Brianna Peralta

Dr. Larson and Dr. Snorgrass

Sports, Media, and Pop Culture

October 20, 2017

What Leadership Style Makes the Best Coach?

Think about your favorite teacher, and how did they make learning fun? Was

it the way they were so passionate about the subject that they were lecturing on that

there joy was infectious? Was it the way the completely abnormal approach to

seemingly mundane concepts? For athletes, some of our favorite teachers were our

coaches; this also begs the question, what about those coaches make them

influential and memorable? The truth is, there are a lot of factors that lead into what

makes a good coach the most important factor being the leadership style. The way a

coach runs their team can truly influence how a team plays.

Every coach is different, in leadership and influence over a group or team.

The three most common types of leadership styles that we see in coaching are

autocratic leadership, democratic leadership, and social support leadership. (Cruz,

“Leadership Preferences of Adolescent Players in Sport: Influence of Coach Gender”)

An Autocratic leadership is, “a leadership style characterized by individual control

over all decisions and little input from group members. Autocratic leaders typically

make choices based on their ideas and judgments and rarely accept advice from

followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over a

group”. (Cherry, ““What Are the Pros and Cons of Autocratic Leadership?”) A

democratic leadership is, “a type of leadership style in which members of the group
take a more participative role in the decision-making process”. (Cherry, “Is

Democratic Leadership the Best Style of Leadership?”) A social support style

leadership is “a behavior that helps athletes with personal problems; making sport

part of enjoyment of an athlete’s life”. (Tucker, “Social Support and Democratic

Behavior Styles of Leadership Preferred by Female Athletes in Middle School

Athletic Programs.”) While all of the leadership styles are different, they all have

qualities that are effective when coaching a sports team.

An autocratic leader, also known as an authoritarian leader, is someone who

has strong leadership skills and typically has the most knowledge out of everyone in

the group. These people are innovators who have been known to revolutionize

industries. They can work in both big or small groups but they thrive in groups that

lack leadership without them otherwise. Autocratic leaders tend to lean on the

pillars of discipline, preparation, and victory. These coaches are there to win. The

downside of this type of coaching style is that it is easy to impair the morale of a

group with constant beratement toward the group. Not only that but they tend to

overlook the knowledge of the group members that may have an answer.

I have had a couple of autocratic coaches in my time as an athlete, one of

them being the man who coached my high school competition team, Nemesis Elite. I

swear to this day he knows more about the game than anyone I had ever met before

and he knew it. The problem with having an autocratic leader is sometimes they can

be looked at as a dictator. There were times I would get yelled at for doing

something I thought was right and he would make me do it over and over again until

what I was doing was perfect under his standards. It’s exhausting working under a
them at times, mentally and physically but my team worked extremely hard and we

were hard to beat. You learn to learn quickly because they can’t complain about

something if you do it right the first time. I had the chance to interview my former

teammate, Cassie Grana, and ask her about her experience with our old coach and

she said, “It was beneficial because it taught me to be tough, so when tough

situations occurred I would feel more comfortable taking on the challenge. His style

also allowed for me to get the most out of my experience since he was strict and did

his job efficiently. He was hard on us and never let up which sometimes could make

it difficult to see the bigger picture, but in the long run his style has set me up for

success on and off the field”. The autocratic leader was my personal favorite

coaching style to play for because that’s where I saw most of my progress and

improvement in the sport. I came onto that team as just okay and I left a really good

player.

A democratic coach is someone who involves the group as a whole and where

everyone is encouraged to participate. Strong democratic leaders inspire trust and

respect among a group. The benefits of a democratic leadership is that . This type of

coaching style works best with groups who have a strong skill and knowledge of the

game who still show up ready and eager to learn. The drawbacks of this style is that

it can leave you in a situation where roles are unclear which can lead to

communication failure.

An example of a democratic I worked with was the last coach I have ever

played for at Avila University. She was lead the team by herself just fine but valued

input from the team. She would often ask us to contribute practice plan ideas, ways
we can improve our stats, and anything that made us better. The reason this type of

leadership style worked on this team was because everyone was on the same boat

with a common goal. There were times where she would show up 30 minutes after

the scheduled practice time but we had already started practicing, there was a

mutual trust and respect for our Coach we did not want to break because if we did

we knew we would be in big trouble. She was the type of person that once trust was

broken you had to go through hell and high water to get it back and even when she

did give it back you were still on your toes about it. We knew not to cross that line

which is why we were pretty successful in our season.

Social Support Coaching is often the style seen in newer coaches who are

fresh out of being an athlete. These coaches really try to go above and beyond with

their athletes and try to create a real bond with their athletes. The benefit to this

type of coaching is that the morale of the team tends to be higher due to the

optimism from coaches. The downside of this style is that it tends to be hard for

these coaches to take total control and be serious in high pressure or critical

situations.

We had a couple of social support coaches that were assistant coaches at my

high school team. We as athletes loved them because they were easy to relate to.

They were good coaches with a lot of knowledge but, they were too laid back when

it came to disciplining athletes that were abusing the niceness of our coaches. We

had girls come late, text during practice, a lot of simple things which added up and

made all the girls who were doing the right thing upset. Our coach wouldn’t
discipline them because they were afraid it would affect the relationship that they

had.

So what truly is the most effective coaching style? The reality is that it

depends on the group of athletes. Studies have shown that young females just

learning a sport tend to work better under social support coaches because of the

positive feedback that is given. While college athletes can succeed with a democratic

coach and have no problems. Being an autocratic leader is important to establish a

line between athlete and coach as well as can make it so that teams can get through

difficult situation which may be beneficial to a group of high school students who

are trying to get collegiate scholarships. The perfect coach is different for every

team.
 Bibliography

Cruz, Angelita B, and Hyunh-Duck Kim. “Leadership Preferences of Adolescent Players in Sport:
Influence of Coach Gender.” Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 1 June 2017, pp. 172–
179. Academic Search Elite [EBSCO].

Cherry, Kendra. “Is Democratic Leadership the Best Style of Leadership?” Verywell, 17 Oct. 2017,
www.verywell.com/what-is-democratic-leadership-2795315.

Cherry, Kendra. “What Are the Pros and Cons of Autocratic Leadership?” Verywell, 17 May 2017,
www.verywell.com/what-is-autocratic-leadership-2795314.

Kennedy, Eileen, and Laura Hills. “Sport and the Press.” Sport, Media and Society, Berg, 2009, pp.
90–91.

Kennedy, Eileen, and Laura Hills. “Sport, Media, and Visual Culture.” Sport, Media and Society, Berg,
2009, pp. 135–157.

Peralta, Brianna N., and Cassie L Grana. “Nemesis Elite Coach Interview.” 18 Oct. 2017.

Ruiz, Miguel. The Four Agreements. Amber-Allen Pub., 1997.

Tucker, Raymond. “Social Support and Democratic Behavior Styles of Leadership Preferred by
Female Athletes in Middle School Athletic Programs.” The Sports Journal, vol. 19, 6 Apr.
2017, thesportjournal.org/article/social-support-and-democratic-behavior-styles-of-
leadership-preferred-by-female-athletes-in-middle-school-athletic-programs/.