Coach Education Essentials

Sport coaches have a tremendous influence--positive or negative--in the lives of athletes. Too often, however, the delivery of quality coaching is left to chance. Athletes deserve coaches who create positive environments, foster skill development, and build character.

In Coach Education Essentials, leading coach educators and professionals from around the world cover the core elements of coach education and development, and describe how best to understand, cultivate, and evaluate quality coaching.

Edited by Kristen Dieffenbach, PhD, and Melissa Thompson, PhD, this text is the most authoritative resource on the topic ever assembled, and the book's contributors represent a who's who of coach education:

John Bales
Gordon Bloom
Trey Burdette
Penny Crisfield
Edward Cope
Kristen Dieffenbach
Lori Gano-Overway
Brian Gearity
Wade Gilbert
Daniel Gould
Matthew Grant
Stephen Harvey
Luke Jones
Cameron Kiosoglous
Clayton Kuklick
Sergio Lara-Bercial
Sarah McQuade
Jenny Nalepa
Christine Nash
Matt Robinson
Ronald Smith
Frank Smoll
Melissa Thompson
Cecile Reynaud
Charles Wilson Jr.

Grounded in current research and emerging trends in the field of coach education, Coach Education Essentials adheres to the guidelines for coach education and development established by the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) and is consistent with the ICCE's International Sport Coaching Framework.

The chapters cover the roles and responsibilities of the coach across various levels of sport, ranging from prepubescent participation to Olympic-level competition; current models of coaching education, training, and certification used by leading international sport organizations; and the evaluation of coach education.

Coach Education Essentials is a comprehensive, insightful, and practical resource for those invested in the development and advancement of quality coaching and coaching education. It will be an asset to all who promote coaching as a profession.
About the Author: Kristen Dieffenbach, PhD, is an associate professor of athletic coaching education at West Virginia University. She earned her doctorate in exercise science with an emphasis in exercise and sport psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is the president of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence and has served as a member of the executive board of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). She also serves on the research committee for the International Council for Coaching Excellence.

Dieffenbach's areas of educational, research, and consultation concentration include coaching education, professional issues in coaching, ethics in coaching, performance enhancement, and long-term athlete talent development. She has worked on numerous grants, projects, and consultations in these areas for the U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, United States Tennis Association, USA Cycling, USA Hockey, USA Triathlon, U.S. Paralympics, USA Swimming, USA Water Polo, Peaks Coaching Group, and Carmichael Training Systems.

Dieffenbach has published research articles in scientific journals, authored and co-authored numerous book chapters, and written for applied publications such as Olympic Coach, VeloNews, and Dirt Rag. She has also served as an expert panelist for the Outdoor Life Network and for publications such as Runner's World, Performance Conditioning for Cycling, Backpacker, Bicycling, and Adventure Sports.

Together with Steve McCauley, Dieffenbach co-authored Bike Racing for Juniors, a book for coaches, parents, and young cyclists. She has also written or co-authored chapters for U.S. Tennis, USA Cycling, and the U.S. Marine Corps. As an AASP-certified consultant, Dieffenbach works with a wide range of athletes and coaches as a consultant and educator.

As a coach, she holds an elite-level USA Cycling license and has earned a level 2 endurance specialization from USA Track and Field. She has coached at the high school, collegiate, and elite levels. Currently, she coaches both semi-professional and professional road cyclists, mountain bikers, and adventure racers. She specializes in working with junior and Espoir elite athletes, and she runs a mountain bike development camp for USA Cycling.

A former Division I runner and road cyclist, Dieffenbach now enjoys endurance and ultra-endurance multi-sport racing. She specializes in 24-to-72-hour adventure racing events.

Melissa Thompson, PhD, is an associate professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she has coordinated the sport coaching education program since 2008. She instructs sport psychology and sport coaching courses at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. She was appointed director of student-athlete development for the university's athletic department when the program was established in 2017.

Thompson is a board member of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence. She is certified by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, the International Council for Coaching Excellence, and the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and she is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Sport Psychology Registry and several other organizations. She previously served on the national sport steering committee for SHAPE America as the coaching representative, a position that allowed her to co-author the alliance position statement on minimum levels of coaching education for all levels of sport. Her publications, in both scholarly and trade journals, are focused on coach development and are a combination of empirical research and application-based articles.

From 2007 through 2008, Thompson served as a lead graduate teaching assistant at Florida State University, where she earned her doctorate of philosophy in educational psychology with an emphasis in sport psychology. She received her master of science degree in kinesiology from Georgia Southern University, where she also served as an assistant softball coach. Thompson was a member of the women's softball team at Rockford University (Illinois), where she graduated magna cum laude with a double major in psychology and elementary education.