• The most comprehensive and accessible introduction to skill development in sport • Written by a team of world class sport scientists and professional coaches • Bridges the gap between research and practice • Contains useful pedagogical features in every chapter, including an expert ‘Coaches Corner’ box

The athlete development process spans from initial sport engagement to elite-level performance to effective career transition out of sport. This is a long and complicated process. Identifying and nurturing talent, fine-tuning sport skills, and maintaining high levels of performance over the course of a career requires many thousands of hours of training and, increasingly, the input and support of expert coaches and sport scientists.

In this fully revised and updated new edition of the leading student and researcher overview of the development of sport expertise, a team of world-class sport scientists and professional coaches examine the fundamental science of skill acquisition and explore the methods by which science can be applied in the real-world context of sport performance.

This book surveys the very latest research in skill acquisition, provides a comprehensive and accessible review of core theory and key concepts, and includes an innovative "Coach’s Corner" feature in each chapter, in which leading coaches offer insights from elite sport and critique contemporary practice in sport skill development. The third edition of Developing Sport Expertise will be invaluable reading for all researchers and students in the areas of expertise in sport, skill acquisition, motor control and development, sport psychology, or coaching theory and practice.

Table of Contents

1. A Very Brief Introduction to Applied Sport Expertise

Damian Farrow, Joe Baker, and Clare MacMahon

2. Sowing the Seeds of Success: Specialization, Diversification and Early Athlete Training

Joe Baker, Gillian Ramsay and Alexandra Mosher

3. The Athletic Skills Model as a Foundation for the Development of Expertise: Creating Challenging Environments

Geert J.P. Savelsbergh and Rene Wormhoudt

4. Coaching for Creativity

Veronique Richard and Darren Holder

5. Predicting Athletes’ Futures – A Necessity with Little Scientific Basis

Till Koopmann, Kathryn Johnston, Alex Roberts, and Jörg Schorer

6. The Expert Sports Official in Research and Practice

Clare MacMahon, Tammie van Biemen, Henning Plessner, and Alexandra Pizzera

7. Developing the Expert Performance Coach

Mark W. Bruner, Colin McLaren, Rachel Van Woezik, and Jean Côté

8. Evaluating Coaching Expertise

Chris Cushion

9. Technology Supported Coaching

Damian Farrow, Peter Le Noury and Olivia Cant

10. Self-Regulated Learning in Sport Practice: Agency, Assessment, and Actioning

Bradley W. Young, Lisa Bain and Joseph Baker

11. Data Informed Practice

Tim Buszard and Sam Robertson

12. Perception and Pressure: Research and Implications

Mark R Wilson, Samuel J Vine, Tom Arthur and David J Harris

13. Play with and Against! Insights for the Development of Decision Making in Team Sports

Pedro Passos

14. Developing Technical Skill Expertise

Georgia Giblin, David Whiteside and Machar Reid

15. Female Sport Expertise through a Skill Acquisition Lens: A Key Future Direction

Clare MacMahon, Anthea Clarke, Alana Leabeater, and Alex Roberts/

Understanding and developing expertise is an important concern for any researcher or practitioner working in elite or high performance sport. Whether it's identifying talented young athletes or developing methods for integrating cutting-edge sport science into daily coaching practice, scientists, coaches and researchers all need to understand the skills, characteristics, and knowledge that distinguish the expert performer in sport. The Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise is the first book to offer a comprehensive overview of current research and practice in the emerging field of sports expertise. Adopting a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approach, the book offers in-depth discussion of methodological and philosophical issues in sport expertise, as well as the characteristics that describe sporting 'experts' and how they can be facilitated and developed. Exploring research, theory and practice, the book also examines how scientists and practitioners can work together to improve the delivery of applied sport science. With contributions from many of the world's leading researchers in expertise and skill acquisition in sport, the Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise is important reading for any advanced student, researcher, coach or sport science support officer looking to better understand this cutting-edge topic.

Understanding and developing expertise is an important concern for any researcher or practitioner working in elite or high performance sport. Whether it's identifying talented young athletes or developing methods for integrating cutting-edge sport science into daily coaching practice, scientists, coaches and researchers all need to understand the skills, characteristics, and knowledge that distinguish the expert performer in sport. The Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise is the first book to offer a comprehensive overview of current research and practice in the emerging field of sports expertise. Adopting a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted approach, the book offers in-depth discussion of methodological and philosophical issues in sport expertise, as well as the characteristics that describe sporting 'experts' and how they can be facilitated and developed. Exploring research, theory and practice, the book also examines how scientists and practitioners can work together to improve the delivery of applied sport science. With contributions from many of the world's leading researchers in expertise and skill acquisition in sport, the Routledge Handbook of Sport Expertise is important reading for any advanced student, researcher, coach or sport science support officer looking to better understand this cutting-edge topic.

This book is designed for progressive coaches who are motivated to consider and potentially adjust their current coaching or training programs so that they are getting the most out of contemporary Sport Psychology and Skill Acquisition research. A variety of Sport Psychology and Skill Acquisition issues are reviewed by two international experts in the respective fields, Jean Fournier and Damian Farrow. Based on their applied experiences working in their respective high performance sport systems in France and Australia they have identified the gaps between theory and current practice. In some instances, this gap is because the theory itself is not definitive, while in other instances the theory challenges traditional coaching approaches. What makes this book different from many other texts on Sport Psychology and Skill Acquisition is that the material is presented in a manner most applicable to coaches and athletes. The chapters are short and concise, there is an absence of academic referencing, and numerous practical examples are provided to illustrate how the theory is applied to practice. The book is divided into two sections. After an introductory chapter by both authors, Section one consists of four chapters focused on Sport Psychology issues presented by Jean Fournier and then Section two reviews four Skill Acquisition issues presented by Damian Farrow.