Community Sport Coaching: Policies and Practice

In many Western nations, community sport coaches occupy a central role in supporting the physical health, mental wellbeing, and wider social development of individuals and communities. However, there is no existing academic textbook that examines the policy contexts in which their work is located or, indeed, the challenges and opportunities that are an inherent feature of their everyday practice.

Bringing together an international team of leading researchers in sport policy, sport development, sport pedagogy, and sport coaching, as well as some of the best emerging talents, this book is the first to critically consider a range of policy and practice issues directly connected to community sport coaching.

Comprehensive, timely, and cutting-edge, no other text brings together in one place such a depth and breadth of scholarly material addressing this important field of endeavour. This book is an essential resource for educators, students, practitioners, and policy makers concerned with community sport coaching globally.

Ben Ives is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching for the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His research and teaching interests include emotions, dramaturgy, and identity in community sport coaching contexts.

Paul Potrac is a Professor within the Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation at Northumbria University, UK. He also holds visiting professorships at University College Dublin and Cardiff Metropolitan University. His research and teaching interests focus on the micropolitical, dramaturgical, and emotional demands of sports work.

Laura Gale is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching for the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Her research and teaching interests include the personal, emotional, and socio-political features of community sport coaching.

Lee Nelson is a Reader in Sport Coaching in the Department of Sport & Physical Activity at Edge Hill University, UK. His research and teaching interests include the (micro)political, emotional, and pedagogical features of sports work in coaching and coach education contexts.