Professional activities of an Olympic martial sports trainer

The aim of the study was to determine the importance of basic professional activities of a trainer in Olympic martial sports, defining the differences between trainers’ opinions and discovering the main groups of activities characteristic for a given martial sport. Methods and Resources. Opinions of 37 trainers with many years of experience in boxing (n=11), Olympic taekwondo (n=13) and wrestling (n=13) were collected via a questionnaire composed of 20 activities, to which respondents allocated a rank from 1 to 4. Results. The most important activities of an Olympic martial sports were managing the technical, tactical and physical preparation of a trainee. Boxing and taekwondo trainers’ opinions were very alike (rsp=0.78; p<0.001). On the other hand, the greatest discrepancies between views were found in taekwondo and wrestling trainers (rsp=0.01; p>0.05). The most important professional activities created various clusters depending on the specifics of a martial sport. Conclusions. Hierarchization of the basic professional activities of a trainer showed consistency in the most important ones, and discrepancies between those defined as less important. Opinions of the trainers in sports similar in terms of the combat techniques were similar. Three martial sports trainers differed in the way they perceived the importance of directing their trainees during sports competitions. The groups of professional activities of a trainer differ between boxing, taekwondo and wrestling.