The Benefits Of Sailing

Sailing has been practiced since antiquity as a means of transport, the sport of sailing however, was introduced by King Charles II in the mid-1600s (Tomilson, 2010). Sailing later became an Olympic sport and has appeared as a competitive sport in the Olympic Games ever since 1908 (Tomilson, 2010). As a coach it is important to understand that sailing is competitive and both physically and psychologically demanding, it requires athletes to be agile, powerful, have good co-ordination skills and high levels of endurance (Franzel, 2003). Additionally the coach must not only have these skills and a great knowledge of the sport but be able to effectively coach and educate a variation of athletes whether they are a novice or an elite athlete. In

Smith, Smoll & Curtis, (1979) suggests that when teaching, safety should be a priority and given the nature of sailing there is greater risk of injury if things do go wrong therefore, the use of command style teaching is appropriate to ensure safe practice (Smith et.al, 1979). However this style of teaching should be used with caution as taking decision making and narrowing learning can become de-motivating leading to an adverse effect on the athlete’s development (Bruner, 1966). Surujlal & Dhurup (2012) suggests in order to be an effective sports coach they must be able to adapt their teaching style to suit specific situations and the athletes. For example using the command style to demonstrate key points before adopting a more athlete lead approach to promote learning and motivation (Bruner, 1966). In addition Mosston & Ashworth (1990) suggests by increasing student decision making athletes will in turn have higher levels of motivation and willingness to learn as it is important that all levels of ability learn both extrinsically and intrinsically. For example, when an athlete is starting to sail they will need to learn when the boat is about to capsize they can alter their COM to counter balance the boat, this can be suggested by the coach but it is not until it happens that the athlete will be able to learn this