To aid coaches and athletes learn more about proper nutrition for sport activities, we have added a sports nutrition section to the Sport Coach USA Essential Bookshelf to cover this important subject. 

I highly recommend the Nancy Clark book for endurance athletes.  We have worked with Nancy a great deal as she developed the nutrition curriculum we use in our Level 2 workshops.  Also, you may enjoy the question and answer theme in Lilah Al Masri’s book as she ties nutrition into daily training.

You may also want to look at the Institute’s July Resource of the Month entries on the US Anti Doping Agency which has some great free nutrition resources for you to use. 

As always, we invite you to nominate resources for this section and the others of the Sport Coach USA Essential Bookshelf.

Over the past 20 years or so, we have witnessed the switch from how our children get their physical exercise from free play to adult-led organized sport.  With this switch, the pressure on parents has increased.  For any parent out there, the Institute recommends the sports parenting resources recently added to our Essential Bookshelf which provide information on how to navigate the intense world of youth and interscholastic sports in a manner that allows a parent to maintain their dignity and support their child’s efforts in whatever sport they choose to play.

While a bit dated, the SportsParent book by the American Sport Education Program is a good primer prepping parents for becoming sports parents.  Amy Baltzell’s book is very good in guiding parents through the various stages of sport their children will progress through–sort of a “What to Expect When You are Expecting” book for the sports aspect of being a parent.  Amy is a sport psychologist and professor at Boston University and a parent.

The two books written by retired pro athletes (Cal Ripken Jr. and Karl Mecklenburg) provide a great perspective on sports parenting from those who reached the pinnacle of sports in America–the professional level.  Their views and information will help parents remain grounded regarding their youth athletes.

Dan Doyle’s work is a huge one stop resource for sport parents.  Dan, the Executive Director of the Institute for International Sport, has a second volume of this resource in development.

Lastly, Rick Wolff has been a champion for positive sports parenting for years.  A collaborator with Dan Doyle, he was instrumental in starting up the Center for Sports Parenting.  His work is also very good.

Love to hear from anyone on what resources they would recommend for sports parents especially DVDs, movies, etc.  We will be adding those types of resources to the Essential Bookshelf later this year.

We have assembled our first cut at a list of resources useful for a coach’s library dealing with sport safety and risk management as part of our Sport Coach USA Essential Bookshelf.

If you are a coach or league administrator, Appenzeller’s book is a good place to start to look for sample forms for injury reports, facility inspection, etc. 

All coaches should have a good understanding of first aid and CPR and we recommend all coaches maintain their first aid/CPR certification.  The Flegel and Micheli books are good additions to your library and possess a wealth of knowledge regarding sport-related injuries and what the coach can do to minimize them.

The Nohr book will provide you a comprehensive look at developing a risk management plan for your team.  Her book is full of sample plans, forms, etc that you can use to implement your risk management plan.

If you are a coach, at any level, looking for new ideas on approaches to improving the sports performance of your athletes, look no further than our initial list of resources for teaching sport skills and tactics.

The initial book, Coaches Guide to Teaching Sport Skills, while a bit old is a treasure of the science behind how our athletes learn and how coaches can use that knowledge to better reach their athletes.

The Fronske, Wrisberg and Clumper books are a wealth of knowledge about most sports including learning cues, learning progressions and detailed breakdowns of most sport skills.  Highly recommend the Fronske books for youth coaches who may not have lots of experience in the sports they are coaching.

Lastly, for those coaches looking to really engage their athletes in practice and create the environment for them to increase their game sense, then take a look at  Teaching Sport Concepts and Skills and Transforming Play resources to learn about the games approach to skill teaching.  The games approach is a powerful coaching technique that combines the athletes desire to play the game more and reduce your need to run skill developmental drills over and over.

For those coaches working with middle and high school teams, Rainer Martens’ book Successful Coaching 3rd Edition has to be part of your library.  Used extensively throughout the country as a text for coaching courses at the college level, it is full of good solid coaching tips and tactics.

Coaches working primarily with youth athletes 14 yrs and younger, I highly recommend the Smith & Smoll work, Way to Go, Coach!  I also think the Double-Goal Coach by Thompson is a must read especially about learning how to teach sportmanship and learn about the mastery approach to coaching.

Lastly, the Beedy book, Sports Plus, is a great resource for coaches looking for ways to teach life’s lessons through sports to youth athletes.

Please remember if you buy the book through the link on our website, the Institute receives a donation from the bookseller.  This is a great way for you to build your coaching library and support the Institute’s invaluable work.