'The art of coaching is recognising the situation, recognising the people and responding to the people you are working with... that's the big thing, to handle people'. Steve Harrison, Coach, Middlesbrough Football Club.

Responding to the fast growing subject in academic sports departments, this groundbreaking new coaching studies text offers a view that focuses the coach as a person and the coaching practice as a complex social encounter.

Unlike existing titles in the field which look at coaching as a science, this book examines the personalities, histories, relationships...

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...