Applying Educational Psychology in Coaching Athletes

Huber, a coach and professor of counseling and educational psychology and kinesiology at Indiana U. at Bloomington, explains how to apply the principles and theories of educational psychology to coaching athletes. Focusing on how athletes learn and how coaches teach, he notes similarities between teaching in the classroom setting and coaching, and details the principles of psychology that affect factors such as emotions, motivation, expectations, self-worth, and relationships, and applications to the motor learning and coaching process. He discusses the roles of coaches; theories of motivation, behaviorism, cognitivism, and humanism, and guidelines for their application; and applications for determining coaching effectiveness, success, and satisfaction, including using theories to apply preventive and corrective strategies for managing practice and athlete behaviors and having a coaching philosophy. Each chapter begins with a story of an athlete or coach that illustrates the significance of the theory. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)