Ethics in Coaching

Ethics in Coaching

The issue of ethical standards is looked at in any and every profession, including coaching. Coaching has been an ever growing field that has been accepted worldwide by business and other organizations. Because of this growing attention, coaches are more looked upon ethically by parents, other coaches, other players, fans, media and critics. But is there the same ethical standard for everyone? Is it just simply a set of rules that coaches need to follow that pertain to each individual equally in order to be accepted by the public? Ethics can be that simple, yet it is about what each individual and coach believes what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and unacceptable and their own morals and values. Some different areas that can be looked at are equality, respect, relationships, honesty, integrity and personal abuse.

The first area focused on is equality. Coaches should not discriminate and treat player differently because of their gender, race, disability or religion. Equality should be enforced in every level of competition, whether it’s pee wee football or the NFL. Now this is different from discriminating based on an athlete’s athletic ability and talent. I believe at the younger age coaches should give fair play to all of their players, regardless talent. At that age it’s more about player development and just getting kids active and experiment with sports. Later on in life at the high school, collegiate and professional level is where more athletes start to separate themselves from each other. They develop their own roles on the team, whether it is a starter or someone who doesn’t get as much playing time. The seconds area, respect, is somewhat tied into the first. Coaches should follow the well known saying, “treat those as you would like to be treated”. Even if a coach and a player do not get along or don’t have a good relationship, coaches should always show respect towards that player.

Relationships, especially in the...