Sport Physiology for Coaches

Sport consists of preparation and performance—about 99 percent preparation, 1 percent performance. You know the importance of physical fitness in sport, but do you know how to train your athletes to perform at their best?

Sport Physiology for Coaches is designed to help coaches assess, refine, enhance, and improve athletes' performance through an applied approach to exercise physiology. Written primarily for high school coaches, this practical, user-friendly text not only covers training essentials for muscular and energy fitness, but it also provides the hands-on assessments, forms, and training plans to help you implement the concepts in your training sessions.

To guide you in the development of a training program for your sport, the book features sample programs for sports involving skill, power, power endurance, intermittent activity, and aerobic activity. You'll learn the principles behind development of muscular and energy fitness, differentiate between myth and science, and glean the latest training techniques and lessons from science and top coaches. In the end, you'll come away with a systematic approach and integrated training plan for developing your athletes' energy and muscular fitness. With Sport Physiology for Coaches, you'll discover how knowledge of sport physiology and training can contribute to your athletes' success and to your understanding and enjoyment of coaching.

Sport Physiology for Coaches serves as the text for the American Sport Education Program (ASEP) Silver Level course, Sport Physiology for Coaches.

Brian J. Sharkey brings nearly 40 years of experience as a leading fitness researcher, educator, author, and consultant to Sport Physiology for Coaches. Sharkey served as director of the University of Montana's Human Performance Laboratory for many years and remains associated with the university and lab as professor emeritus. Through the university, Sharkey continues to do research on ultra-endurance athletes known as wildland firefighters. He is also a consultant with the U.S. Forest Service in the areas of fitness, health, and work capacity.

Sharkey is past president of the American College of Sports Medicine and served on the NCAA committee on competitive safeguards and medical aspects of sports, where he chaired the Sports Science and Safety subcommittee, which uses research and data on injury to improve the safety of intercollegiate athletes. He also coordinated the US Ski Team Nordic Sportsmedicine Council.

He received the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Superior Service Award in 1977 and its Distinguished Service Award in 1993 for his contributions to the health, safety, and performance of firefighters.

Sharkey has written numerous books, many published by Human Kinetics, including Coaches Guide to Sport Physiology and Fitness and Health.

In his leisure time, Sharkey enjoys cross-country skiing, mountain biking, running, hiking, and canoeing. He lives in Missoula, Montana.

Steven Gaskill is in the department of health and human performance at the University of Montana. Gaskill worked for the U.S. ski team for 10 years—as head coach of the Nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing) and cross-country teams and as director of the coaches' educational programs. He has coached at three Olympic Games, and 20 skiers who have trained under him have competed in the Olympics. In 1992, the U.S. Ski Association named him the U.S. Cross-Country Coach of the Year.

Gaskill was the founder and first director of Team Birke Ski Education Foundation, which is dedicated to the development of excellence in cross-country ski programs for skiers of all ages. He is author of Fitness Cross-Country Skiing, published by Human Kinetics, and has published more than 200 articles and produced six instructional videotapes on cross-country skiing. He has presented his extensive research findings on training for cross-country skiing to the American College of Sports Medicine and has written a major article for Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Gaskill lives in Burnsville, Minnesota, with his wife, Kathy. His favorite leisure activities are cross-country skiing, hiking, and mountaineering.

The authors met in 1980 when Gaskill was coach and Sharkey was sport physiologist for the U.S. ski team. Eventually they went their separate directions, but in 1998, Gaskill applied for a position at the University of Montana, where Sharkey was retiring after 30 years. Since then they have renewed their association, conducting research and development activities in the Human Performance Laboratory and in the field.