Module 4 - Challenge

Dennis Teegarden
CE 6110, February 26, 2016
In the context of coaching, an empowered athlete is one who is actively engaged in shaping
and directing what happens in his/her sporting life. If athletes are provided with
opportunities to share in the leadership and decision-making, it is believed that they will
take greater ownership and responsibility for their performances.
Empowering athletes and the athlete-centered approach to coaching.
Athletes have changed over the past several decades. They know more about the games they play
than ever before largely due to the growth in television, internet, and cell phone communications.
This increased knowledge of sports is bringing about a change in our approach to coaching. The
dictatorship style of coaching is not effective and will not yield the best possible results. The
coach-centered approach is being replaced by the athlete-centered approach. This athlete
centered approach or PCA (player centered approach), as Kidman (2001) calls it, puts the
emphasis on the players for decision making with the goal being empowered athletes. Athlete
empowerment promotes awareness, responsibility, and self belief. Empowerment allows the
athletes to develop more motivation to prepare and compete, and develops their ability to think
and solve problems under pressure ultimately enhancing their competition performance. This
approach to empowerment of the athlete is harder on the coach, especially coaches rooted in the
coach-centered approach. The coach has to plan practices with empowerment opportunities built
in and be patient while the athletes adapt. It takes time for the coaches and the athletes to adapt
to this new approach. The biggest factor in the success of empowerment is the coaches creating
the environment for it to take off. The next biggest factor is allowing the athlete to see the results
of their decisions, letting them fail when they make a poor choice. The third factor is the
questioning method the coaches use to cultivate the decision making process. The coach will
have to guard against the "telling" the athlete what to do versus the "questioning" the athlete.
deSouza and Olin (2008) outlined three key points that with foster the PCA and move the
coaches away from the coach-centered approach: 1) provide a positive environment, 2)
Encourage the players input, and 3) Allow time for it to develop. Another key point that could be
added is encouraging and receiving feedback from the athlete.
In your sport, how would you go about increasing athlete empowerment?
1. Our football program uses an athlete centered approach to coaching. An example of how we
use this with the team and how we promote empowerment is allowing the seniors to run our team
leadership meetings in the summer. The seniors in our program are all considered co-captains
throughout the summer and the season. At these meetings the coaches do help with setup, some
guidance and questioning but the more experience the players gain the less interjection there is
from the coaches.
2. One of the areas where empowerment is a big part of what we do is with our quarterbacks. We
do a question and answer session each week in three phases. First when watch the upcoming
opponent's game video. Second as we watch practice video of our prep defense running the
opponents defense. Third when we watch the result of our offense versus the opponent, our game
video. We will ask questions about the opponent defense; what coverage's are they running? In
specific instances asking them; what plays will work best in different situations? Why did you

make that particular decision? What were your other options? The quarterback is a pressure
packed position and they need to be able to make good decisions during the game. So
empowering them is a key to our success.
3. We will also empower our linebackers on defense. We will let them make decisions about who
and where they will blitz or stunt based on opponent formation, down and distance, and
tendencies. I know they really enjoy this because they control the choice and they begin to do a
better job of preparation for the opponent knowing that this prep will affect their ability to make
good decisions. We do not do this on every down and we carefully work this into our defensive
game plan. But it has added an element of unpredictability to our defense.

de Souza, A., Oslin, J. (2008). A player-centered approach to coaching. JOPERD: The Journal
of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 79(6), 24-30.
Hammermeister, J.J. (2010). Cornerstones of coaching: The building blocks of success for sport
coaches and teams. Michigan: Cooper
Kidman, L. (2001). Developing decision-makers: and empowerment approach to coaching.
Christchurch, New Zealand: Innovative.