Coaching : A Realistic Perspective

Coaching: A Realistic Perspective is the ideal textbook for anyone who is preparing to coach athletics. All aspects of the profession are addressed in a clear and straightforward manner, presented with advice gained from decades of experience. The expanded and updated eighth edition examines the qualities of successful coaches—presenting tools for self-evaluation, recruiting, off-season planning, player and parent expectations of coaches, potential problem areas, and the balance between a coach's work life and personal and family life-a topic often overlooked in other textbooks. Students exploring the profession, especially for secondary school, will find end-of-chapter questions helpful in creating points of discussion and debate. Appendixes include guides to scheduling practices, tournament organization, and helpful charts of averages and percentages. Coaching is a detailed look at the profession with Ralph and Michael Sabock proving excellent guides to the nature of sport, the ethics of athletics, and the world of a coach.

Ralph J. Sabock has coached football, track and field, baseball, and wrestling at the high school, military, and college levels. He received his Ph.D. at Ohio State University, then moved to Penn State University where he taught professional preparation courses, including Methods and Principle of Coaching. Prior to retiring, he was responsible for the graduate program in sport administration. He is a member of the Penn Hills High School Sports Hall of Fame in Western Pennsylvania and the Sports Hall of Fame at Muskingum College in Ohio. Michael D. Sabock has been assistant football coach at Northern Illinois University for over twenty years and serves as defensive ends coach and recruiting coordinator. He is a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College in health and physical education and earned a master's in athletic administration from Kent State University.