Beginning in the 2000s, the purpose of the work of Smith and Smoll, who introduced a system for evaluating coach behavior twenty years earlier, has turned to the study of systems for training youth coaches to be more aware of their own behaviors and to improve them.
Their approach is based on four principles that all coaches should adhere to:
- Winning is not everything, nor it is the only thing - Young athletes will drop out of the sport if they believe that winning is the only goal to be fulfilled. There are other equally important goals that sports allow them to achieve that must be understood by athletes.
- Failing is not synonymous with losing - It is important that athletes do not associate that failing and losing mean the same thing.
- Being successful is not a synonym for winning - Success or failure is not dependent on the outcome of a race. Winning and losing are about the outcome of a competition but do not refer to success and failure.
- Athletes must learn that success is linked to commitment - They must be taught that they will never be a loser if they try their hardest.
Starting from these principles, they have identified and implemented a training system that has produced extremely effective results.
