Coaching vs Mentoring After Sport - Knowing The Differences

Following retirement, many former athletes choose to pursue a career in coaching or mentoring. This allows for a natural career transition as they can remain part of the world that they know and love without necessarily having to deal with the challenges of constant physical training. 

You will often hear the words mentoring and coaching being used interchangeably when discussing this type of career transition. However, with a little more deep-diving into the disciplines, you’ll find some nuanced differences that need to be acknowledged before exploring this particular career path. 

In this post, we’ll be providing some clarification by delving into some of the key differences between coaching and mentoring. 

Remuneration

Coaching can be a very lucrative business. On the other hand Mentorship tends to be voluntary and unpaid, although that is not always the case.

The Nature and Time Frame

Coaching is a more formalised and structured process with an end goal in sight. There tends to be an established time period set for coaching practices. Conversely, mentoring tends to be more of a fluid process that can go on for longer. In some cases, mentoring can last years, decades or even a lifetime! Essentially, coaching is more non-directive while mentoring is more holistic. Mentors share knowledge, experience and skills in order to guide their mentees in a particular direction. 

The Qualifications Required

A famous adage says, ‘coaches don’t play, well that doesn’t mean they never have, though. With that being said, however, coaching requires certain skills that a person doesn’t necessarily get from simply partaking in the business or sport themselves. This is why professional coaches are required to have a formal coaching qualification. On the other hand, with mentoring being a more holistic discipline, mentors just need to speak from experience rather than undergo any formal training. 

The Relationship Involved

Between a coach and a client, you’ll find there is a relationship of equals. The coach won’t necessarily have had to have direct experience of a particular business or sport to coach an athlete. The relationship between a mentor and a mentee does tend to be more hierarchical, so to speak. The mentor is expected to have more experience and knowledge, which they pass down to their mentee. 

The Objectives 

Coaching is primary performance-driven. A Coach will aim to help the person become better at their chosen discipline or assist a team in achieving success. Mentoring, on the other hand, is development-driven. It looks at the situation from a more holistic point of view. It asks the mentee what they hope to achieve rather than striving for purely quantifiable results. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, although coaching and mentoring are two distinct fields of work, they are both excellent career options for a former athlete who is pondering what to do after retirement from their sport. Coaching is clearly a more structured and performance-driven pursuit while mentoring tends to provide a more nurturing, holistic experience. For those who aren’t enticed by the formalities and qualifications required to become a professional coach, mentoring provides an excellent alternative to continue to be involved in sport. It allows an experienced sportsperson to build a nurturing developmental relationship with someone new to the sport.

If you’re a sportsperson and have any questions about life after sport or wish to apply to business those skills achieved in sport, send me an email to coh@hrworks.ie to book a free call!