Red-headed people have
[
TEMPERS
]
Jews are wealthy but
[
FRUGAL
]
Football players are
[
DUMB
]
Germans are
[
STUBBORN
]
Short people have an
[
INFERIORITY
]
complex
Female athletes are
[
LESBIANS
]
Latinos are great
[
LOVERS
]
Blacks have
[
RHYTHM
]
White men can’t
[
JUMP
]
Sometimes these
[
STEROTYPES
]
have some basis in fact, but they are usually
[
GROSS
]
overgeneralizations; stereotypes become
[
PREJUDICES
]
when they are negative
[
OPINIONS
]
about a group of people that result in
[
BIGOTRY
]
toward them; as a coach, you must
guard against
[
UNFOUNDED
]
stereotypes and prejudices that may result in
[
TREATING
]
your
athletes unfairly; it is a real challenge to put aside
[
PREJUDICES
]
when selecting the members of your
team or your
[
STARTING
]
lineup, or assigning players to positions; it is a
[
CHALLENGE
]
because you
come to coaching with your
[
CULTURAL
]
heritage, and how you coach is inevitably
affected by your
culture
For example, you may have a
[
CULTURAL
]
heritage that emphasizes a
[
SOLID
]
work ethic
encompassing hard work,
[
DEDICATION
]
, and seriousness – what some call
[
PROTESTANT
]
work
ethic; your athletes also come to your team with their personal
[
CULTURAL
]
backgrounds that influence
their
[
PERCEPTION
]
of you, their teammates, and the sport itself; sometimes the
[
CULTURE
]
of the
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Page 8
Principles of Coaching
Chapter 5 _ Coaching Diverse Athletes
coach and the cultures of some players clash over
[
COMMUNICATION
]
style, how players respond to
[
MISTAKES
]
and criticism, aggressiveness or
[
ASSERTIVENESS
]
, and dedication to the sport
A common cultural
[
DIFFERENCE
]
among racial and ethnic groups is how
[
SERIOUS
]
participants
seem to be when playing sports; a coach with a serious
[
DEMEANOR
]
will have difficulty understanding
an athlete who might be just as committed to
[
ACHIEVEMENT
]
in the sport but does not display the
[
SERIOUSNESS
]
considered so important by the coach; some coaches mistakenly think that players
are
[
DEFYING
]
them when they do not respond according to the
[
EXPECTATIONS
]
of the coaches –
expectations based on their
[
CULTURAL
]
heritage – instead of recognizing that players may have
[
DIFFERENT
]
views based on their own cultural heritages; the best way to avoid these
[
CULTURAL
]
clashes is to learn more about the
[
CULTURAL
]
heritages of your players so you can
better understand their
[
ATTITUDES
]
and beliefs
Expectations
Another more
[
INSIDIOUS
]
form of prejudice can occur in the form of holding
[
NEGATIVE
]
expectations of certain players based on their
[
CULTURAL
]
heritages; most of us know
that
[
MINORITIES
]
and low-income youths have performed less well in
[
SCHOOLS
]
than others, but
many do not know that a
[
MAJOR
]
reason is that teachers expect
[
LESS
]
from them; instead, many
people believe they
[
PERFORM
]
poorly because they do not try, their
[
PARENTS
]
do not care, or their
culture does not
[
VALUE
]
education; therefore, the
[
EXPECTATIONS
]
of teachers – and coaches –
hold of the young people they
[
GUIDE
]
are subtly but clearly communicated to them, and those with
[
LOW
]
self-esteem often decide to perform as they are expected to perform
