There are many factors that go into what makes a good coach and there are plenty of different types of coaches and types of coaching, but I think you can break it down into two separate halves- emotional coaching and technical coaching.
Emotional coaching is focused on pushing students to work harder, to stay focused, not to give up, to keep pushing, dropping the “you can do this, c'mon c'mon, give all you got,” etc. The coaching can even be personal, directed to you and you only, but it is not specific to any technical or strategic aspect, but just related to your emotional state on some level.
Technical coaching is explaining how to do something, what the goal of it is, what you may be doing right or wrong, and how you can make it better, then structuring your training around that aspect. When it comes to boxing, there are some things that would be technical coaching - like "keep your hands up"- but I would almost put them more into the emotional coaching category because they are so basic and repetitive that for many boxers, they no longer really provide technical insight, just more like saying "work harder" at this point. Being more specific however - like "you are dropping your rear hand when you throw a lead hook" - is a better example of what I consider to be technical coaching.
Everybody needs both types of coaching. Usually someone will work harder if you tell them to and be held more accountable when they have a coach monitoring them. Working hard is certainly good. And with some, the emotional coaching can really make them feel better and even like their coach more. Especially if it is more personally directed. Even more especially, if it feels honest. Knowing that your coach believes in you and likes you is incredibly motivating for almost all of us.
With a sport like boxing (and probably all other sports), technical coaching is how people learn and improve their skills. I have talked a lot about this in the blog before and won't go too far down the rabbit hole again but every great boxer, every great athlete, throughout the history of time has had someone teach them what to do. Even in sports that seem pretty straightforward, like sprinting, there are coaches. There is always technique. Just like looking at something under a microscope, the closer you look, the more you will see.
So what should the balance be between technical coaching vs. emotional coaching? It depends a bit on the person, the sport and the overall goal, but I strongly believe that in any case, when it comes to boxing and combat sports, the vast majority of coaching should be technical. Not only is it ultimately more important to someone's overall development but there is far more technical coaching to be done, meaning that technique is a much deeper subject than the emotional, motivational side of training.
A problem that I have observed at different boxing gyms and with other trainers, is that it is the other way around. The majority of the coaching is emotional and not technical. This doesn't just include fitness boxing concepts, but also old-school gyms that train competitive fighters. Sometimes you will even hear a coach talking to his fighter in the corner in between rounds in a competitive fight and the coaching is mostly emotional. Now, I understand that in this particular instance, it might be hard to reach a fighter with a lot of technical coaching but still, I would prefer that a coach tell me if he notices that I am doing something poorly and what he or she notices the other fighter doing. Doesn't have to a full dissertation, just a tidbit like, "stop chasing him around the ring, cut him off when he circles out" or whatever.
It is also my belief that the reason for less technical coaching in boxing comes from a lack of ability to break down technique to a sub-atomic level and express that to students. I have spoken about this many times, in different ways, on this blog. Kind of like technique itself, the more I learn, the more I see how this is true. It's a lot easier to tell someone to push themselves, to work harder, than it is than it is to tell them how exactly to transfer their weight from foot to foot efficiently. Plenty of coaches may not have the knowledge of anatomy, physics and biomechanics to get too deep into process and that is why you hear plenty of them saying things like, "punching power is something you are born with." This all gets magnified exponentially when trying to teach students who lack athletic abilities and boxing training experience.
It can also be harder to provide technical coaching in a group class environment, where things move faster and you can't exactly stop the class for one person not getting something, but technical cues should still always be provided. Individual feedback should be delivered too. It doesn't have to sound like individual feedback though. It can be given to the group as a whole while the coach stands right next to someone who is struggling with that particular element.
The last thing that makes technical coaching harder is that not everybody responds well to it. Or responds at all. Some think you telling them something negative, like they are doing something wrong, some may think they ARE actually doing what you say but are not, some might not be paying attention and some may not care. Giving emotional feedback usually isn't going to potentially make someone mad or fall on deaf ears, so it is much safer, and I am sure that is a big reason coaches tend to prefer it (or at least, do it significantly more). But as I have always said, coaching is caring. Trying to help someone get better at something is generally a good thing. NOT trying to help them get better is doing them a disservice. This doesn't mean that coaching feedback can be delivered in a hurtful, offensive, obnoxious manner, but it's okay because hey, you are trying to help them. Of course you want to be nice about how you tell students how to do something better and understand that every one of them is different and may respond to different things.
Of course it takes more time and effort, generally, to provide technical vs. emotional coaching. Coaches who don't care enough to spend that time and effort certainly don't fall into that category of a good coach I mentioned earlier. But you can also think of technical coaching like this: if I (or Steph) give you any kind of feedback on your technique - how to do something, how to do it better, what to not do, etc. - we are, in a way, also giving some emotional coaching at the same time. We are saying (without saying) that yes, you can do this! We wouldn't tell you to do something we didn't think you could do. That would probably be frustrating to both sides. Sometimes I know not everybody in a single class may not be able to make changes right on the spot, but I also believe in planting seeds. Maybe you hear something once in the heat of battle and it doesn't register at all. Maybe you hear it again, but don't take any action. Then you hear it again and think about it a little. Then again and you try it out but it feels awkward. Again and it's slightly less awkward. And then one day, it fully clicks and that seed grows into a blossoming bud of technique! And we will also cheer for you at every stage!
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