Importance of Profiling in Sport

Profiling bridges the gap between 'good' performances and 'great' ones

Over the past two decades, sport has become much more scientific. Our understanding of biomechanics, technique and technology has seen previous performance barriers broken time and time again.

While our advanced physiological and technical knowledge has produced huge advances and previously unattainable physical performances, there is a significant 'knowledge gap' developing in another area that is also critical to creating results. This is the coaches' and athletes' 'emotional intelligence'. Emotional intelligence is about understanding the role that your personality and behavior play in your performance, and being able to analyze and deliberately adapt your behavior in order to improve your performance.

Emotional intelligence, or 'mental talent', is one of the least understood and most underemployed aspects of sport today. But it has a massive impact on performance. Athlete Assessments was founded to help coaches and athletes develop their 'mental talent', so that they may realize their full potential. This awareness is achieved through sports profiling.

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What is sports profiling?

Sports profiling is the key to developing the self-awareness you need, as a coach or an athlete, to develop your emotional intelligence and understand how your behavior and personality impacts on your performance and results.

No matter what level of coach or athlete you are, you can use sports profiling to take your performance to a new level.

This page explains...

• The evolution of sport and coaching
• Your behavior and your results
• The role of coaches in sport
• Traditional coaching and its limitations
• The importance of profiling for coaches
• The benefits of Athlete Assessments sports profiling system

Athlete Assessments has developed two unique, sports specific behavioral profiling products - AthleteDISC for athletes, and CoachDISC for coaches. These leading edge products are the only specific behavioral profiling products for athletes and coaches available in the world today. They have been developed employing a proven methodology, by our company founder Bo Hanson, himself a four-time Olympian, multi-medal winning athlete.

You can read about the benefits of AthleteDISC and CoachDISC as they apply to athletes, coaches, or sports consultants at the end of this article.

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The evolution of sport and coaching

As sport has evolved, it has become more technical and more demanding, but also more rewarding. With the support of well educated and well resourced coaches, athletes regularly break through previous performance barriers. Good coaches are expected to be experts in all technical aspects of their chosen sport. And athletes are also challenged to take more responsibility for their results.

But whilst we are better prepared physically than ever before, the 'mental talent' gap is still very wide.

How big is your 'gap'?

Ask yourself this: How much of my training or coaching time is spent on developing a better understanding of myself, my personality and my behavior, and how that impacts on my results?
If you are asking, 'What does it matter what my behavior or personality are?' consider the following explanation.

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Your behavior and your results

Your behavior creates your results. Behavioral theory states your behavior is a function of your personality within a given environment. Many athletes and coaches do not have a good understanding of their behavior.

The danger of acting out of habit

Often coaches and athletes act out of habit. A habit is a well-rehearsed pattern of behavior. Behaving habitually is like operating on autopilot. Autopilot works well in certain situations, but not all situations. For example, what would happen if you operated on autopilot in an important competition where your well-rehearsed strategies were no longer working? To create a successful result in this situation, you would need to be aware of what behaviors you were currently doing and then be able to make changes or adjustments.

When we look at the most successful coaches and athletes, one defining quality is their ability to produce winning results in all types of situations and environments.

We suggest if you want different results, you need to be aware of and able to change your behavior. It makes sense then, that if you do not know how you currently behave (understanding your 'autopilot'), then you cannot make changes. As a coach or athlete you simply repeat your behaviors, as you do not know why or how you do them. No change in behavior will lead to no change in your results.

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Profiling gives you self-awareness (behavioral awareness)

Profiling your behavior gives you information about yourself that you may not be consciously aware of. As you become more conscious of your behavior, you are more able to control it, thereby gaining more control over your results.

Athlete Assessments' AthleteDISC and CoachDISC are behavior profiling tools. They have been developed specifically for athletes and coaches, in a language you understand, with highly relevant information that will change the way you think about your training / coaching, and change the way you train / coach. These profiling tools are based on decades of behavioral research, and many years of sporting experience.

After completing a questionnaire, which takes approximately seven minutes, a detailed 23-page personalized report is produced on your preferred behaviors. It contains a large amount of insight, analysis and prescriptive advice specific to your behavior, personality and habits.

View a sample AthleteDISC report here.
View a sample CoachDISC report here.

You can read more about the benefits of AthleteDISC and CoachDISC at the end of this article.

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The role of coaches in sport

Coaches are at the very heart of sport, and their role is critical to how sport functions at all levels.

