1st Edition

Coaching Masters Athletes Advancing Research and Practice in Adult Sport

Edited By Bettina Callary, Bradley Young, Scott Rathwell Copyright 2021
    216 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    216 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book is a foundational resource for all coaches and student coaches who are, or who plan to be, working with Masters athletes. This athletic cohort typically includes adults over the age of 35 years who are registered for sport programs/events, and who invest in training to improve themselves for competitions that range from recreational to championship caliber.

    As the boom in Masters sport continues worldwide, coaches are increasingly tasked with the development and support of adults’ quality sport experiences, and the implementation of strategies to foster skill acquisition and to facilitate their pursuit of competitive goals. This book presents what is different about coaching Masters athletes and prompts coaches to expand their scope of practice beyond traditional knowledge associated with youth or younger adult cohorts. It is essential for coaches to understand the psychological and social considerations that are unique to coaching adult sports-persons and Masters athletes, and that can be adapted to adults whose training and preparation for competition is quite varied.

    Coaching Masters Athletes: Advancing Research and Practice in Adult Sport explores the research and practice specific to planning to coach Masters athletes and divulges what is known about distinctive considerations for delivering coaching interventions to this cohort, expanding on coaches’ abilities to influence adults’ personal development, as well as their own coach education through Masters Sport. Readers and students of Coaching, Physical Activity, Health Psychology, Sport Leadership and Exercises Science will gain valuable applied perspectives grounded in best practice research on how to coach one of the fastest-growing sporting cohorts, to promote quality adult sport, and to keep adult sports-persons engaged and active as they age.

    1. The Emergence of Masters Sport and the Rising Importance of Coaches for this Cohort

    Bradley W. Young, Scott Rathwell, and Bettina Callary

    2. Adult Learning in Sport: Implications for Psycho-social Coaching Competencies

    Bettina Callary, Scott Rathwell, and Bradley W. Young

    3. Notions of Age-related Decline and Performance amongst Masters Athletes: Implications for Coaching

    Michael Stones and Nancy Leo

    4. Age-related Physiological Changes in Masters Athletes: Coaching Implications

    Peter Reaburn

    5. An Overview of Risk Factors for Disease in Masters Athletes: Implications for Coaches

    Mike Climstein, Joe Walsh, Tim Heazlewood, and Rudi Meir

    6. Sport Psychology and Masters Athletes: Implications for Coaches

    Tyler Makepeace and Bradley W. Young

    7. Roles of Masters Athletes

    Scott Rathwell and Derrik Motz

    8. Understanding the Social and Relational Dimensions of Coaching Adults

    Chelsea Currie, Bettina Callary, and Bradley W. Young

    9. Coaching for Personal Assets and Life Skills in Masters Sport

    Shruti Patelia, Jessica Fraser-Thomas, and Joe Baker

    10. Roles of Masters Coaches at and around Competition and Events

    Steven Rynne, Katherine O’Brien, and Bettina Callary

    11. Coach Development and Education for the Masters Coach

    Bettina Callary and Brian Gearity

    12. Policy Development for Coached Masters Sport- Possibilities and Problematization

    Cameron Kiosoglous and Bettina Callary

    13. A Way Ahead for Coaching Masters Athletes

    Bettina Callary, Catalina Belalcazar, Scott Rathwell, and Bradley W. Young

    Biography

    Bettina Callary is the Canada Research Chair in Sport Coaching and Adult Learning and an Associate Professor in the Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Dr. Callary is the editor-in-chief of the International Sport Coaching Journal; she is on the editorial board of Sports Coaching Review and the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity; and is an alpine ski coach and coach developer, and Masters athlete.

    Bradley W. Young is Full Professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa, in Ontario, Canada. As a coach and Masters athlete, he has served as an advisor to the Coaching Association of Canada on Masters Athletes and is an advisor to Active Aging Canada and a member of a pan-Canadian network on Physical Literacy in Older Adults.

    Scott Rathwell is Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. Scott’s research focuses on the psychosocial factors related to lifelong sport and the mechanisms through which Masters Athletes maintain their elite performance.