Six coaches and three athletes-involved in sports from international to school-aged level-share their knowledge, stories and philosophies, offering practical insights into how athlete-centred coaching can be put into practice. These successful, athlete-centred, humanistic coaches inspire their athletes and encourage them to make informed decisions.

Perspectives on Athlete-Centred Coaching offers an in-depth theoretical examination of player-focused coaching models, and provides professional guidance for practising coaches. Written by world-leading scholars and practitioners, this book offers the most comprehensive enquiry into this central area of coaching theory.

The concept of positive pedagogy has transformed the way we understand learning and coaching in sport. Presenting examples of positive pedagogy in action, this book is the first to apply its basic principles to individual sports such as swimming, athletics, gymnastics and karate. Using the game based approach (GBA) (an athlete-centred, inquiry-based method that involves game-like activities), this book demonstrates how positive pedagogy can be successfully employed across a range of sports and levels of performance, while also providing insight into coaches’ experiences of this approach. Divided into three sections that focus on the development, characteristics and applications of positive pedagogy, it fills a gap in coaching literature by extending the latest developments of GBA to activities beyond team sports. It pioneers a way of coaching that is both efficient in improving performance and effective in promoting positive experiences of learning across all ages and abilities. Positive Pedagogy for Sport Coaching: Athlete-centred coaching for individual sports is invaluable reading for all sports coaching students as well as any practising coach or physical education teacher looking for inspiration.

This book expands on the ‘Developing Thinking Players’ model across a wide range of team and individual sports, to explain how coaches can help athletes to learn how to make better decisions during play and to think for themselves. It provides an overview of game-centred and athlete-centred approaches to teaching and coaching in sport, combining essential theory with practical tips and guidance. Written by an international team of coaching researchers and practising coaches, the book provides sport-specific instructions for coaching players in territory games, net games, striking games, target games, racquet games and combat sports, including netball, basketball, ice hockey, cricket, softball, football, rugby, volleyball, squash and karate. The book argues that the implementation of these student and athlete-centred approaches creates more opportunities for athletes to understand their sport and improves their ability to think for themselves and to learn to make better in-game decisions. Providing a theoretical underpinning for teaching tactical decision-making, it considers the development of players at all levels and age groups, from youth athletes to elite level. Thirteen sport-specific case studies offer real-world coaching insights. This is essential reading for any student, researcher or practising teacher or coach working in sport, physical education and coach education.

Despite the rapid advance of the academic study of coaching science, there is a dearth of evidence on contemporary progressions within the coaching profession itself, particularly around the wide-ranging challenges that coaches face. Professional Advances in Sports Coaching constitutes an essential collection of the most innovative, up-to-date reviews and research on professional issues in sports coaching and coaching psychology. Seeking to assess and challenge contemporary conceptual and theoretical research around the evolving nature of the coach’s role, issues associated with athlete and coach welfare, and societal demands of the coach, the book covers topics as diverse as: gender and spirituality within sports coaching; working in culturally diverse environments and disability sport; understanding hazing, mental health issues, and disordered eating in athletes; moral behaviour and safeguarding; high performance coaching and talent development; communicating with athletes in the age of social media, and managing cliques. Written by leading experts from around the world, every chapter clarifies and defines key concepts, gives an up-to-date and comprehensive review of literature within the area, and examines the implications for future research and applied practice. This is a critical resource for any upper-level student enrolled in sports coaching science or practice classes, sports coaching academics with an interest in professional practice, and practicing sports coaches.

This book develops an athlete-centred approach to sports coaching, which allows athletes to take ownership of their learning, strengthening their ability to retain key skills and to make effective decisions during competition.