Learning to Mentor in Sports Coaching is an innovative, user-friendly, practical and theoretical guide for educating sports coaches as mentors. It is the first book to employ design thinking techniques to develop a new approach to mentor education in sports coaching. Providing theoretical grounding in mentoring conversations, design thinking and case study research, the book centres on a series of redesigned mentoring conversations between some of the world’s leading sports coaching experts, coach educators, mentors and mentees. It covers topics such as: supporting novice volunteer coaches’ learning the learning needs of novice volunteer coaches and novice professional coaches professional communities of learning in coaching the impact of coaching behaviours on learning environments autonomy-supportive learning environments coaching children, young people and adults Closing with a critique of the sports coach mentor as design thinker, Learning to Mentor in Sports Coaching is important reading for any upper-level student or researcher working in sports coaching, sports pedagogy or youth sport, and any coach looking to integrate sound mentoring theory into their professional practice.

Mentoring is a core element of any successful teacher education or coach education programme, with evidence suggesting that teachers and coaches who are mentored early in their careers are more likely to become effective practitioners. Physical education and sports coaching share important pedagogical, practical and cultural terrain, and mentoring has become a vital tool with which to develop confidence, self-reflection and problem-solving abilities in trainee and early career PE teachers and sports coaches. This is the first book to introduce key theory and best practice in mentoring, for mentors and mentees, focusing on the particular challenges and opportunities in physical education and sports coaching. Written by a team of international experts with extensive practical experience of mentoring in PE and coaching, the book clearly explains what mentoring is, how it should work, and how an understanding of socio-cultural factors can form the foundation of good mentoring practice. The book explores practical issues in mentoring in physical education, including pre-service and newly qualified teachers, and in coach education, including mentoring in high performance sport and the role of national governing bodies. Each chapter includes real mentoring stories, practical guidance and definitions of key terms, and a ‘pedagogy toolbox’ brings together the most important themes and techniques for easy reference. This is a hugely useful book for all teacher and coach education degree programmes, for any practising teacher or coach involved in mentoring, and for schools, clubs, sports organisations or NGBs looking to develop mentoring schemes.

In many Western nations, community sport coaches occupy a central role in supporting the physical health, mental wellbeing, and wider social development of individuals and communities. However, there is no existing academic textbook that examines the policy contexts in which their work is located or, indeed, the challenges and opportunities that are an inherent feature of their everyday practice. Bringing together an international team of leading researchers in sport policy, sport development, sport pedagogy, and sport coaching, as well as some of the best emerging talents, this book is the first to critically consider a range of policy and practice issues directly connected to community sport coaching. Comprehensive, timely, and cutting-edge, no other text brings together in one place such a depth and breadth of scholarly material addressing this important field of endeavour. This book is an essential resource for educators, students, practitioners, and policy makers concerned with community sport coaching globally.

Coaching is a central feature of sport at all levels. This groundbreaking new text is the first to offer a comprehensive introduction to the conceptual issues that underpin sports coaching practice, and to provide a complete conceptual framework for understanding sports coaching. The analysis presented within the book is practice-orientated, exploring the language of the coaching process in order to define the role of the coach, and to better understand the relationship between the coach and the sports performer. Sports Coaching Concepts introduces the key issues behind every stage of the coaching process, presenting important new material on topics such as: * the historical and international context of the development of sports coaching * the role of the coach * participation and performance coaching modes * modelling the coaching process * coaching 'style' and 'philosophy' * decision-making and regulating the process * social factors influencing practice * the future of coach education and professionalisation. The book draws together the existing sports coaching literature for the first time, setting it against important new conceptual developments, and promises to have a profound influence on the nature of our coach education programmes. This book therefore represents essential reading for any student of sports coaching and any serious coach wishing to develop and extend their own coaching practice.

Practical Sports Coaching is a thorough and engaging guide for all sports coaching students and practitioners. Drawing on real-life case studies and examples, the book is designed to develop practical coaching skills and provides readers with the methods and tools they need to become an expert coach. Structured around all facets of the coaching process, the text comprehensively covers topics such as: preparation for coaching mentoring the philosophy of coaching direct intervention coaching methods the use of modern technology. The book’s practical approach allows the reader to consider common challenges faced by coaches, suggesting solutions to performance concerns and preparing students for the realities of professional sports coaching. A companion website containing presentation slides and useful weblinks makes the book a complete resource for students and lecturers alike. Practical Sports Coaching helps to bridge the gap between theory and practical coaching skills, and is an essential text for coaching students looking to deepen their understanding of sports coaching and experienced coaches developing their own practical skills.

