Coaching science: theory into practice

Coaching Science and Coaching Studies courses are appearing in increasing numbers in many universities. The textbooks used in most of these courses are either theoretically based sports science texts or practically based coaching books. The former are generally lacking in application while the latter rarely have any scientific input. The reader is, therefore, left to make the links themselves.

Coaching Science will bridge that gap covering both theory and practice and, most important, showing how theory informs practice. The book will be multi– and, to some extent, inter–disciplinary, as it is not possible to examine the interaction between coach, performer and task from a single discipline perspective.

Each chapter will include overviews of the main theories, but the bulk of the material will be concerned with how such theories can be applied in practice. Good and frequent use of examples will be provided. Throughout, the student will be given problems to solve. At the end of each chapter there will be revision notes, recommended readings and questions on chapter content.