The Australian Government recognizes the importance of coaches in its 2008 paper 'Australian Sport: emerging challenges, new directions':

This sentiment is reiterated around the world:

In another example, 24-year-old, Curtis Ridell, who is trained by Glenn Mills (better known as Usain Bolt's coach) describes Mills as a father figure to him:

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Traditional coaching and its limitations

As a coach, understanding your behavior has particular importance. A recent study of sports coaching, conducted by Empire Research Group, found traditional sports coaching methods had the potential to damage the chances of athlete success.

Traditional coaching is the type of coaching that focuses on the physical and technical aspect of sport. The relationship between the athlete and the coach is not considered as an important aspect of sporting success. However, it is now widely accepted that communication and the relationship between coach and athlete plays a critical role in performance and results.

• A study published in the Sociology of Sport Journal (1993) interviewed high-level teenage athletes who had suffered from 'burnout'. 'Poor communication' was the leading factor of burnout, which created a perceived low level of personal control over the situation in which they trained. Poor communication left them feeling stressed and unable to cope.
• The 2007-2008 Barriers NCAA study found that 42% of the 9000 student athletes surveyed would not consider a future in college athletics because of the poor relationship with their college sports coach or their coach just prior to college.
• Most sporting programs suffer a large number of athletes who drop out altogether because of poor coach-athlete relationships. Poor relationships are the result of coaches and athletes not understanding themselves or each other.
• In the survey of sports coaches at the Evolution of the Athlete Conference (October 2008), the top three challenges for coaches were identified.
  
  
  1. 50% rated "Understanding individual athlete's personality and how to best motivate them"
  2. 46% rated "Personal life balance - managing sport, career, home and social etc"
  3. 31% rated "Team/squad dynamics and managing relationships within the team/squad"
• "No matter how much you know as a coach, the info is only half of the story. Communicating effectively - getting your message across - is the key to getting the most out of your athletes. To be an effective coach, you need to know your athletes well - which can be difficult and it can take time. You need to find out the best way to communicate with your athletes - what's most likely to work and what will get the results we all want."

Despite the above evidence (and there is plenty more like this from all corners of the sporting world)...

In the past, coaches haven't been provided with the opportunity to further develop their communication skills and tangible ways to improve relationships with their athletes.

Most coach training remains skills and technique focused. The problem with this is it leaves little time and energy to focus on critical issues including:

• Understanding the individual athletes and team dynamics
• Developing stronger relationships
• Improving communication
• Meeting needs and understanding limitations

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The importance of profiling for coaches

"Exceptional coaching relies on having the information to enable you to tailor your coaching style for each athlete and the benefit of the team"

All coaches have a preferred way of coaching that either may or may not suit their athletes. If the coach's style does not suit the athlete, the relationship does not develop and the athlete is not coached in the way they most require. This leads to lesser performances from both coach and athlete and eventually dissatisfaction. The athlete or the coach may leave the program or sport in time as frustration increases.

'The Best Coaches'

In the 2008 Evolution of the Athlete Conference survey, coaches were asked 'What characterizes a phenomenal coach?' The results showed how important the athlete coach relationship is.

1. 61% said phenomenal coaches focus not only on the technical and physical aspect of the athlete, but see the athlete as a 'whole person' with a life outside of the sporting environment.
2. 55% of coaches also stated the importance of being able to teach and having strong communication skills.
3. 33% suggested coaches must always be looking for ways to improve themselves, their understanding and be innovative in their approach to creating better outcomes for their athletes.

How to become a phenomenal coach

Becoming self-aware, by undertaking sports specific behavioral profiling, is the surest way for coaches to develop a comprehensive understanding of both themselves and each of their athletes. Coaches become self-aware through learning about their own coaching style, communication style, strengths and limitations. When athletes also complete a behavioral profile, coaches know with certainty their athletes' individual personalities, motivators, preferred communication style, most effective training environments and much more.

Self-awareness is the cornerstone of success. With this knowledge coaches are enabled to adapt their behaviors to become vastly more effective, with excellent communication and relationships with their athletes. From here, both coach and athlete will start seeing improved performance, consistently. The door to realizing their true potential will be wide open.

"My coach prepares me to be great. You can have all of the talent in the world, but underachieve because you don't have that person to nurture your talent. You will never find a great athlete who coaches himself to greatness."

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Benefits of Athlete Assessments' AthleteDISC and CoachDISC behavioral profiling

Athlete Assessments provides two sports specific behavioral profiling products.

AthleteDISC for athletes See product information
and
CoachDISC for coaches See product information

Each profile produces a 23-page personalized report giving insight into the individual's unique motivators, strengths, limitations, preferred communication style, best training environments and much more, as well as strategies to maximize sporting performance.

The key benefits of these products are listed below, as they apply to coaches, athletes and performance consultants (including sport psychologists, counselors etc).

