Mastering Movement A New Approach To Coaching And Practicing Sports Skills

Before athletes can become strong and powerful, they need to master the movement skills required in sport. Athletic Movement Skills covers the underlying science and offers prescriptive advice on bridging the gap between scientist and practitioner so coaches and athletes can work together to achieve dominance.

Skill Acquisition in Sport gives academics, students, coaches and practitioners the broadest and most scientifically rigorous grounding in the principles and practice of the field. Fully revised, updated and restructured, the third edition integrates theory and practice, and provides more material on practical application than ever before. Divided into four sections – providing instruction and feedback, organizing effective practice, training high-level skills, and the theories and mechanisms underpinning skill acquisition – the book covers a full range of key topics, including: the role of errors and rewards in motor learning instructions, demonstrations and feedback imagery in motor learning constraints-based and self-directed learning technique change, creativity training and visual gaze training practicing under pressure the neurophysiology of learning. Based on the latest research, including chapters on emerging topics, and written by a global cast of world-leading experts, Skill Acquisition in Sport is an essential textbook for any kinesiology or sport science student taking skill acquisition, expertise development or motor learning classes.

Athletic Development offers a rare opportunity to learn and apply a career full of knowledge from the best. World-renowned strength and conditioning coach Vern Gambetta condenses the wisdom he's gained through more than 40 years of experience of working with athletes across sports, age groups, and levels of competition, including members of the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, and U.S. men's 1998 World Cup soccer team. The result is an information-packed, myth-busting explanation of the most effective methods and prescriptions in each facet of an athlete's physical preparation. Gambetta includes never-before-published and ready-to-use training approaches in - sport-specific demands analysis, - work capacity enhancements, - movement skills development, - long- and short-term training program progressions, and - rest and regeneration techniques. Athletic Development explains what works, what doesn't, and why. Gambetta's no-nonsense approach emphasizes results that pay off in the competitive season and reflect his work at the highest echelons of sport. Merging principles of anatomy, biomechanics, and exercise physiology with sports conditioning applications and four decades of professional practice, this is the definitive guide to performance-enhancing training.

Try to recall the best coach you’ve ever had. Consider what differentiated them from other coaches; what made them so effective? Was it their knowledge and programming, or did it come down to the way they communicated with you and the way they made you feel? While the former are critical, it is a coach’s words that set them apart from the rest. The Language of Coaching focuses on the impact that communication has on an individual’s ability to learn and perform a movement. Written by performance coach Nick Winkelman, the book examines how instruction, feedback, and cueing can significantly affect training outcomes. Grounded in motor learning and the science of attentional focus, Winkelman takes you on a journey, guiding you through practical coaching frameworks that will help you adapt your language to the learning needs of those you support. Packed with stunning visuals, the book provides over 25 movement sequences that outline different types of coaching cues, including a visual depiction of unique analogies, such as a sprinter taking off like a jet or an athlete loading into a jump like a spring. The book is filled with a comprehensive collection of cueing frameworks that guide you through the process of creating your own cues for any movement you want to teach. You will also learn how to engage in more productive conversation with your athletes through sample dialogue that uses the book’s cueing philosophy. Whether you are new to coaching or a seasoned veteran, The Language of Coaching will help you grow as a communicator and learn how to coach the person with the same precision as you do the program. Earn continuing education credits/units! A continuing education exam that uses this book is also available. It may be purchased separately or as part of a package that includes both the book and exam.

Prepare your students to be good teachers! It's easy with Coaches Guide to Teaching Sport Skills. This practical guide will help them master the essentials of teaching sport skills and improve their teaching effectiveness. Your students will learn how to: - Prepare for teaching skills - Introduce, explain, and demonstrate sport skills - Develop and maintain athletes' skills through practice and reinforcement - Use cognitive processes to improve performance Many practical examples will show your students how to apply the various teaching techniques to a variety of sports. And, the many valuable checklists and forms will help them improve their teaching skills. Coaches Guide to Teaching Sport Skills is an excellent text for any course designed to teach coaches and physical educators how to teach skills. Part of the American Coaching Effectiveness Program (ACEP) Level 2 Sport Science Program, Coaches Guide to Teaching Sport Skills may be the best book on the market for applying the principles of motor learning and motor control.

