Learning in Sports Coaching : Theory and Application

Facilitating the learning of others is at the heart of a coach’s work. Whether helping an athlete to implement changes in technique or deal with anxiety-provoking situations, learning defines coaching. This is the first book to provide a systematic introduction to learning theories – classic, critical and contemporary – and to explore their significance for coaching practice. By encouraging critical reflection on how we learn, and why we promote learning in particular ways, the book demonstrates the opportunities and challenges that are a feature of the pedagogical landscape in sport, helping the reader to articulate their own coaching philosophy and to become a more creative coach.

The facilitation of learning is a central feature of coaches’ and coach educators’ work. Coaching students and practitioners are, as a result, being expected to give increasing levels of thought towards how they might help to develop the knowledge and practical skills of others.　Learning in Sports Coaching　provides a comprehensive introduction to a diverse range of classic, critical, and contemporary theories of learning, education, and social interaction and their potential application to sports coaching. Each chapter is broadly divided into two sections. The first section introduces a key thinker and the fundamental tenets of his or her scholarly endeavours and theorising. The second considers how the theorist’s work might influence how we understand and attempt to promote learning in coaching and coach education settings. By design this book seeks to promote theoretical connoisseurship and to encourage its readers to reflect critically on their beliefs about learning and its facilitation. This is an essential text for any pedagogical course taken as part of a degree programme in sports coaching or coach education.