Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise

Understanding and developing expertise is an important concern for any researcher or practitioner working in elite or high performance sport. Whether it's identifying talented young athletes or developing methods for integrating cutting-edge sport science into daily coaching practice, scientists, coaches and researchers all need to understand the skills, characteristics, and knowledge that distinguish the expert performer in sport.

The Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise is the first book to offer a comprehensive overview of current research and practice in the emerging field of sports expertise. Adopting a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approach, the book offers in-depth discussion of methodological and philosophical issues in sport expertise, as well as the characteristics that describe sporting ‘experts’ and how they can be facilitated and developed. Exploring research, theory and practice, the book also examines how scientists and practitioners can work together to improve the delivery of applied sport science.

With contributions from many of the world’s leading researchers in expertise and skill acquisition in sport, the Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise is important reading for any advanced student, researcher, coach or sport science support officer looking to better understand this cutting-edge topic.

Joseph Baker is Associate Professor and Head of the Lifespan Health and Performance Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University, Canada. He has also held visiting researcher/professor positions in the Carnegie Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, Victoria University and the Australian Institute of Sport in Australia, and the Institute of Sport Science at Westfälische Wilhelms–Universität Münster in Germany. His research considers the varying influences on optimal human development, ranging from issues affecting athlete development and skill acquisition to barriers and facilitators of successful aging. Joe is Past President of the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology and the author/editor of five books, two journal special issues and more than 100 peer reviewed articles and book chapters.

Damian Farrow holds a joint appointment in Australia with Victoria University and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) as Professor of Skills Aquisition. Appointed as the inaugural AIS Skill Acquisition Specialist and Discipline Head of Psychology and Skill Acquisition, he was responsible for research and support of coaches seeking to develop the skills of Australian athletes, and he works with a wide range of national sporting organisation high-performance programmes. Damian’s research interests centre on understanding the factors critical to developing talent/sport expertise, with a specific focus on perceptual and decision-making skills and practice methodology. Damian has written over 80 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, six books, and made over 150 presentations at inter/national coaching and scientific conferences. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport and the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching and a member of sports science advisory panels for the Australian Football League, Cricket Australia, Tennis Australia, and Surfing Australia.