Importance of Emotional Intelligence for Modern Day Football Coach
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Importance of Emotional Intelligence for modern day Football Coach by Branko Nisevic Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the UEFA PRO Diploma 2015-2017 in the Malta Football Association Technical Centre Tutor: Stephen Grima i Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENT..................................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... v INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... vi I TODAY’S FOOTBALL TRENDS .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Demands of today’s football ............................................................................................ 2 1.2 What is coaching? ............................................................................................................ 6 1.2.1 When the coaching is ineffective ........................................................................................... 8 1.2.2 What does it take to be a great coach ................................................................................. 10 1.2.3 What makes a leader ........................................................................................................... 13 1.3 WHAT IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ............................................................................. 19 1.3.1 Differences between EI and IQ ............................................................................................ 23 1.3.2 Can EI be changed-improved? ............................................................................................. 25 1.3.3 Measuring EI ........................................................................................................................ 26 1.4 Benefit of good EI in management and coaching, and its importance compared to IQ 30 1.4.1 Benefit of EI in team sports .................................................................................................. 33 II RESEARCH ..................................................................................................................................... 36 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 37 2.2 Methods ......................................................................................................................... 38 2.2.1 Participants .......................................................................................................................... 38 2.2.2 Instruments .......................................................................................................................... 39 2.2.3 Procedure ............................................................................................................................. 39 2.2.4 Results (Descriptive statistics) ............................................................................................. 40 2.2.5 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 42 III CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................... 46 3.1 Importance of EI in coaching .......................................................................................... 47 3.2 What should be the profile of today’s football coach ................................................... 50 APPENDIX A ..................................................................................................................................... 54 APPENDIX B ...................................................................................................................................... 55 APPENDIX C ...................................................................................................................................... 56 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 57 ii List of Tables Table 1: Six Emotional Leadership styles, their characteristics and application according to Goleman (2002) .................................................................................................................................................... 16 Table 2: Components of Emotional Intelligence at Work (Goleman 1995) .......................................... 21 Table 3: Updated Components and Competences of Emotional Intelligence Framework (Goleman 2002) ..................................................................................................................................................... 22 Table 4: Questions from Coach-Athlete Relationship Test ................................................................... 40 Table 5: The summary of received data from elevn Football Clubs in Maltese Football Premier League ................................................................................................................................................... 40 Table 6: Comparison of the summarised data and ranking of players's total values and differences in values between players and coaches ................................................................................................... 42 Table 7: Comparison of ranking data and League standing ................................................................. 43 Table 8: Comparison of Elite Players and Non-Elite Players ................................................................. 44 List of Figures Figure 1: Coaching Ladder- stages from Directive to Non-Directive coaching ..................................... 11 Figure 2: Iceberg model of human's mind in Freud's comparison ....................................................... 12 Figure 3: Emotional Brain and connections .......................................................................................... 23 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT This thesis, represents my attempt for detailed and more profound research about relationships in football environment. Football is a sports activity that includes many actors, where players and coaches are certainly the most important ones. From the first day of my coach education, I was always obsessed with tactical and physical aspects of coaching. I have been watching and analysing countless matches. Many DVDs and books about physical preparation have passed through my hands, always looking for something better and up to date. However, human relationships within football ambient, didn’t catch my attention enough. But it is now, after my coaching experience with all National Teams, and two Premier League football teams, that I fully understand the importance of it. It is the starting point in football coaching. When choosing the topic for the thesis, we were given the option to choose the area where we are knowledgeable and confident, or to choose the area where we think we have to improve and add something new to our coaching portfolio. And I saw that here is the space for improvement, and discovered that here is the essence of successful coaching. In accomplishing my work, and conducting a research within Maltese football, I received a great help from my tutor, Stephen Grima, and I found a very welcoming response from all the players and coaches in our Premier League Clubs. I believe that working on this topic will help me to become better coach and leader, and I also believe that it will help me in managing all the other relationships, including the most important ones, within the family. Football is probably the best work you can engage, but at the same time, one of the most demanding. And in it, it is the support of the families that we need, and I am lucky enough that I found a lot of support and inspiration in my wife and my children. My success is also their success. Finally, I hope that anyone reading this work, will also find it helpful, in his/her own pursuit for excellence. iv ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to investigate whether there exists any correlation between the quality of coach-athlete relationship and team’s performance in football environment, and explain it through scientific studies in business management and sports psychology. Also, to further define the necessary tools which modern football coaches possess, their profile and what differentiates the best from the rest. The participants in this research were all football players and coaches from eleven Clubs in Maltese Football Premier League in Season 2016/17. Research was conducted using Coach Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q), which is specifically designed to measure the bidirectional relationship between coach and player. The results showed a direct relation between good coach-players relationship and positive team performance. The best ranked teams in the Maltese Premier League, were at the same time the teams where quality of those relationships was the highest. This findings were in line with many similar works conducted in the department of sports psychology and effective coaching. It further describes the necessary tool kit of today’s football coach, where man management takes a central role. Being able to bring the players in optimal emotional state for the competition where they can express their full