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.

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.

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.

The third edition of the National Standards for Sport Coaches outlines the standards for quality sport coaching based on the latest research and practical work in coaching science and the varied fields of exercise science. This useful resource outlines the standards which highlights the core responsibilities coaches should possess along with supporting competencies that provide insight into the knowledge and skills needed to support a quality amateur sport experience for athletes. Coaches, sport administrators, and coach educators and developers who are informed about core coaching responsibilities and competencies can improve the preparation, training, and evaluation of sport coaching. Ultimately the National Standards for Sport Coaches should assist in improving the sport experiences for all athletes and will elevate the profession of coaching.

'Understanding Sports Coaching' is relevant for working with athletes of all abilities. It explores every aspect of coaching practice and includes practical exercises to encourage reflective practice and to highlight the issues faced by the successful sports coach.

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.

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.

In response to a growing interest in mentoring and new teacher induction, the authors offer a unique view of developing quality mentors. Drawing on empirical research, practitioner action inquiry, and field-tested practices from induction programs, they explore effective mentoring in diverse educational contexts. With richly contextualized and thoughtfully analyzed excerpts from actual mentoring conversations and powerful examples of practice, the volume offers educators, researchers, and policymakers a reform-minded vision of the future of mentoring. Challenging conventional wisdom, this essential resource: Argues that mentors are not born, but developed through conscious, deliberate, ongoing learning; Provides a needed link between research and practice in the field of new teacher mentoring, to define a knowledge base for effective mentoring; Documents induction and mentoring practices that focus new teachers on individual learners, equity-oriented curriculum and pedagogy, and the educator's role in reforming school culture; Highlights problems and complexities of enacting mentor knowledge and learning in diverse contexts.

More than 45 million children play youth sports in the United States each year, and most are coached by parent volunteers with good intentions but little training. This lack of training and an overemphasis on winning often results in stress and frustration for coaches and players alike, which can discourage young athletes so much that they walk away from sports altogether. With this new guide for amateur parent coaches, Jennifer Etnier, author of Bring Your 'A' Game, aims to change that. Etnier offers a system of positive coaching that can be applied to any sport, from the beginner level to high school athletics, and explains that good coaching requires working with young athletes at their developmental level and providing feedback designed to keep children engaged and having fun. Etnier gives easy-to-understand guidance on important aspects of successful coaching—including information on the development of children's motor skills, communication with a young athlete's parents, and nurturing a growth-oriented mind-set—making this a critical resource for youth coaches of all experience levels.

Cutting across the fields of psychology, management, education, counseling, social work, and sociology, The Blackwell Handbook of Mentoring reveals an innovative, multi-disciplinary approach to the practice and theory of mentoring. Provides a complete, multi-disciplinary look at the practice and theory of mentoring and demonstrates its advantages Brings together, for the first time, expert researchers from the three primary areas of mentoring: workplace, academy, and community Leading scholars provide critical analysis on important literature concerning theoretical approaches and methodological issues in the field Final section presents an integrated perspective on mentoring relationships and projects a future agenda for the field