Routledge Handbook of Coaching Children in Sport

This book provides a comprehensive and range of critical reflections of key areas impacting on children's sport and coaching up to the age of 16 and includes chapters written by academic in various disciplines, including nutrition, psychology, pedagogy, medicine, youth development and sociology.

Martin Toms, PhD is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham, UK. A former professional sports coach with an MPhil and PhD exploring the sociological issues of young people in junior sport, Martin has been heavily involved in juniors sport all of his adult life. He has published widely and presented extensively around the world on youth sport, including working on international projects and for NBGs/Federations and National Governmental organisations. He has gained European and SCUK funding for youth and coaching related projects as well as being involved in international consultancy. He is a co-editor of the European Journal for Sport and Society as well as the current Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Golf Science. Ruth Jeanes, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. Ruth's research examines inclusion and exclusion within youth sport, particularly examining how sport can be used to achieve broader social policy objectives targeted at young people. Within this, she is particularly interested in the role of coaches in facilitating broader social outcomes for young people. Ruth has published extensively in these areas with over 100 publications across journal articles, book chapters and books. She is widely cited and has been successful in securing extensive funding for her research including two highly competitive Australian Research Council grants.

Section 1: Learning and Skill Development - Coaching Children in Sport: A Focus on Learning - Coaching Pedagogy - Developmental Considerations for Coaching Preschooler Sport - Supporting the Development of Sporting Creativity in Children Through an Enskilment Approach - To Have Fun: What is Means and its Significance in Sport - Creativity-enhancing Approaches in the Coaching of Children in Sport: Present and Future Directions - Coaching Psychological and Life Skills Through Sport: Advancing the Contemporary Coaching Agenda - Exploring Contextual Factors Influencing Positive Development Through Sport - Transitions in Child and Youth Sport - The Role of The Coach in Player Retention and Attrition Section 2: Protecting Child Athletes - Preparing Children for Sport: The Importance of Athletic Development - Sport Readiness and Injury Prevention in Young Athletes: Current Recommendations on When to Enter, Compete and Specialise in Sport - Nutritional Considerations for Children in Sport - Sports Related Concussions in Children - Disordered Eating in Child and Youth Sport: The Role of the Coach - Parental Involvement in Organised Youth Sport - Making the Cut: Coaches and the Deselection Young Athletes - Mental Health and Coaching Children in Sport - Child's Play? Safeguarding and Protecting Children in Sport - Coaching Care-Experienced Children and Young People in Sport Section 3: Talent Identification and Development - Coaching Elite Junior Athletes - What Makes Champions? Childhood Multi-Sport Practice Facilitates Long-Term Development - The Impact of Growth and Maturation Upon Children's Participation in Sport and Physical Activity - Digging for Diamonds? The Abstract and Questionable Nature of Talent Identification in Children's Sport - The Child and Adolescent Sport Dropout Problem: Could Modifying the Coaching Micro-System Climate Help? - Psycho-Social Maturation and the Implications for Coaching Children - Integrating Specificity and Generality of Practice to Enrich Children's Learning in Sport - Sampling and Specialising in Children's Sport: Implications for Research and Coaching Practice - Group Based Strategies in Children's Organised Sport: Looking Beyond Fixed Chronological Age Section 4: Diversity and Inclusion - Children's Rights and Sports Coaching - Coaching Disabled Children: A Brief Look Around and Forward - "I treat every Player equally": Coaching Culturally Diverse Children in Sport - Addressing the Needs of Indigenous Children?: Coach Education Programs in Canada, Aotearoa New Zeeland and Australia - Coaching Children and Youth with Refugee Backgrounds - Towards a Critical Inclusion of LGB Youth in Coaching Contexts - Exploring the Implications of Ability in Children's Sport - Social Justice Organisations, Community Sport and Coaching Children Section 5: Cultures and Context - Coaching Children and Youth Sport Policy - Volunteering in Children's Sport: From Motivation to Child Protection - Retaining Volunteer Coaches in Child and Youth Sport - The Digital Sideline: What Coaches Need to Know about Children's Engagement with Social Media - A Space to Play: The Geographies of Children's Sport and Physical Activities - The Learning Cultures of Informal Self-Organised Action Sports: Implications for Child and Youth Coaching - Scaling Children's Sport to Augment Motor Skill Acquisition - Learning to Coach Children in Sport