Challenges of Regulating Sports Coaches for Peak Performance in Sports

Although it important to regulate coaches in Singapore for peak performance in sports, this might not be so easily conceived and implemented as there are numerous challenges to be addressed if the regulation is to be effective. Here are some of these challenges:

1. Lack of a professional body to oversee regulation.
Apart from the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) which oversees the certification of of coaches, other professional bodies. Some of these professional associations may not see the need to regulate as their members may see it as more red tape leading to potential job loss and unnecessary interference in earning power. In addition, specific sports do not have a professional body or association to help with the development of peak performance in sports.

2. Mindset of coaches may be negative towards regulation.
Most of them may not ‘buy-in’ to a regulatory mechanism that would ensure quality of instructions for peak performance in sports. Hence, the pool of qualified coaches / coaches may be further reduced as existing ones may be concerned about the accreditation process and the competition posed by those who pass the certification process. Some coaches may also complain about the requirement for “paper qualification” for what they have been doing for years.

3. Role definition & motivation.
Some coaches perceive their principal role as teaching students to perfect their craft in the technical areas for peak performance in sports. They would only be interested in delivering results to ensure their contracts with schools could be renewed. Some coaches may not see the distinction between the teaching of values versus what they teach. For example. Sports coaches would focus on skills that increase sports performance by managing emotions like mental toughness, and minimizing the psychological effects of injury and poor performance.

4. Time Factor & Remuneration.
Majority of the coaches are hired for specific number of hours to teach the technical skills. These coaches would expect to be paid if they now need to teach other soft skills for peak performance in sports as well.

5. Language Proficiency.
The majority of coaches in some sports are foreigners and may not be using English as their medium of instruction when coaching students.

In order to be really effective in coaching regulation, the relevant authorities in Singapore Schools Sports must come up with something addresses all these challenges and concerns. We are dealing with scarce human resources that are needed here to increase peak performance in sports for schools.