about knowledge,
truth, and the nature and meaning of life. Applying a personal coaching philosophy to coaching
is incredibly important because that philosophy sets the foundation for how you will coach. To
create a strong philosophy, one must look at all aspects of the sport including the environment,
importance, coaching style, winning and losing, motivation, and discipline and apply individual
beliefs and values to each. In this essay, I will reflect on each of those aspects, as well as
additional topics, to develop my own coaching philosophy, which I will be able to apply when I
start coaching.
The sport I am most interested in coaching is soccer. I have been playing soccer since I
was a little kid; it has taught me a lot and I want to be able to pass down those lessons to the kids
I coach. Ideally, I would like to coach in a middle school age team, but I am also open to
coaching at the high school age as well. When I start coaching, I would also like to coach a mini
kickers team as well as the middle school team. Obviously, how I coach little kids will be much
different than how I coach middle school age girls, so for the purpose of this paper, I will be
writing on my middle school philosophy. I will graduate with a degree in Sport Management
with a minor in Coaching Education. My plan is to complete the teaching practicum and become
a licensed coach. I would like to work in a professional sport environment in event management
and coach on the side.
In my opinion, sport has an incredible impact on the lives of adults and children alike. I
cannot imagine what my childhood would have been like, had I not played them. Sport teaches
youth valuable life lessons like humility, hard work, and perseverance, as well as, a foundation
for a healthy lifestyle. Sport strengthens body and mind alike. Personally, I would not be the
person I am today without sport. Growing up, sports provided me with a competitive outlet. I

3. learned how to win and lose with grace - learned, not perfected. There are so many more
positives of sport, but there are also negatives. Sport, in its basic state, is perfect. The games, the
ideas are full of grace and beauty. It’s the athletes, and those involved, who make sport
imperfect, in my opinion. Competitiveness drives people to cheat, push themselves too far; strive
for something that is unattainable. Sadly, this results in burnout, which I think is the most
negative consequence of sport. It is the coach’s job to nurture, shape, and provide balance for
their athletes to help prevent burnout.
The cooperative style of coaching fits best with my personality. I also think this style fits
best for the age group I will be coaching. Teaching and mentoring athletes will be my main goal
when I am a coach. I also want them to develop a love of the game, so should they not make
their high school teams, they will still continue to play soccer and remain physically active. My
coaching role models were my high school soccer coaches. Coaches Casas and Turgeon were
two of the best coaches I ever had. They embodied what I hope to be like when I coach – fair,
personable, and just all around enjoyable to be around. We worked hard; we were good, but we
had fun.
Some of my weaknesses that will have an impact on this coaching style will be my
stubbornness and my competitiveness. I don’t like to admit I am wrong, and while I have gotten
better at it, I still think it will give me problems. I like to do things my way, but I think if I
worked as an assistant coach first, I would be put in a position where someone else had the final
say. I am also a very competitive person; I like to win and I like to be better. The first loses my
team has, I will probably take very personally. However, I do think that coaching a losing team
would give me a lot of perspective on my competitiveness nature.

4. One of my strengths is that I am a fair person; I will base playing time off players’
ability, attitude, and work ethic rather than popularity. I think I am a fairly easy person to talk to
and I hope my players will be able to come to me for any problems they have, so we can work on
them together. Finally, I enjoy teaching people new things. I like to see that light go off in their
head when something finally clicks. I think this will come in handy for the cooperative style of
coaching.
I think the middle school age group is where players really develop in the fields of
winning and losing and how they learn to handle it. Winning should be taken with grace and I
plan to emphasize that with my athletes. I also want to emphasize sportsmanship to the other
team and thanking parents. Middle school is a time to enjoy the game, before it becomes
increasingly competitive. A large emphasis on winning is unnecessary; I think hard work and
game skills should have a higher emphasis. Sometimes in middle school athletics, there is a high
level of diversity in the maturity of the kids, and that has potential for conflict. For example, if
my team is predominantly eighth graders and we are playing a team that is predominantly eighth
graders, I would hesitate to play my younger players in that game. Mostly, because the players
would not be matched up equally, resulting in possible injuries, but also because my team would
probably not be playing at the level of they would need to be competitive enough to win. I would
handle this by telling my players before the season and before each game, if they should expect
to play. Before the season, I would tell them that not everyone will play every game and before
each game, I would tell them who should expect to be playing.
I am a competitor; I don’t take losing lightly. I think this will change a little when I
become a coach. In my first couple of years coaching, I envision myself getting more upset at
loses, because there would be nothing I could physically do to change the odds; I would want to