Now in a fully revised and updated second edition, Foundations of Sports Coaching is a comprehensive and engaging introduction to the practical, vocational and scientific principles that underpin the sports coaching process. It provides the reader with all the skills, knowledge and scientific background they will need to prepare athletes and sports people technically, tactically, physically and mentally. With practical coaching tips, techniques and tactics highlighted throughout, the book covers all the key components of a foundation course in sports coaching, including: the development of sports coaching as a profession coaching styles and technique planning and management basic principles of anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, and psychology fundamentals of training and fitness performance analysis reflective practice in coaching. This second edition features more case studies from real top-level sport, including football, basketball and athletics, helping the student to understand how to apply their knowledge in practice and providing useful material for classroom discussion. The book also includes a greater range of international examples; more references to contemporary research and a stronger evidence base, and new questions in each chapter to encourage the student to reflect upon their own coaching practice. Foundations of Sports Coaching bridges the gap between theory and applied practice and is essential reading for all introductory coaching courses and for any sports coach looking to develop their professional expertise.

The application of the theoretical underpinnings of coaching to practice is a central concern in sport. How should academic research seek to inform applied practice, and how should practising coaches integrate research into their professional activities? Sports Coaching: A Theoretical and Practical Guide is the first book to truly integrate academic research on sports coaching with an assessment of and recommendations for applied practice. With every chapter written by a coaching researcher and a practising coach, the book clearly and concisely introduces the academic evidence base and discusses how and why theory should be integrated into practice. Made up of sections on coaching practice, coach education and development, the use of sport science support and coaching special populations, the book constitutes a comprehensive guide to the theory and practice of sports coaching. Chapters are clearly and consistently structured, allowing students and coaches opportunity to gain a firm understanding of the core theoretical principles of sports coaching and the ways in which they can guide practice. The book is a vital resource for any sports coaching student, researcher or practitioner to develop their evidence-informed practice.

Over the last three decades sports coaching has evolved from a set of customary practices based largely on tradition and routine into a sophisticated, reflective and multi-disciplinary profession. In parallel with this, coach education and coaching studies within higher education have developed into a coherent and substantial field of scholarly enquiry with a rich and sophisticated research literature. The Routledge Handbook of Sports Coaching is the first book to survey the full depth and breadth of contemporary coaching studies, mapping the existing disciplinary territory and opening up important new areas of research. Bringing together many of the world’s leading coaching scholars and practitioners working across the full range of psychological, social and pedagogical perspectives, the book helps to develop an understanding of sports coaching that reflects its complex, dynamic and messy reality. With more importance than ever before being attached to the role of the coach in developing and shaping the sporting experience for participants at all levels of sport, this book makes an important contribution to the professionalization of coaching and the development of coaching theory. It is important reading for all students, researchers and policy makers with an interest in this young and flourishing area.

This book addresses important topics of coaching in order to better understand what sports coaching is and the challenges that arise when assuming this activity. It provides the reader with useful insights to the field of sports coaching, and discusses topics such as coaching education, areas of intervention, and main challenges. With contributions by experts and well-known authors in the field, this volume presents an up-to-date picture of the scholarship in the coaching field. It introduces key aspects on the future of the science of coaching and provides coach educators, researchers, faculty, and students with new perspectives on topics within the field to help improve their coaching effectiveness.

Teaching athletes to improve their performance is the essence of sports coaching. In response to new government-led initiatives to invest in and develop coaching, this book is the first introduction to pedagogical theory for coaching. Bringing helpful insights from educational theory to bear on coaching practice, The Sports Coach as Educator expands and enriches the role of the coach and allows professionals to approach their work in new and inventive ways. Exploring the nature of coaching, this text covers: educational concepts in coaching coaching, teaching and leadership athletes’ learning coaching communities and the social process reflective practice mentoring developing expert coaches.