Protect children Essay

All coaches have legal obligations which they need to maintain to keep professional standards. They need to be fully aware of their responsibilities. Everyone is governed by the laws that we live in, and these rules apply whether we are playing in a park or behind a local pub. In order to maintain fair play in competitive sport, coaches and performers are to keep to the rules and laws of their specific sport. There are two main areas which are common law and negligence. Sir Alex is an elite manager so he has a contract he has to keep to and he is also dealing with adults which doesn’t bring much of this into the situation, but Tony does keep to his legal obligations very well and he has always had a young side. Simple things apply to coaches conducting themselves professionally. A coach should always arrive early and allow sufficient time to set up and he/she should be fully prepared for each session. Being well prepared, clean and tidy for all coaching sessions should always be done. They should also empower athletes to take ownership and responsibility for their own development and progress. Sir Alex and Tony are superb at this type of responsibility, this can be seen in their awards history. Child protection only really applies or applied to Tony since he raised a team from an early age where was Sir Alex start working with his players at the youngest age being 16. Coaches have the responsibility to protect children from all forms of abuse. There are four main kinds of abuse which are; physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and emotional abuse.  All coaches should hold insurance cover for the specific sport they are involved in. They also need it for their employment status. Many governing bodies may include insurance as part of their affiliation fee. Many pro coaches like Sir Alex have people organised certain things for him like training kits and boots for his players. An advantage for him is that none of his players have to pay fees where that brings extra work for people like Tony who has to sort out the kit each week, the fees. Coaches in should clarify in advance with performers (and/or employers) the number of sessions, fess (if any) and methods of payment. They should explore with performers (and/or employers) the expectation of the outcome of coaching. Written contracts may be appropriate in some circumstances. Progression of sessions will take place in any level of coaching, in Sir Alex’s sessions to Tony’s sessions. Performers will get a better understanding of skills and techniques they are learning if they are given the opportunity to see and practise how they fit into the wider context of their sport. For example, teaching young performers how to hold a discus and move across a discuss circle will have limited benefit unless they can see an end result and have a practice of throwing the discus. Allowing the performer to throw the discus will help the skill to be learnt and allow some performance based feedback to be gained. This will also achieve satisfaction and improve individual and team performance. Motivation and enjoyment is a main part of good coaching. When individuals are able to see that they are improving they will gain personal satisfaction and want to continue. A coach should structure sessions in order to allow performers to see their own improvements. Coaches should aim to structure their practises in a way that allows performers to experience some form of success and then they can gain satisfaction from their achievement. This is particularly important when coaching children so this would really apply to Tony and now really to Sir Alex because his performers are elite sportsmen. Coaches should take healthy and safety precautions with whatever type of age group they deal with and ability of players. Tony and Sir Alex always make sure that when they train everything is safe and can cause no harm to the performers. Within the limits of their control, coaches have a responsibility to ensure as for as long as possible the safety of the performers with whom they work. The activity undertaken should be suitable for the age, physical and emotional maturity, experience and ability of the performers. They must also make sure that the facilities and equipment that is going to be used it safe. All coaches make sure that their participants are never in danger of becoming injured. Tony and Sir Alex will take extra care because they cannot afford to have injured players during a season. If a coach appropriately addresses the safety issues related to the coaching venue, the equipment and the selected activities as identified above, the safety of the participant will have been addressed. However, there may be instances where the safety of the performer can become in danger is the coach does not adhere to good practice guidelines. Coaches must respect the rights, dignity and worth of ever participant. They must treat everyone equitably and sensitively within the context of their activity and ability, regardless of gender, ethnic origin, cultural background, sexual orientation, religion or political affiliation. Both coaches can be seen to give equal opportunities to performers. Sir Alex has players from all over the world and Tony has a few people from a few different continents also. Coaches always give performers opportunities to develop their range of skills. Sir Alex and Tony always give their players opportunities because they believe they can still develop themselves as players. Performers will learn best when they are able to build on their own experiences and their own skills. Coaches should always look to introduce techniques progressively and show how they are linked to previous skills whenever possible. This relates to a performers progression through the different stages of learning. If a performer learns skills in isolation he or she will never progress. With Sir Alex and Tony you will always get professionalism and you should form any coach, no matter what sort of level they coach at. Most of the time a coach is viewed as a person of authority who has a certain amount of power. It is essential that a coach knows how to use their authority and not abuse it. Coaches should always make sure that everything they do is acceptable and is in good practice. All coaches should demonstrate a professional approach to performers that is fair, honest and considerate to their individual needs. In the UK is it stressed that coaches ‘demonstrate a high degree of honesty, integrity and competence’. Good coaching practice is underpinned by the following key principles; rights – to respect and champion the rights of every participant in sport, relationships – to develop open and honest relationships with participants and responsibilities – to demonstrate appropriate behaviour and conduct and achieve a high level of co mpetence through qualifications and continued professional development.