Summary:
The purpose of this thesis was to explore the professional image of football coaches in developmental ages with the ultimate goal of contributing to the further development of the professional image and the coaching function of the football coach.
The survey involved, through a questionnaire, 391 coaches aged 38±9.80(C.V) years who worked as coaches in academies with developmental ages. The questionnaire was compiled in an electronic form through GoogleForm's online platform and consisted of 41 questions related to the coach's demographics, his education, his training, his recruitment to clubs, his professional function in the coaching process and elements that play a role in his recognition. The Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program was used to collect and process the data, the average and the standard deviation were recorded and the frequencies were evaluated (f, %f).
The results showed that 96.4% of the coaches participated as football players, and the 48.1% of them were competing in an amateur level, 40.2% in a semi-professional, 9.8% in professional categories, and a small percentage in infrastructure leagues. In addition, 67.3% of the respondents said that they practiced an extra job, other than football coaching and 21.1% of the coaches’ work in 2 or even 3 clubs. The main training methods they choose are the various training seminars (78.1%), the websites and the social media (76.5%), while interaction between coaches plays an important role (66.2%). Good recommendations and interpersonal relationships, combined with the coaches’ experience, are important criteria for their recruitment. The majority of the coaches consider that not only their organizational (91.5%) and teaching capacity (96.3%), but also their personality (89.9%) and socialization (73%) play a very important role in their recognition. In terms of the coaching process that the 54.5% of the coaches follow, it is a combination of their own philosophy; according to the level they address to, with the single plan of the academy, 27% mainly follow their own philosophy, while only the 18.6% faithfully follow the single plan of the academy.
The results will help the academy coach to improve his professional image and his coaching function in the academies that deal with the training of players of developmental ages in the clubs.
