By Prof. Eduardo Amaya

The function of the coach is to work with the player to help them reach their ambitions. The coaches help their players to develop a plan, conduct or way of thinking; in other words, a good plan to reach the objective. The function of the coach is also to help in all aspects of a strategy of game play for a specified team.

The function of the coach is achieved vía support and control of progress.

Why is a coach necessary?

The function of a coach is invaluable for a series of reasons.

The coach has in mind the goals that the players want to reach and in what order the priorities should be to get there. When the coach knows what the players are thinking he can help them to put all their energy into meeting those targets without distraction.

The coach will work with the players developing an optimised individual plan, making them feel more secure about their mental abilities in order to execute said plans.

The coach will help the players to develop their own tools, establish strategies and therefore achieve their goals. These tools will help anticipating and managing competitive situations when they arise.

The coach should be in a position to check on the progress of a player, acting like a mentor, congratulating or critiquing depending on need.

The coach has various essential functions, such a private individual instruction as seen above, or assisting with the technical direction of the team.

In the case of team coaching, every detail should be focused on winning. A player who is playing with a high level of adrenaline (in the head of the game) will miss details that the coach should pick up.

A good coach should know exactly what areas in which the team needs to improve and explain the reasons for their comments on which their teaching and leadership are based.

This function is very variable depending on each individual team.

There are teams that need to work more on tactics, others in discipline or ommunications. I think this is the link that connects for players in a team. This connection often doesn’t happen, or happens in a bad way. Here, therefore,is the function of the coach.

In a good time for the game, the players should get together and plan any changes to their game play against the other side.

They should evaluate the roles and functions of each player, as well as their current mood and any shortcomings, as well as developing their ability and physical state.

Playing with a clear idea of what they should be doing will give conviction to infividual plays and better understanding to the whole team.

The coach should watch games of future rivals with the same level of attention with which he watches his own team and should be able to create tactics that can change during the course of the game depending on situations that may present themselves. Whatching videos, these days with very sophisticated systems, both of his team and rival teams, will allow the coach to make conclusions to strategically plan going forwards, which will also help during the game. He should, therefore,  be placed where he can see the whole game, I remark this because they place near the pony lines, but following the game from there is tricky.

He is not just in charge of collective instruction, but also advice to individual players, as well as emotional support, either animating or calming the players depending on the situation.

As we have seen, the task of a coach is just as important in the days before a game, where he should talk about the pony lists, helping at practices as well as during the games, collaborating with everyone within the organisation, grooms, helpers. vets and personal trainers.

He should be considered to be the 5th player.