This title surveys the full depth and breadth of contemporary coaching studies, mapping the existing disciplinary territory and opening up important new areas of research.
Understanding and developing expertise is an important concern for any researcher or practitioner working in elite or high performance sport. Whether it's identifying talented young athletes or developing methods for integrating cutting-edge sport science into daily coaching practice, scientists, coaches and researchers all need to understand the skills, characteristics, and knowledge that distinguish the expert performer in sport. The Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise is the first book to offer a comprehensive overview of current research and practice in the emerging field of sports expertise. Adopting a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approach, the book offers in-depth discussion of methodological and philosophical issues in sport expertise, as well as the characteristics that describe sporting ‘experts’ and how they can be facilitated and developed. Exploring research, theory and practice, the book also examines how scientists and practitioners can work together to improve the delivery of applied sport science. With contributions from many of the world’s leading researchers in expertise and skill acquisition in sport, the Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise is important reading for any advanced student, researcher, coach or sport science support officer looking to better understand this cutting-edge topic.
The Routledge Handbook of Coach Development in Sport is a comprehensive text that underscores the importance of learning and context for those who sculpt the environment in which people of all ages develop in and through sport. Coaches and those responsible for the development of coaches are best positioned as both learners and facilitators of learning. As sport becomes more globalised, the concomitant professionalisation of coaches necessitates ongoing learning and development to embrace new knowledge and understanding. Moreover, contemporary coach development presents as a wicked problem, in that it continues to evolve, it is contextually bound, and there is no single or obvious way to approach it. Problematically, there is often limited assistance available to support coaches and coach developers in their ongoing development. As such, this book provides a truly international reference point that brings together leading scholars and practitioners from across the globe to provide an overview of the theories and practices of coaches and coach developers that are impacting the quality of sporting environments. Therefore, this book is an important reference for researchers, scholars, and practitioners alike in the fields of Sport Coaching, Coach Development, Sport Development, Sport for Development, Physical Education and related disciplines.
The Routledge Handbook of Elite Sport Performance is the first book to examine a broad span of performance and support issues in contemporary elite sport; including coaching, sports science and medicine, leadership and management, operating in different societies, living in the system as a performer, and future developments in the domain. The book is written by authors with elite-level experience, expertise, success, and status across individual and team sports, including football, NFL, track and field athletics, rowing, and rugby, in professional, Olympic, and other elite domains. The book also considers the integration of systems at micro to macro levels, from working with individual athletes to developing national organisations and policy, and features in-depth case studies from real sport throughout. This is an essential reference for any researcher or advanced student with an interest in elite sport or applied sport science, from sport injury and sport psychology to sports coaching and sport policy. It is also an invaluable resource for coaches, managers, administrators, and policy-makers working in elite sport, offering them a "breadth first" guide to how and why specialists may work together for maximum effect.
Sport performance analysis techniques help coaches, athletes and sport scientists develop an objective understanding of actual sport performance, as opposed to self-report, fitness tests or laboratory based experiments. For example, contemporary performance analysis enables elite sports people and coaches to obtain live feedback of match statistics and video sequences using flexible internet systems, systems that have become an indispensible tool for all those involved in high performance sport. The Routledge Handbook of Sports Performance Analysis is the most comprehensive guide to this exciting and dynamic branch of sport science ever to be published. The book explores performance analysis across the four main contexts in which it is commonly used: support for coaches and athletes; the media; judging sport contests, and academic research. It offers an up-to-date account of methodological advances in PA research, assesses the evidence underpinning contemporary theories of sport performance, and reviews developments in applied PA across a wide range of sports, from soccer to track and field athletics. Covering every important aspect of PA, including tactics, strategy, mechanical aspects of technique, physical aspects of performance such as work-rate, coach behaviour and referee behaviour, this is an essential reference for any serious student, researcher or practitioner working in sport performance analysis, sport coaching or high performance sport.
This is the first book to offer a comprehensive review of current research in the psychology of sports coaching. It provides detailed, critical appraisals of the key psychological concepts behind the practice of sports coaching and engages with contemporary debates in this field. Organised around three main themes, it discusses factors affecting the coaching environment; methods for enhancing coach performance; and how to put theory into practice through coaching work. Written by an international team of researchers and practitioners at the cutting edge of psychology and coaching, each chapter introduces a key concept, defines key terms, provides a comprehensive literature review, and considers implications for future research and applied practice. Encompassing the latest developments in the field, it addresses topics such as: the theory behind effective coaching creating performance environments promoting psychological well-being developing resilience through coaching transformational leadership and the role of the coach. The Psychology of Sports Coaching: Research and Practice is an indispensable resource for sport psychologists and sports coaches, and is essential reading for all students and academics researching sport psychology.
