'Instructor' or 'Coach'?

I would imagine 100% of you reading this will, at some time or another, come across an instructor or coach. Be it during sports practice, martial arts, driving lessons or academia. The rationale behind this post is more than just a debate on the difference between the two interchangeable terms, rather it is a brief look at the role of the two and the responsibilities that exist depending on whether you class yourself as an 'Instructor' or 'Coach'.

yourdictionary.com defines an instructor as such: 'a person who instructs; teacher' simple. About 7 years ago (and I have seen many examples of this since) I was shopping in Cambridge, UK with my girlfriend when we decided to go and check out the sports centre to see what stuff was going on. We stumbled across a Karate class and at the front of the class was a balding, portly man in his mid-5o's that stood around 5' 2" tall. Whilst this post is no means meant as an ageist, heightist, fatteist attack on anyone this man exemplified 'instructor'. From the outset it was obvious he hadn't seen any active exercise for a very long time and his gi/kimono was so beautifully turned out he seemed more concerned with his appearance as the instructor than getting 'stuck in' with the class.

The session commenced whilst myself and my girlfriend rejected advances to join the class and began to watch. Grading syllabus seemed to be the order of the day: "Step forward, Hidari Gedan Barai" came the command. The whole class exploded forward with a "Kiai" and completed a downward sweeping block as commanded all stopped dead like a statue awaiting the next command- impressive stuff for a layman I thought... Nothing, absolute silence followed. The 'instructor' then pulled out what seemed like wallet of the syllabus he was there to instruct (from inside his jacket) and began to reel off each and every grades syllabus for them to perform.

Good stuff. Here is a guy, wearing a black belt who people pay money to train under who doesn't know (or maybe he is soooo good, can't remember) his own students grading syllabus. Without us getting into the pros and cons of following a set 'syllabus' against an ever-evolving organic framework of concepts; this was pathetic. What worried me more was the fact that nobody in the dojo seemed to question his apparent and blatant ignorance or total lack of ability.

Unfortunately, this is just the kind of individual I picture in my head when I think of an 'Instructor' someone more concerned with being the guy who has 'been there and done that' than actually being prepared to actively encourage class participation, promoting his 'students' self-development, guide each student as an individual and at a basic level actually do some training to support his or her grade. Surely just doing this would make all concerned respect him and his grade much more.

Once again, using yourdictionary.com as a reference point, a 'Coach' can be described as a "private tutor who prepares a student in a subject or for an examination" or "the person who is in overall charge of a team and the strategy in games often called head coach". en.wikipedia.org takes this further and says, "Coaching is a method of directing, instructing and training a person or group of people, with the aim to achieve some goal or develop specific skills. There are many ways to coach, types of coaching and methods to coaching. Direction may include motivational speaking. Training may include seminars, workshops, and supervised practice".

The two parts that stick out here for me are the issue of aiming 'to achieve some goal or develop specific skills' and the term 'motivational'. Using my example of an 'Instructor' from earlier on in the post how can his followers be inspired or motivated by someone that needs prompting from a book to advise or conduct a class?

A coach has a duty of responsibility to inspire; they must be attentive to each and every student or player of the team or academy. They need to lead by example [not only at a physical level but also from an emotional, moral and ethical standpoint], a coach is a role-model for juniors under his or her control, a coach needs to interject and immerse himself with the team/player/student and understand the difference obvious in different individuals. Let's list some individuals that have been labelled 'great' coaches, people that have inspired others to reach that required level of performance:

Dan Gable (NCAA, State, Olympic wrestling champion)

Vincent Lombardi (NFL coach)
Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United Football Club Manager 1986 - present)
Neil Adams MBE (Olympic Silver medallist & Belgium Judo Coach)
Sir Matt Busby (former Manchester United Football Club Manager [1958])
Rhadi Ferguson PhD. (2004 Olympian, 4 x National Judo Champion)
Dame Kelly Holmes (Olympic 1500m & 800m champion)
Sir Steve Redgrave (5 x Olympic rowing champion)
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal Football Club Manager 1996 - present)
Phil Jackson (Chicago Bears 1989-1998 & LA Lakers Head Coach, winner of 9 NBA titles)
Renzo Gracie (MMA athlete and one of the most revered BJJ Champions in the world)

All these people have one thing in common. They inspire others. Whether it is their need to succeed, the pinnacle of achievement they reached as a performer in their own right which has led to mentoring or their ability to 'know' the game they were involved in you would never catch them standing on the sidelines barking orders with hands on hips. What I must not forget is that many 'Coaches' actually do little in terms of active participation; nevertheless, they still encourage, motivate, define strategies and tactics and ultimately inspire their team or followers to win (unlike the short arse Karate Instructor mentioned earlier).

Let's use these examples so that the next time we are involved in 'coaching' we understand why we are doing something and what the performer needs from a session with our guidance.

Let's use these people as motivating factors the next time WE are at practice, the next time WE are on the mat because remember coaches' need [must] to practice as well.

Train intelligently!

David Webb
Head Coach
The Tokon Academy
http://www.tokonacademy.com
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