Rainer Martens - Successful Coaching

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Martens, Rainer, 1942-

Successful coaching / Rainer Martens. -- 4th ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4504-0051-0 (soft cover) -- ISBN 1-4504-0051-5 (soft cover) 1. School sports--Coaching--United States. I. Title.

GV711.M355 2012

796.0770973--dc23

2011051991

ISBN-10: 1-4504-0051-5 (print)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4504-0051-0 (print)

Copyright 2012, 2004, 1997, 1990 by Rainer Martens

Copyright 1981 by Rainer Martens, Robert W. Christina, John S. Harvey, Jr., and Brian J. Sharkey

All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Notice: Permission to reproduce the following material is granted to instructors and agencies who have purchased Successful Coaching, Fourth Edition: pp. 10, 17, 24, 136, 196, 197, 203, 204, 206, 207, 210, 212, 216, 217, 252, 264-266, 274, 343, 346, 394, 418-427. The reproduction of other parts of this book is expressly forbidden by the above copyright notice. Persons or agencies who have not purchased Successful Coaching, Fourth Edition, may not reproduce any material.

Permission notices for material reprinted in this book from other sources can be found on .

The web addresses cited in this text were current as of September 2011, unless otherwise noted.

Developmental Editor: Christine M. Drews; Assistant Editor: Brendan Shea, PhD; Copyeditor: John Wentworth; Indexer: Betty Frizzell; Permissions Manager: Dalene Reeder; Graphic Designer: Robert Reuther; Graphic Artist: Kim McFarland; Cover Designer: Keith Blomberg; Photograph (cover): AP Photo/The Sentinel-Record, Mara Kuhn; Photographs (interior): Human Kinetics unless otherwise noted; Photo Asset Manager: Jason Allen; Visual Production Assistant: Laura Fitch; Photo Production Manager: Joyce Brumfield; Art Manager: Kelly Hendren; Associate Art Manager: Alan L. Wilborn; Art Style Development: Joanne Brummett; Illustrations: Human Kinetics; Printer: Versa Press

Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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E5268

I f youre new to coaching, Ive written Successful Coaching for you. If youre a veteran coach seeking to review, refresh, and expand your coaching knowledge, Ive written Successful Coaching for you. And if youre a high school or club coach of teenage athletes in any sport, Ive written Successful Coaching especially for you.

Successful Coaching is the text for the American Sport Education Programs (ASEP) Coaching Principles course (see the for more information about this and other ASEP courses) and is widely used as a text in college introductory coaching courses. Several years ago, the third edition of the book was extensively revised to meet and exceed the National Council for Accreditation for Coaching Education guidelines. Now, in this fourth edition, we have revised in accordance with the recommendations of the National Standards for Sport Coaches as stated in its publication Quality Coaches, Quality Sports: National Standards for Sport Coaches, second edition (Reston, VA: National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2006).

Without fame Ive had a long and rich history of coaching. My love of coaching was first nurtured by the positive experience of coaching my brothers Cub Scout baseball team. I had almost as much fun working with those 8- to 10-year-olds as I did playing baseball myself. After playing football and baseball in college, I began a masters program in physical education at the University of Montana. When the wrestling coach suddenly resigned, I was appointed the head wrestling coach at age 21. Later I coached high school wrestling, football, and track and field before going on to complete my doctorate in sport psychology at the University of Illinois. For the next 40 years I periodically coached both mens and womens slowpitch softball teams. Today I coach the Florida Legends senior soft-ball team, an amazing group of athletes over the age of 70 who not only have the best winning record in senior softball but are outstanding human beings. Through all these experiences I have found great satisfaction and a deep sense of privilege in being a coach.

In Successful Coaching Ill introduce you to many principles of coaching that are applicable across all sports. These principles are based on not only my experiences and those of many other master coaches, but also reflect the knowledge gained from the sport sciences over the last 50 years. It celebrates coaching as an emerging profession that offers you the opportunity to help young people become better athletes and, more important, better human beings. It espouses ASEPs philosophy of Athletes First, Winning Second and explains how you can put that perspective into action.

Ive sought to make the book practical, to give you principles, guidelines, and tools that you can use immediately in your coaching. The highlights of the changes in this fourth edition include