1. Coaching Observation
Corey Goldsmith
San Jose State University
Author Note
This paper was prepared for Kinesiology 168, Psychology of Coaching
10:30 Tuesday/Thursday, Spring 2014
taught by Professor Butryn
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2. For our observation my partner Jon and I chose to observe coach Kevin Scott. Coach
Scott is the varsity basketball coach at James Lick High School in east San Jose. Coach Scott has
been coaching at James Lick for ten years. He was my Junior Varsity basketball coach. Coach
Scott has been coaching the varsity team at James Lick for two years. He started in 2012 when
James Licks’ varsity coach, Ron Staden, was diagnosed with a stomach tumor and could not
continue.
Jon and I were tasked with observing both a game and a practice. When Jon and I first
approached Coach Scott he seemed a bit hesitant, but he later warmed up to the idea. We decided
that it might be a good idea to observe the practice first so that Coach Scott would get
accustomed to Jon and I being around his team. During this practice we observed some
interesting behaviors. Coach Scott is a rather serious coach. He does not do a lot of joking
around with his team. He is not an angry coach, but he has to try hard to stay as neutral and as
calm as possible. Jon and I observed that about 60% of Coach Scotts’ comments were
organization oriented. Another 30% were instructional comments. Most of the remaining
comments were general encouragement.
Coach Scott had general positive responses to his players’ behaviors during practice.
44.4% of these positive comments were followed by instruction. Coach Scott had very few
negative comments at all. These only occurred when a player was disrespecting Coach Scott or
questioning his knowledge. In addition, 97.6% of Coach Scotts’ reactionary comments towards
players had a non-hostile delivery.
When Coach Scott was asked a question he responded 84% of the time with a neutral
tone. 12% of his answers were given in a positive tone and only 4% were in a negative tone.
Coach Scott had only eight comments outside of practice that had nothing to do with the
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3. practice. Half of those were directed to Jon and I. The other half of the questions were directed to
the players, asking them how they were or if they made sure they had completed their homework
that evening. It was interesting to see how Coach Scott used practices to prepare for a game.
Even though it was near the end of the season Coach Scott was teaching new defenses and a new
offensive play. Due to this, Jon and I concluded that this was the main reason why about 60% of
Coach Scotts’ behaviors involved instruction or organizational direction.
During this practice Jon and I also realized that Coach Scott’s serious leadership style and
specificity of the tasks might have given his players the upper hand over San Jose high. Research
suggests that this combination of a serous coaching style and specific practice objectives should
increase competition efficacy among his players (Trninic, Papic, & Trninic, 2009). In the article
both a serious coaching behavior and specification in practice improved player efficiency
(Trninic, Papic, & Trninic, 2009).
During practice Jon and I observed some of Coach Scott’s players needed more feedback
or motivation than other players. Coach Scott was well tuned to his players’ need for praise and
feedback. Research has shown that this autonomy support is very important for varsity players
(Sheldon & Watson, 2011). This research shows that a coach’s autonomy support is more
important to varsity athletes than club or recreational athletes. This is partially due to varsity
sports requiring less experience than recreational sports, but causing less stress than club sports
(Sheldon & Watson, 2011). Often these needs for competence can predict the varsity athlete’s
subjective vitality (Sheldon & Watson, 2011).
Three days after the practice on Thursday February 20th
, Jon and I observed the varsity
game between James Lick and San Jose High. We chose this game not only because it was after
the practice we observed but also because San Jose High is James Lick’s biggest rival. These
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4. schools have had a rivalry for many years. James Lick won this game by only four points. After
the game Coach Scott said to Jon and I, “ I was hoping to keep my composure in the fourth, but
the game was just too close ”.
In the first period of the game Coach Scott seemed very calm and subdued. 90% of his
comments were organizational comments and he answered all player questions with a positive
cheerful tone. The second period was very similar to the first, more general encouragement and
comments to the assistant coach were given. At half time Coach Scott told his team that they
were doing a good job, but then Coach talked to each player and gave them all individual
instruction and suggestions. During the third period Coach Scott shifted from answering his
players in a positive tone to neutral tone. During this period Coach Scott also became generally
more vocal, talking to his assistant coach and his players on the bench.
In the fourth period, the Coach Scott I remember as a player came out once again. All
forms of communication and verbal action increased. Coach Scott had more general
encouragement in this one period than in the other three periods combined. In addition to this, his
organizational comments also increased by 25% over the other three periods. Coach Scott even
started talking and arguing with the referees during the fourth period. This is a common practice
for Coach Scott. The game resulted in a win for Coach Scotts’ team.
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5. Number of Comments per
Quarter During Basketball Game
38
41
48
67
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1 2 3 4
Quarter
Number of Comments
In the third period of the game Jon and I noticed that Coach Scott benched a player that
wasn’t “performing at his best” according to Coach Scott. This player was usually a starter and a
very talented individual. However, for reasons that were not relevant or visible to Jon and I, this
player was benched although he had worked very hard in practice all week. Although, this tactic
worked very well for Coach Scott and the team, it could be seen as abusive coaching. Upon
further research, one study shows that this emotionally abusive action can help certain
individuals with motivation and performance (Stirling, 2013). This would make sense because
this player was not just the hardest worker and the best athlete on the team, but also had the most
mental toughness. Coach Scott used this tactic to help motivate and energize this player’s
performance in the fourth quarter.
After the practice and the game Jon and I went over our recorded data completed all the
percentages and necessary calculations and gave it all to Coach Scott. Coach Scott was not
surprised by the game statistics at all, but he was puzzled by the practice stats. He saw that over
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6. 50% of his answers to the players were in a neutral or positive tone. Coach Scott said that for the
past few months he had tried to be a more positive coach. However, after seeing his large
number of positive comments versus his almost non-existent number of negative comments he
concluded that so far he has accomplished his goal to be a more positive coach.
Tone of Comments and Responses
During Practice
Positive
Negative
Neutral
In conclusion we observed both common and uncommon practices while watching Coach
Scott. He is a very intense coach at times, but he has found a way to have his players feed off of
that intensity to help motivate and energize them.
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7. References
Sheldon, K. M., & Watson, A. (2011). Coach’s autonomy support is especially important for
varsity compared to club and recreational athletes. International Journal of Sports
Science & Coaching, 6(1), 16-25. doi:10.17479541/59345390
Stirling, A. (2013). Understanding the use of emotionally abusive coaching
practices. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 8(4), 28-34.
doi:10.17479541/93340532
Trninic, M., Papic, V., & Trinic, V. (2009). Influence of coach’s leadership behavior
and process of training on performance and competition efficacy in elite
sport. Acta Kinesiologica, 3(1), 8-18. doi:10.18402976/43315157
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