5. go out and play, but I would be unable to. As my career progresses, however, I think I my
approach to losing or failure will be to work harder. I will encourage my players to pick
themselves up, work harder, and when faced with the same challenge again, they will succeed. 1
think it is important to not focus on the losing aspect, but what can we do as a team to get better.
The motivational theory I think fits with what coaching style I intend to apply in my
career is the need achievement theory. I think this theory focuses on all aspects coaches should
use. It breaks down each component very well, so I would be able to identify how each athlete is
motivated, therefore allowing myself to be able to motivate them better. Since I will be coaching
middle school, I think a lot of my players will still be motivated to play for social reasons, so the
achievement goal theory might come into play a little more.
I think my players will be in a stage of transition from extrinsic motivations, like friends,
to learning to intrinsically motivate themselves. I think by not allowing ‘cliques’ to form on my
team will help that transition to some extent. Good motivation is playing time, if I see players
working hard, I will give them more playing time. Also, leadership roles on the team can help in
motivating players. Most of the time, I think I will chose who the captains are, and I will want to
chose someone who has the ability to lead and help motivate her fellow teammates.
Respect will definitely be my number one rule. Respect for the game, teammates, as well
as myself and any other coaches. I will not let my players be disrespectful in anyway, and I will
use playing time as a punishment for those who do not follow this. I will not tolerate cheating
either, however, cheating is subjective in soccer, and is often administered by the referees.
Hopefully, I won’t have to deal with cheating problems like steroids in middle school girls. I also
would make it a rule that you would have to practice to play. At most schools, players have to be
at school anyway to play in games and practice, so that would be an extension of my rule.

6. Players who cannot follow the rules will be deducted playing time. The ultimate purpose
of joining a soccer team is, for most people, to actually play soccer. Taking away playing time –
whether practice or game time – would take away the ability for a player to play. There will be
no exceptions to the rules, except a family emergency. And the exception I would make would
be to let the player play; She just would not start the first ten minutes or so of each half.
I will not punish players be making them run. I think fitness is a very important part of
the game, and players should expect it. Players should not have to fear physical punishment
because they lost a game or perform subpar. They should see it as a way to improve themselves
and that is how I intend to treat it. If the reason for losing the game was because they were not in
the right physical shape they needed to be, I would consider having a fitness day, but only to
improve their ability to play the game.
Like I have said before, playing time is the best reward I can give a player. I plan on
using that as much as possible. If their behavior is not right, I will take away playing time and
vice versa. Playing time includes practice. A player who has a bad attitude at practice will have
to sit out. A score or win should, at the middle school age, should be celebrated with no more
than team high fives or hugs. Celebration dances will not be tolerated. Furthermore, my players
will be expected to shake hands with the other team after the game.
I perceive coaching diverse athletes at the middle school age will be one of my biggest
challenges. I have mentioned this previously, but middle school girls can be very cliquey,
tending to hang out with players that are similar to them. This could be a problem if I have a
player that does not fit their norm. I believe this should be addressed on a case-by-case basis, but
bullying will not be tolerated. Whether I have to take away playing or practice time, or remove
them from the team, I will not let a player be hurtful to another player simply because they are

7. ‘different.’ The best way to prevent bullying as much as possible is by telling the team upfront,
at the first team meeting, that bullying and meanness will not be tolerated. I will also lie out the
punishment if bullying should happen. Soccer is a team sport, and it is imperative that the team
works well together and trusts each other. This cannot happen if some players feel like they are
in an unsafe environment.
Since I will be coaching middle school, I hope I can form a team without cutting people,
or cutting as few of people as possible. However, depending on the size of the school, that might
not be always possible. Soccer is a sport were you can really have only about twenty-five people
max on the team, so that everyone can have some sort of playing time. I will also be limited in
the number of jerseys I have to give out. I would like to not have to cut anyone, because I want
the kids to still want to play soccer and to want to live a healthy life style.
Overall, my coaching goal is to be a fair coach who inspires my athletes to work hard and
never give up. I would like to see them grow and mature as people and athletes. I would hope to
see them develop their love for soccer and health in general. I think that middle school is a very
important age group for growth, and I would hope that by them playing soccer for me, they
would only grow in positive directions.