Learning in Sports Coaching

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.

Lee Nelson is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching at Edge Hill University and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Hull, UK. His research and teaching interests include micro-politics, emotions, and pedagogy in coaching and coach education contexts. Lee was the lead editor for the recent title Research Methods in Sports Coaching (Routledge). Ryan Groom is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching and Program Director for the MA/MSc Exercise and Sports degrees at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. A lead tutor on the MA Coaching Studies degree, his main teaching and research interests focus on the use of qualitative research methodologies and social theory to explore power, identity, education and interaction. Ryan was a co-editor for the title Research Methods in Sports Coaching　(Routledge). Paul Potrac is a Professor of Sports Coaching at Edge Hill University and an Honorary Professor at the University of Hull, UK. His research and teaching interests focus on exploring the social complexity of sports coaching and coach education, with a particular emphasis on the political and emotional nature of practice. Paul has led and contributed to the completion of a number of book projects including Research Methods in Sports Coaching, The Sociology of Sports Coaching, Understanding Sports Coaching, the Routledge Handbook of Sports Coaching, and Sports Coaching Cultures (all published by Routledge).

1. Introduction: Towards a Theoretical Connoisseurship of Learning in Sports Coaching Part 1: Behaviourist and Social Cognitivist Theorists 2. Burrhus Frederic Skinner: Environmental Reinforcement in Coaching 3. Albert Bandura: Observational Learning in Coaching Part 2: Experiential Theorists 4. John Dewey: Experience, Inquiry, Democracy, and Community in Coaching 5. Donald Schön: Learning, Reflection, and Coaching Practice Part 3: Humanist Theorists 6. Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of Coach and Athlete Needs 7. Carl Rogers: Person-Centred Learning in Coaching Part 4: Constructivist Theorists 8. Jean Piaget: Learning and the Stages of Athlete Development 9. Lev Vygotsky: Learning Through Social Interaction in Coaching 10. Yrjö Engeström: Coaching, Learning, and Activity Theory 11. Ivor Goodson: Narrative Coach Learning and Pedagogy Part 5: Critical and Post-Structural Theorists 12. Paulo Freire: Problem-Posing Coach Education 13. Jack Mezirow: Transformative Coach and Athlete Learning 14. Robin Usher: A Post-Structuralist Reading of Learning in Coaching Part 6: Social and Ethical Theorists 15. Herbert Blumer: Coaching and Learning as Symbolic Interaction 16. Jean Lave: Learning in Coaching as Social Praxis 17. Peter Jarvis: Lifelong Coach Learning 18. Nel Noddings: Caring, Moral Learning, and Coaching 19. Conclusion: Recognizing the Dimensions and Tensions of Learning in Coaching