My learning journey: the coaching classics

I am going to share my learning journey to help coaches both young and inexperienced as well as older more experienced coaches to streamline their learning process and hopefully not make some of the mistakes and missteps that I have made. My goal was simple: to know more than anyone I coached against, I figured the more and faster I learned the more edge my athletes would have in competition. For me it was and is a point of pride.

Today in my role as a mentor coach I advise the coaches I work with to know history to know where ideas have come from how they have evolved, how some have changed and other have stood the test of time. The soundest advice that received when I started coaching was if in doubt go back to basics and review the fundamentals. Here is a reading list of works that I think every educated coach should read. It reflects what was done by pioneers in coaching and sport science. The following are recommendations of readings that influenced me. They are go to resources, some of which I review periodically to keep me grounded in fundamentals. (Those that review on a regular basis are in all bold) Next post I will go over the other resources that influenced me on my learning journey

• Scientific Principles of Coaching by John Bunn
• Track & Field Omnibook (Fourth Edition) by Ken Doherty
• Modern Track & Field by Ken Doherty
• Modern Training for Running by Ken Doherty
• The Inner Athlete by Bob Nidefer
• The Science of Swimming by James E. Counsilman
• The Mechanics of Athletics by Geoffrey Dyson
• Better Athletes Trough Weight Training by Bob Hoffman
• Hidden causes of injury, prevention, and correction for running athletes by John Jesse
• Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia by John Jesse
• Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation: Patterns and Techniques by Dorothy Knotts and Margaret Voss
• Scientific Principles and Methods of Strength Fitness.  By Patrick O’Shea
• Total Body Training by Richard H. Dominguez and Robert Gajda
• Kinesiology by Gene Logan and Wayne C. McKinney
• Skill in Sport by Barbara Knapp
• Acquiring Ball Skill – A Psychological Interpretation by H.T.A. Whiting
• The Thinking Body by Mabel Todd
• Run Run Run by Fred Wilt
• Run to the Top by Arthur Lydiard
• Franz Stampfl on Running by Franz Stampfl
• Track and Field Dynamics by Tom Ecker
• Biomechanics of Athletic Movement by Gerhard Hochmuth
• Sports Physiology by Edward L. Fox
• Interval Training – Conditioning for Sports and General Fitness by Edward L. Fox and Donald K. Mathews
• Biomechanics and Energetics of Muscular Exercise by Rodolfo Margaria
• Biomechanics of Sports Techniques by Jim Hay
• Introduction to Biomechanic analysis of sport by John W. Northrip, Gene A. Logan and Wayne C. McKinney
• Principles of Sports Training – Introduction to the Theory and methods of Training by Dietrich Harre
• Fundamental of Sports Training by L. Matveyev
• Sports Training Principles by Frank Dick
• Training Theory by Frank Dick
• Track and Field – Textbook for Coaches and Sports Teachers Edited by Gerhardt Schmolinsky
• International Track and field Coaching Encyclopedia by Fred Wilt and Tom Ecker
• The Hurdlers Bible by Wilbur Ross
• Mechanics of the Pole Vault by R.V. Ganslen
• The Triple Jump Encyclopedia by Ernie Bullard and Larry Knuth
• Tendinitis: it’s Etiology and Treatment by Sandra Curwin and William D. Stanish
• Weight Training In Athletics by Jim Murray and Peter V. Karpovich
• Weight Training in Athletics and Physical Education by Gene Hooks
• Circuit Training by Manfred Scholich
• Circuit Training by R. E. Adamson and G.T. Morgan
• The System of Physical Education in the USSR Edited by G. I Kukushkin
• The Soviet Road to Olympus – Theory And Practice Of Soviet Physical Culture And Sport by N. Norman Shneidman
• 1000 Exercises d’ Athletisme by Kurt Murer and Walter Bucher
• The Pursuit of Sporting Excellence – A Study of Sport’s Highest Achievers by David Henry