Sport Coach Education, Development, and Assessment: International Perspectives

Sport Coach Education, Development, and Assessment offers a range of coach assessment ideas and practices from leaders in the coach education and development field. A combination of theory- and practice-focused chapters aims to stimulate thoughts, dialogue, and actions.

Sport coaches play an increasingly important role in delivering positive outcomes through sport for individuals, groups, and societies at large. It is understandable, therefore, that attention is increasingly being directed towards how coaches are supported in their roles. Perhaps the most dominant support mechanism is large-scale coach education programmes. These professional development opportunities invite coaches to participate in a learning experience which typically involves exposure to new ideas, opportunities to practice, and an assessment.

Much has been said and written about the extent to which these programmes are effective and the degree to which they contribute to coach learning, or not. These discussions typically reference the learning environment, nature of the curriculum, and report coaches’ experiences. However, lacking in these discussions is any deliberation over coach assessment, as a consistent feature of nearly all of these programmes, the world over.

This book reflects a very deliberate attempt to platform and promote the issue of coach assessment. This book is designed to offer support and guidance to sport coaches who are engaged in assessment, coach educators/developers who are delivering assessment activities, and programme designers/policy architects who are creating learning opportunities for coaches.

Liam McCarthy is a senior lecturer in sport coaching at Leeds Beckett University, UK. He is interested in coach education and development practice, programmes, and policy. He has worked globally with a range of national and international sport organisations to think about, design, and deliver coach and coach educator/developer learning opportunities.