Coaching Books

I have never seen some of the traps outlined in this book in other books. They are very interesting. Others traps are explained in an easily understandable and well-illustrated manner. There is also a section describing goalkeeping that is necessary for any coach or goalkeeper to master. Not only am I a coach but also a referee, and so the information for a good refereeing has been very useful. The book has only a few photographs, but many clear illustrations. Many of my other soccer books are full of photographs that really do not clearly tell the whole story when it comes to understanding a concept. The sketches however leave no doubt as to what the author is pointing out. I also agree with Luongo's delineation of identifying quality vs. poor soccer.

Jeff Gruwell
Schertz, Texas

Mr. Luongo
Sir I could go on and on and on about what I thought of your book. I have tried to teach the principles I learned in it to my own children but I have become so frustrated because they don't mesh well with the way that so many coaches coach. If only people would play disciplined soccer. At first the kids would be frustrated and even get beat but their grasp on the fundamentals would eventually far outshine the gambling mentality with which most of the soccer I've seen has been played. From the first kick down the field from the keeper, to the crosses down near the goal I just remember the analogy you used of how crazy that would be if basketball where played in that manner. Hey, thank you so much for your work. Shortball soccer without all of this one touch stuff ( I don't remember if you commented on that but most kids don't have the talent yet to handle the one touch stuff nor do I personally see the need for it if people are spread out and exercising proper ball handling skills) would make me much happier. I want my son to experience disciplined soccer but his high school team is stuck in the long ball, one touch, cross towards the goal rutt. They've individually have talent but the ball is thrown away or headed away throughout the game. I want to let the coach see your book or do something. Last year I tried to summarize some of the principles I had learned from your book and pass them on to him, but that was a fragile situation. I don't think it did any good. Do you have any suggestions? My daughter plays community soccer and has the same type of coaching. I'm not a know it all but would just love to see the game played upon sounder principles.
Thank you for the talents and knowledge you have shared. Take care.
Sincerely,
Jeff Gruwell

Whether you are a coach or a parent of a child who plays soccer, this book is a must! I own several soccer books, but I use this book as a reference and often carry it to the training field. If you are serious about soccer, this book is for you.

I'm a financial executive with a professional services organization and wish I had this book when I started this job and others before it. From my experience, there is no one formula for starting fast in a new job and Quandt really drives that point home with the breadth of stories the CEO's in her book share. Coming out of the financial services industry, Jamie Dimon's stories were of particular interest to me especially around how he picked his team and personally jumped in when needed - which seems to contradict all traditionally held beliefs. I was surprised by his candor - and that, of all the CEO's interviewed. I highly recommend this book for anyone from middle management on who wants to get the inside stories on how to move up the career ladder by those who have made it to the top.

I own an executive search firm and I'm now providing a copy of this book to all the executives we place, as added insurance for their success. Quandt's stories illustrate the real-world challenges of starting a new job and debunk many traditionally held beliefs about job transition, such as the required 90-day plan. I'm amazed at how she was able to draw out the very authentic stories and emotions of some of the biggest name CEOs in the country. As great as this book is for new executives, I can't imagine an executive of any degree of experience who wouldn't benefit from this book.

I have had the opportunity to work closely with two of the CEO's who were interviewed (Notebaert of Qwest & Vander Zanden of School Specialty) and have also met with Russo (of Lucent). I can vouch for the realness of the stories being reported and situations being shared. The author's (Susan Quandt's) ability to share the unique story of each of the top leaders she met with reveal a very human side to how these individuals handled some very complex challenges in taking on the top job of thier respective companies. What is compelling about this book is that there is no simple formula for success that so many business books seem to attempt to define, rather Quandt stresses the uniqueness that each person's experiences bring to the challenges they faced and the thought process each used to make some very significant and impactful decisions. I strongly recommend this book. It is a compelling read for any aspiring executive and/or manager who wants to better understand how the leaders of their organization think, take action and analyze the outcomes. Some great lessons on authenticity .

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves baseball and wants to learn more. This book gives you a lot of different ways to improve your mental and physical aspects of hitting. It is a great nonfiction book; there is really nothing wrong with this book because everything is pretty important information.

your kid will ask you why you didn't hit 70 hr's when you were younger...but seriously ...learn GOOD form here...if you want your kid to hit like a pro...teach him right...or if you've been going 0for...this should help

Very thorough and detailed book on the art of hitting. I had never heard of Bernardo Leonard before purchasing this book, but it becomes apparent as you start reading that the guy knows his stuff. By the way, who better to teach hitting than someone who struggled themselves. Enjoy!

