This article presents a visualization tool adapted from rehabilitation exercise therapy as a means for coaches to organize and select activities to progress or regress the skill difficulty to match the needs and abilities of their athletes.

Goal setting is a widely used strategy that has been shown to enhance sport performance. However, much of the literature on goal setting, including experimental research and professional practice resources for coaches, has focused on how to set goals and the characteristics of setting effective goals. Less attention has been given to the stages…

Teams are not successful unless teamwork is established as the foundation. Successful teams have a coach who understands that developing a team is a continued process. This article serves as a quick guide for coaches to evaluate their teams by understanding the stages of team development.

Sport coaching scholars have increasingly utilised the work of Erving Goffman to theoretically interpret and understand the complexities of coaching practice from a dramaturgical perspective. While this area of scholarship has advanced our sociological understanding of sport coaching, there remains a paucity of literature addressing how coaches…

One thing that veteran ballplayers and fans know, long before the opening pitch, is that there are dangers on the base path. That is illustrated by this case of 13-year-old second baseman Tara Kelly, whose ankle was fractured when an opposing team's player slid into her as she made the tag.

The recommendations in this article came from two coaching colleagues and professional friends who reflected on their coaching careers as part of an action research project. The recommendations in this article primarily come from the perspective of the lead author's coaching business experience, while the second author took on the role of…

More and more cases of suicidal ideation and death by suicide in student-athletes are being reported on the news, through social media, and in the literature. Coaches are essential as part of the first line of defense in suicide prevention. This article provides practical ways to support a student-athlete who may be experiencing suicidal ideation…

Soccer is one of the most favored sports among children ages 6 to 12 years old. Organized training rooted in pedagogical principles is essential to ensure children develop the needed skill and attain the desired benefits of soccer. This article provides practical tips for coaches to improve their coaching skills and create a positive and effective…

Post-structural scholarship has been a strong and influential part of social science and humanities for over fifty years. That scholarship includes coach education where for the last twenty years, a growing number of scholars have developed post-structural thinking to coaching. Yet, the post-coach is still far off. We argue, whether we like it or…

Gymnastics is a sport that has a reputation for being outcome-oriented, leading some athletes to feel anxiety and experience burnout. Coaches fostering a caring and task-involving motivational climate strive to make athletes feel welcomed, nurtured, and safe while also promoting effort and improvement over outcome, fostering cooperation among…

There is a lack of information regarding strategic planning within athletic departments at the NCAA Division II level. A survey of all 306 NCAA DII athletic directors was implemented in an attempt to provide up-to-date data. The investigation focused on the prevalence of strategic plans within athletic departments at the NCAA DII level and a…

This article examines the strategic use of humor in sports coaching and its positive effects on athletic engagement and performance. Grounded in empirical research and the synthesis of sports coaching theory, the study highlights humor's critical function in fortifying social bonds, reducing stress, and enhancing information retention among…

A new athletic coach must ensure they are knowledgeable of many things beyond teaching student-athletes how to play a specific sport. This is necessary to protect themself, as well as protect the student-athletes under their supervision. This article overviews four common areas with which new coaches must ensure familiarity -- provision of a safe…

This article breaks new ground in the sociology of sports work through its novel exploration of workplace deception and the associated development of an original typology of deceptive impression management. Analysis of data collected from a two-phased research design, comprising online interviews and survey responses from 102 participants,…

Background: The education and training of coaches is considered central to maintaining and improving the quality of coaching. Formal coach education is accessed by thousands of coaches each year. However, evidence would suggest this form of learning plays only a minor role in coaches' development. One possible reason for this is the lack of…