Teaching and Coaching Lifestyle Sports: Research and Practice

Lifestyle sports have witnessed unprecedented growth in recent years, with it being accepted that these activities can contribute significantly to national sport and physical activity agendas, appeal to contemporary youth culture, and provide an alternative to mainstream achievement sports within school physical education. However, this popularity has led to increased professionalisation and institutionalisation, meaning there is now a demand for educated teachers and coaches to facilitate learning through effective pedagogical approaches. Consequently, Teaching and Coaching Lifestyle Sports: Research and Practice is the first book of its kind to provide both theoretical and empirical insights into the process and practice of teaching and coaching lifestyle sports across school, community, and high-performance sport contexts.

Drawing upon a variety of lifestyle sports including skateboarding, freestyle BMX, parkour, and freeskiing, this book develops readers’ understanding and conceptualisation of the issues, challenges, and opportunities associated with teaching and coaching lifestyle sports. Each chapter, grouped via a broad focus on either teaching or coaching, offers novel perspectives towards current trends, pedagogical approaches, and ’steps forward’ in relation to lifestyle sports within physical education and sport coaching. This book covers contemporary and important topics within lifestyle sports, such as coach development, enhancing youth sport participation, facilitating athlete learning, and creating a ’meaningful’ physical education experience. Drawing upon global examples, each chapter generates new knowledge associated with the teaching and coaching of lifestyle sports, while critically discussing areas for future research alongside practical implications for teachers, coaches, and sports organisations.

Teaching and Coaching Lifestyle Sports: Research and Practice is a valuable resource for researchers and academics, in addition to students and practitioners, who are currently working across the overlapping fields of physical education, sport coaching, sport development, and leisure studies, or have an interest in lifestyle sports.

Thomas M. Leeder is a Lecturer in Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. His research interests primarily focus on the professional learning and development of physical education teachers and sport coaches, via the use of qualitative research methods and sociological frameworks.

Lee C. Beaumont is an Associate Professor in Physical Education in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. His research interests lie in the area of physical education and sport pedagogy, with a particular emphasis on health-related policy and practice within physical education, the promotion of healthy active lifestyles in young people, sport coaching, outdoor education, and lifestyle sports.