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Key benefits for coaches

A. For completing your own profile (using CoachDISC)

• Excellent tool for building self-awareness. Enables you to take a greater responsibility for your behavior.
• Understand your coaching style preferences and how to tailor your style to athletes and other coaching staff, to get the best from them.
• Learn about your limiting and strengthening behaviors, and what sort of environment you perform best in.
• Understand the impact you have with your athletes and fellow coaching staff and within the team environment. Become better equipped to manage conflict and improve relationships.
• Benefit from having a tangible methodology to develop and improve your communication with others.
• Using the optional '360 degree' function, you ask others (coaches, athletes, managers, peers etc) to provide their observations about you. You learn how others see and relate to you.
  
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Find out more details about CoachDISC

B. Having your athletes complete their own profile (using AthleteDISC)

• Gain an understanding of each athlete's limiting and strengthening behaviors and the characteristics of the type of environment they perform best in.
• Find out the most effective ways to communicate with each athlete.
• Receive practical strategies to effectively coach each athlete according to their specific needs, and learn how to tailor your coaching style to bring out the best in athletes.
• Identify the athlete's behaviors producing their best (and not-so-good) performances. This enables all to assist the athlete to create greater consistency in performances.
• Athletes complete a one-page summary within their report that works as a very useful practical coaching reference for you.
• You can encourage the athletes (when appropriate) to use the '360 degree' function to check their self perception with how others see them.
• Use the additional capability to graph and review the team dynamics. This information is used for managing and improving relationships within the team, including conflict. It is also used to identify over- or under-representation of various behavioral styles within the team. See the article on Team Dynamics.
• Time efficient and effective. The knowledge gained is to a level previously not possible in the same timeframe. You have critical information on paper (and permanently online). This frees up your valuable time so you can be more strategic with your training session planning.
  
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Find out more details about AthleteDISC

Key benefits for the athletes (using AthleteDISC):

• An excellent tool for building self-awareness. Take a greater responsibility for your behavior.
• Discover your limiting and strengthening behaviors and the characteristics of the type of environment you perform best in.
• Identify the behaviors producing your best (and not-so-good) performances. This enables you to achieve greater consistency in performances.
• Understand the impact you have within the team environment. Become better equipped to manage and improve relationships. See our Article and Resources section for more information.
• Your coach can refer to your profile to learn how to tailor their coaching to suit you as an individual.
• Benefit from having a tangible methodology to develop and improve your communication with others.
• Use the optional '360 degree' function to get feedback from others about how they perceive your behavior - including important information about what you do well and areas they believe you would benefit from improving. You can use this to better manage conflicts and improve relationships.
  
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Find out more details about AthleteDISC

Key benefits for performance consultants

• Provides practical strategies to effectively counsel each athlete or coach according to their specific needs.
• Time efficient and effective. You gain a deep understanding of each individual - to a level previously not possible in the same timeframe.
• Guides you on the most effective ways to communicate with each individual.
• Provides knowledge of each individual's limiting and strengthening behaviors and the characteristics of the type of environment they perform best in.
• Having critical information on paper (and permanently online) frees up your valuable time. Become more strategic with your session planning.
• Valuable discussion tool and/or base to commence counseling and refer to throughout program.

  (Refer to the benefits for coaches and athletes as well).
  
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Find out more details specifically for performance consultants or find out more details about AthleteDISC or CoachDISC.

Other benefits:

• Time critical - the survey takes approximately seven minutes to complete.
• Provides accurate, reliable and proven results.
• Applicable for coaches and athlete of ALL levels.
• Designed to be sports specific in a language coaches and athletes can easily understand and apply.
• Leading edge assessment technology. Completely online, easy to use and automated system - complete with personalized logins, your own home page and helpful reminder emails if needed.
• You can control the entire process, any time of the day and anywhere you have internet access.
• Created by multi-medal winning Olympian with over a decade of experience with behavioral and personality profiles.
• 100% Money Back Guarantee: If you are not completely satisfied, receive a full refund AND keep the reports.
• Coaches and counselors/consultants can administer the assessments and access the results from one place (through a team account).
• Each individual has their own private account/log in to access results.
• Consultants and head coaches can have a 'master level' account and then they can establish 'sub accounts' for different teams they may be working with. Easy to provide access to sub accounts to whomever they deem appropriate (e.g. other coaches) without compromising the confidentiality of other sub accounts.

To find out more.

To find out more about Athlete Assessments' unique sports behavioral profiling tools please visit the information pages for Athletes, Coaches or Performance Consultants.

To enquire about Athlete Assessments' full range of services, or how we can help meet your particular needs, please contact us.

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