Coaches and Coaching. From Practice to Theory.

This book is all about sports coaches and the connections between coaches' lives, their careers, their personal philosophies on coaching, and their highly individual recipes for good practice. These areas are explored, firstly, through the life-stories of eight successful coaches in top-level team sports and, secondly, in theme chapters that draw upon international coaching research to analyse key issues arising from the stories. The 'themes' section raises critical questions about the coaches, their coaching and about the value and relevance of existing coaching research. Key issues that resonate through the coaches' stories are critically examined. Finally, in a concluding chapter, the interpreted findings are summarised and the potential of 'life-story' research into coaching is discussed, both in terms of its practical application and its potential for further research.