Creative Coaching

Times have changed in the coaching profession. In today's world of sport, players must deal with complex issues. Athletes are now more apt to fight for what they deserve than they were in the Vince Lombardi or John Wooden eras. That makes your role as the coach tougher than ever. Not only must you teach athletes the skills, strategies, and discipline to help them succeed; you also are expected to guide, encourage, respect, and inspire athletes.

Creative Coaching is a strategic handbook for addressing the challenges of coaching modern athletes and maximizing their sport performance. Written by one of this country's top coaching consultants, the book presents innovative approaches with proven payoffs.

What sets author Jerry Lynch's coaching method apart is his unique, collective approach. You will learn to teach, guide, and motivate in a reciprocal relationship with athletes. Respect and authority are earned not through a title or through disciplinary measures but through a clear vision and effective communication that prompts athletes to exert maximum effort toward their goals and develop their own decision-making skills—all of which have a direct performance payoff.

Creative Coaching explores three facets of successful coaching. Part I, Developing Qualities for Successful Leadership, provides assessment tools to help you identify your leadership style and better understand the athletes you work with. Part II, Leading With a Purpose, will help you position yourself to be a more effective leader and create a positive training environment based on what you know about your athletes and your own leadership style. Finally, Part III, Unleashing Prepared Athletes, shows you how to bring it all together to help athletes reach their potential during competition.

Throughout the book, you'll be challenged with real scenarios in which you must try to solve problems, and new strategies that have proven to be effective with today's athletes.

The approach presented in this book gets results. Those who have immersed themselves and their teams in this approach have produced very successful records. During the past 10 years, author Jerry Lynch has worked closely with 21 teams who reached the Final Four—12 of those teams won the national championship—and with individual clients who have won a collective total of 15 national championships.

Creative Coaching is more than a “how to win” manual. The inventive techniques apply to a wide variety of coaching situations and will help you and your athletes experience all the fun and passion of sport—at the same time, you'll perform your best.

Jerry Lynch, PhD, is director of the TaoSports Center for Human Potential in Santa Cruz, California. A sport psychologist for more than 20 years, he has worked with Olympic, national, collegiate, and professional coaches and athletes. He was a U.S. regional and national champion distance runner.

Lynch has published seven books, including Running Within (Human Kinetics, 1999) and the perennial bestsellers Working Out, Working Within; and Thinking Body, Dancing Mind: TaoSports for Extraordinary Performance in Athletics, Business and Life, which is available in five languages. These books have been used by the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Oilers, and numerous NCAA championship teams as well as by athletic programs worldwide.

Lynch has written feature articles in numerous journals and national magazines and has been featured in Sports Illustrated, New York Times, Washington Post, and Oprah magazine. He is also a contributor to the Medical & Training Advice column in Runner's World, a columnist for VeloNews, and a contributing editor and writer with Asimba.com. He regularly conducts coaching clinics throughout the United States. Lynch resides in Santa Cruz, California, and can be reached at the TaoSports Center by calling 831-466-3031 or e-mailing Taosports@aol.com. Visit his web site: Way of Champions.