Bend it like Beckham?

Or is it Bend it like your coach?

I've heard it said that those who can't do, coach. So it's very interesting to me that coaches have enough insight and expertise into the realm of athletics that they are able to actually teach. A math teacher can't possibly teach a grade 7 class trigonometry if they can't recite SOH CAH TOA themselves. So then why should coaches be able to actually guide athletes in the direction they choose, if they can't do it themselves?

I guess the better question here is: How? How do coaches, who can't necessarily perform to the same level as their disciples assimilate enough information that is both constructive and performance enhancing, while remaining motivating to the individual.

A possible answer came to me while I was watching Bend it like Beckham, being that it is not necessarily the job of the coach to display exactly what they are trying to convey, but they are there to motivate, inspire and project feelings off of one another as a means of self-improvement.

Take for example Jess, a middle class British-Indian girl trying to make it in the football world for the first time. She is extremely talented, but has never been exposed to the "coaching" side of playing football. She has gotten as good as she is by constant self-awareness and perception, rather than constant bombardment of feedback, both positive and negative from a authoritative figure such as a coach.

Jess is very lucky that she has been able to play by feel until her new coach, Joe, shows her the ropes and eventually steals her heart (which is another issue delving into power relationships entirely that I will not touch on as I do not agree with such exploitation of a reference power). What Jess had been missing entirely was the presence of a social power, as well as an authoritative figurehead to motivate her to continually prove herself to.

I guess what I am trying to get at here is that coaches have power over their athletes that is sometimes used as a means to motivate athletes to perform to the best of their abilities for the better, yet sometimes exploited for self-accomplishment and to help strengthen their ego's. It doesn't really matter the dynamic of the coach-athlete relationship, what remains to be said is that: when a figure, like a coach, is able to motivate athletes via their stature and authority, they don't necessarily need to be able to demo exactly what needs to be done, rather they can build a platform such that the athlete can figure it out themselves.

I feel that this is applicable to the world of consumer behavior in ways of utilizing reference groups and social power as a means of motivating consumers to continually grow. By enabling a platform that is geared towards the success of an individual, while utilizing utilitarian social power, people can be motivated (and coached) into a certain consumption dynamic that is geared towards self-improvement.

Who knows, maybe you could be coached to bend it?