At a time when athletes are recognized for their physique and performance, one key contributor to the latter’s success has been less appreciated, the coach. Dilip Kumar, who is the head of health, fitness & sports Investments at Rainmatter and an avid endurance sports enthusiast spoke about how there is a need to regard coaches as sculptors, rather than merely trainers, at The Sportz Planet SportSci Summit Season 2 held in Bengaluru recently. This metaphor underlines the very important and multifaceted role that coaches play in forming athletes not only in sport but in life.
What It Takes Being A Coach?
Being a sports coach goes beyond the level of an instructor to depict a method of technique or strategy. Sports coaches are almost the sculptor and their sculpture would be carved into the real, possible block of stone-an athlete. Its effect goes all through his personal as well as actual performance while giving an actual realization to grow the personality to further development in its whole concept.
Shaping Performance And Skills
Coaches are people who have a major role in perfecting an athlete’s skills and helping him or her perform better. They must keenly observe athletes’ strengths and weaknesses, analyze their physical abilities and try to find areas of improvement. A coach is a sculptor who shapes technical skills, fitness and knowledge about the sport in the athlete. A coach, sculptor is constantly giving feedback, changing training programs and introducing new strategies to ensure that his athletes are always changing.
The key factor in the entire process, here again, would be technical knowledge that a general interest sports coach possessed, would become a specialist to come up with some knowledge and insight into very special nuances of sport, whether how to fine tune a cricket swing or craft an appropriate swimming stroke or indeed formulate footballer strategy. And this skill turns good athletes into great athletes, establishing bases for competing with success.
Mental Toughness: The Sculptor’s Mind
Though there is also physical training while building up physical stamina of a sportsperson, sports coaching has been synonymous with developing that mental strength on the part of an athlete for coping with stress, focusing moments and handling mishaps well. It helps athletes in acquiring technical knowhow however, at the same time extends psychological tools by which the participant is protected against self-doubts and keeps feeling motivated.
Coaches delicately chisel away at a block of marble, as much as sculptors do, at the mental and emotional factors that bring an athlete success. Such qualities include discipline and emotional intelligence, all valuable beyond the playing field.
Life Coaching Beyond The Field Of Play
Beyond the training track, a trainer impacts his teammates. A coach is a guide and role model of his team plus a buddy for his players. Coaches learn the ropes together with the athletes about the everyday things such as formulation of goal, proper time utilisation, self development, which are all-round qualities that are perfected through the attainment of values: teamwork, leadership, and respect.
Coaches are like sculptors in many ways. They do not only shape the athletic skills of an athlete but also the molding of his character. They shape young minds and imbue qualities that make athletes perform better on the field and even outside it. Their guidance proves to be a treasure in ensuring that athletes maintain a balance between the pressures of sport and daily life.
Networking Opportunities
A specialist coach, apart from bringing technical and psychological expertise into a team, brings with himself a vast array of contacts across the sports world. From scouting agents and sporting agencies to senior coaches, there are many inroads that lead an aspiring player towards significant doors of opportunity. A coach makes possible the avenue through tournaments, trials or training camps for any talent to begin his professional journey.
Coaches are often the ones who bridge the gap between the training ground and the world of professional sports, offering athletes platforms to showcase their skills to larger audiences. This exposure can lead to professional team selections, sponsorships, and greater visibility within the sporting world.
Can We Recognise Coaches As Sculptors?
Indeed, one fitting tribute has been said by Dilip Kumar about labeling coaches as ‘sculptors’. A coach isn’t just a trainer. It is at one and the same time a mentor, motivator, psychologist, advisor or anything else that could take the athlete on a path leading him toward ultimate brilliance. As sculptors can mold a piece of stone into detailed perfection, so, too, coaches take those athletes and make them do the same via grueling exercises and challenging mental conditioning.
The importance of coaches in the world of sports is now becoming more and more acknowledged, so it is high time to grant them their status, for they are the true chisellers of athletic talent. Coaches shape not only champions but also balanced personalities through commitment, expertise and support in the lives of their athletes.
The Sportz Planet Desk,
Atharva Shetye