Athlete welfare should be of central importance in all sport. This comprehensive volume features cutting-edge research from around the world on issues that can compromise the welfare of athletes at all levels of sport and on the approaches taken by sports organisations to prevent and manage these. In recent years, sports organisations have increased their efforts to ensure athlete health, safety, and well-being, often prompted by high-profile disclosures of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; bullying; discrimination; disordered eating; addiction; and mental health issues. In this book, contributors lift the lid on these and other issues that jeopardise the physical, emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual welfare of athletes of all ages to raise awareness of the broad range of challenges athletes face. Chapters also highlight approaches to athlete welfare and initiatives taken by national and international sport organisations to provide a safer, more ethical sports environment. As the first book to focus exclusively on athlete welfare, this is an essential read for students and researchers in sports studies, coaching, psychology, performance, development and management, and physical education. It is also a useful reference point for anyone working in welfare, safeguarding, child protection, and equity and inclusion in and beyond sport.
Drawing on the latest scientific research, this handbook introduces the essentials of sport-specific strength and conditioning programme design for over 30 different sports. Enhanced by extensive illustrations and contributions from more than 70 world-leading experts, its chapters present evidence-based best practice for sports including football, rugby, tennis, hockey, basketball, rowing, boxing, golf, swimming, cycling and weightlifting, as well as a variety of wheelchair sports. Every chapter introduces the fundamental requirements of a particular sport – such as the physiological and biomechanical demands on the athlete – and describes a sport-specific fitness testing battery and exercise programme. Additional chapters cover the adaptation of programme design for special populations, including female athletes, young athletes and athletes with a disability. Drawing on the experiences of Olympic and Paralympic coaches and trainers, it offers original insights and practical advice from practitioners working at the highest level. Innovative, comprehensive and truly international in scope, the Routledge Handbook of Strength and Conditioning is vital reading for all strength and conditioning students and an invaluable reference for strength and conditioning coaches and trainers.
The Routledge Handbook of Coaching Children in Sport provides a comprehensive and extensive range of critical reflections of key areas impacting on children’s sport and coaching up to the age of 16. With coaching related chapters authored by academic across various disciplines, including nutrition, psychology, pedagogy, medicine, youth development and sociology, the text provides detailed reviews of the existing state of research and consideration of the implications of these particular factors upon parents, coaches, administrators and clearly the young people themselves as well as recommendations for future research. This new volume provides in-depth investigation to key topics of coaching topics such as Learning and Child Development, Protecting Young Athletes, Talent Identification and Development and Inclusive Coaching and finally introduce a broad array of contextual considerations for coaches from considering professional learning through to coaching in particular contexts. This book is more than simply an academic text and it offers insights that will further inform practice in children’s sport coaching. The handbook is relevant for students (UG, PG), researchers, academics, parents, coaches and administrators, as well as those interested in children’s sport coaching and the related topics therein. Martin Toms, PhD is a senior lecturer (associate professor) in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham, UK. A former professional sports coach with an MPhil and PhD exploring the sociological issues of young people in junior sport, Martin has been heavily involved in juniors sport all of his adult life. He has published widely and presented extensively around the world on youth sport, including working on international projects and for NBGs/Federations and National Governmental organisations. He has gained European and SCUK funding for youth and coaching related projects as well as being involved in international consultancy. He is a co-editor of the European Journal for Sport and Society as well as the current Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Golf Science. Ruth Jeanes, PhD is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. Ruth’s research examines inclusion and exclusion within youth sport, particularly examining how sport can be used to achieve broader social policy objectives targeted at young people. Within this, she is particularly interested in the role of coaches in facilitating broader social outcomes for young people. Ruth has published extensively in these areas with over 100 publications across journal articles, book chapters and books. She is widely cited and has been successful in securing extensive funding for her research including two highly competitive Australian Research Council grants.
Contemporary sport psychology is a rapidly developing and theoretically rich discipline, and a sophisticated and challenging profession. The Routledge International Handbook of Sport Psychology offers a comprehensive and authoritative guide to contemporary sport psychology in all its aspects. Written by a team of world-leading researchers and practitioners from five continents, including both established scholars and the best emerging talents, the book traces the contours of the discipline of sport psychology, introducing fundamental theory, discussing key issues in applied practice, and exploring the most important themes, topics and debates across the sport psychology curriculum. Uniquely, the book presents comparative studies of the history and contemporary practice of sport psychology in ten countries, including the US, UK, China, Japan, Brazil, Russia and Israel, helping the reader to understand the cultural and contextual factors that shape international practice in sport psychology. As well as covering in depth the core pillars of sport psychology, from motivation and cognition to group dynamics, the book also includes a full section on cultural sport psychology, a vital but under-explored sub-discipline that is having a profound influence on contemporary theory and practice. With 56 chapters and unparalleled range, depth and currency, the Routledge Handbook of International Sport Psychology is an essential addition to any library with a serious holding in sport psychology.