Coaching is a profession that has been seen as ancillary to a job; gym teachers are provided with the opportunity while individuals around the neighborhood can volunteer to coach a Little League team. Where Successful Coaching by Rainer Martens comes into play is when a professional or amateur wishes to take the next step. The title is vital in providing readers with the tools that they need to create a coaching philosophy, identify the objectives of coaching, and providing value to athletes at all ages and skill levels. Martens’ framework urges coaches to first understand the skills that athletes need and expand from there – who are the athletes being coached and what methods of teaching are the best for the team, what sort of situational factors exist for the team, what objectives need to be achieved and how should each goal be prioritized, and how should the limited time that a team spends together be utilized?
Of particular import to those without an exercise physiology background is the training basics chapter, which (despite its name) goes into considerable detail about how the human body uses energy, creates and interprets signals, and the different sorts of energy expenditure that occurs during exercise. The book delineates fitness into energy and muscle fitness to allow coaches of a wide variety of activities the ability to create a workout regimen that provides the greatest benefit for players. Successful Coaching concludes with a discussion of the materials going into players’ bodies, with chapters detailing proper nutrition and illicit substances.
Successful Coaching Fourth Edition by Rainer Martens is available from a wide variety of online and brick and mortar book stores, and is recommended for undergraduates, graduates, and anyone that has a desire to impart useful skills to a team. The book retails for around $40, but the information contained within is much more valuable.
Rating: 9.5/10
Successful Coaching Fourth Edition / 2012 Human Kinetics / 9781450400510 / http://www.hkusa.com