The Athletic Skills Model offers an alternative to dominant talent development theories in the form of holistic broad-based movement education, focusing on health and wellbeing. It places the emphasis on ‘physical intelligence’ – including attributes such as agility, flexibility and stability – through adaptable and varied training programmes, creating a skilled athlete before introducing sport specialization. The book sets out the scientific underpinnings of the ASM before going on to offer practical guidance on the content of the programme, how to adapt and vary the programme, and how to apply the approach to different age groups and sports. The ASM’s application in the youth development programme at AFC Ajax is explored in depth, before a future of talent development with an emphasis on athletic, rather than sport-specific, expertise is imagined. The Athletic Skills Model introduces an important and timely challenge to conventional wisdom in talent development and is a fascinating read for any upper-level student or researcher interested in youth development, skill acquisition, motor learning or sports coaching, and any coaches wanting to refresh their approach to talent development.

For the last 25 years, a constraints-based framework has helped to inform the way that many sport scientists seek to understand performance, learning design and the development of expertise and talent in sport. The Constraints-Led Approach: Principles for Sports Coaching and Practice Design provides students and practitioners with the theoretical knowledge required to implement constraints-led approaches in their work. Seeking to bridge the divide between theory and practice, the book sets out an ‘environment design framework’, including practical tools and guidance for the application of the framework in coaching and skill acquisition settings. It includes chapters on constraints-led approaches in golf, athletics and hockey, and provides applied reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of motor learning, skill acquisition and developing sport expertise. Providing a thorough grounding in the theory behind constraints-led approaches to skill acquisition, and a foundational cornerstone in the Routledge Studies in Constraints-Based Methodologies in Sport series, this is a vital pedagogical resource for students and practising sports coaches, physical education teachers and sport scientists alike.

Research on coaching education and development highlights, repeatedly, the difficulties of traditional coaching education to impact coaching practice. Practice seems to be disconnected from scientific theory with few coaches accessing the scientific literature as it too often is presented in dry, academic tones. This volume sets out to provide an integration of theory and everyday practice that to date has not yet been published in the field of coaching science in a text easily used by sports coaches. In order to bridge this theory to practice gap, Becoming a Better Sports Coach: Development through Theory Application presents theory and science connected to practice in a way that makes it possible for coaches to test, evaluate and improve upon their existing coaching practice. This hands-on approach sets out to improve coaches’ cognition and raising self-awareness as well as improve coaches' learning using specific tools for behavioural feedback and reflection. Improving on self-reflective skills and eliciting feedback on the coach’s own behaviour is how coaching practice is improved. What coaching practice includes and what is laid out for coaches in this new text is motivational climate, coaching behaviours, pedagogy, feedback, coach–athlete relationship, each in one chapter. Reflection and behavioural feedback are applied to each of these areas.

How do athletes overcome fears, slumps, mental blocks, or injuries? How do they deal with stress and anxiety, be it from competitors, teammates, audiences, parents, coaches, or themselves? What psychological techniques prove effective in mental training for peak performance, maintaining concentration, motivation, and competitive drive? How can an athlete enhance his or her commitment to a training regimen, or how might the average person better adhere to a program of fitness and exercise? Readers will find answers to these questions and more in the Encyclopedia of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Features & Benefits: Entries explore the theory, research, and application of psychology as it relates to sport and fitness in a manner that is accessible and jargon-free to help readers better understand human behavior in sport and exercise settings. From personal factors to situational factors influencing performance to specific psychological techniques for enhancing performance, this work provides comprehensive coverage of the field via approximately 350 to 400 signed entries. Entries conclude with cross-references and suggestions for further readings to guide students further in their research journey. Available in print and online, this monumental work is edited by two leading figures in the field with a distinguished international Editorial Advisory Board to select and assign entries, ensuring authoritative content readers can trust.