It's written in a straight-forward and entertaining style and yet is packed full of useful information, including illustrations, for the amateur swimmer like myself as well as an Olympic hopeful. Coach Nessel covers the dynamics of all four competitive strokes and the individual medley, starts, turns, and finishes. Having a scientific background, he also explains the physiological aspects of swimming (now you will know WHY you hurt :) and there is a whole section on health and nutrition in relation to performance. Highly recommended for any swimmer from teenager to senior citizen.

The book Swim to Win contains thoughtful and clearly explained descriptions of the mechanics of swimming. What sets this book apart from others is the authors knowledge and explanation of the science of exercise and its application to swimming performance, training, recovery, hydration, and so on. The science is well explained, easy to understand, and well integrated into this training text. The sample workouts are excellent and emphasize the principle of intensity over duration.
This is a terrific book.

The book is very informative on many levels and provides valuable information for swimmers, parents and coaches. The way technique, training, nutrition and race preparation are covered gives the reader a solid foundation for success. For coaches and parents the book provides information not found in one source and is a valuable reference.

You've read, digested and implemented Jim Thompson's Positive Coaching materials. Now take a Graduate Course.

Bruce Brown's book is filled with wonderful ideas on how to create a sports culture where individuals and teams maximize the personal growth that is possible through athletics.

Personal favorites include sections on the qualities of "Great Athletes" - successfully introduced to players as young as 11 (and, more importantly their parents) - about the choices that athleted make. Similarly "Great Teams" explores the qualities found in the most successful teams. "Positive Conditioning" is an eye-opener (imaging what happens when the winning team in a game at practice does 20 extra push-ups) as well as great team-building exercises such as "Spotlighting". The section on how parents can be helpful participants in the process is also worthwhile.

Run, don't walk (can you do that on-line?) to get this book.

Easily worth the money, this book is amazing. It poses great questions to coaches about why they coach and what they hope to accomplish, methods to teach character traits, and a wonderful section on using conditioning positively, to name a few sections. The book is geared primarily towards junior high or high school programs, and really has some great ideas for a sports program.

This book is essential for every coach in any sport. Bruce Brown does an excellent job of hitting on the issues of what coaches need to think about, but so often get missed in the whole scheme of things. Coaching is so much more than just knowing the particular x's and o's, and reading this book helps the present or future coach realize that. I would recommend Teaching Character Through Sport to any coach of any sport!!

Ben Cook clearly is an expert on this matter. I bought Total Basketball Fitness along with NBA Power Conditioning and Strength Training for Basketball. I found that Cook's book was the most comprehensive and scientific of the three.

This is a not a "for dummies" book. The information was relevant and put forth in an intelligent manner to help reader's understand the science of basketball conditioning. Cook's highlight is his 52 week plan, which in my estimatation is worth the price of the book. The plan can serve as a specific workout routine for 365 days or a general guideline for those who cannot dedicate their lives to playing basketball.

Another great feature is the in depth discussion on the dynamics of weight training. Cook tells you about all the different ways to lift and which goals they achieve. Unfortunately, he is not very specific on the importances of each individual exercise.

Cook also includes chapters on Agility exercises and conditioning which are also helpful.

In summery, this book is well suited for the college player. The high school player would be better suited with the book NBA Power Conditioning. If money is not an issue, I highly recommend buying both books.

Getting ready for the season. Has always been confusing for me. You hear of so many different things you should do to make yourself better, but I could never figure out how to put everything together. This book gives it all to you and then plans your week for you. And not just one week, but for a whole year. This is what you've been looking for!!

This book is gives it all to you "ready-serve" I've never seen a worrkout book with more detail. All aspects of training are covered. My buddy bought Cook's 52-Week Football book, and it had tremendous detail. I'm a basketball guy and when this book came out I knew I needed to check it out. It's a must have book for the serious player.

I'm a multi sport athlete who trains all year round regardless of what sport I play. I bought a few of these Ultimate Guide to Weight Training books, and they definitely helped me train specifically for the different sports that I play. Then about a year later I received an email from amazon that there was a new edition out. These upgraded editions are even better than the originals, with more articles and a lot more sport-specific information. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who plays a lot of sports or wants to specifically focus on training for one sport in particular.

I work for a high school and got books for all our coaches for fitness training. Our football team already had a training schedule, but we picked up a few tips from this book anyways. Every little bit helps when you are trying to prepare for battle on the field. This book did the job.

This book is EXCELLENT if you are looking for a tailored football-specific weight training program. Very simple, very helpful, VERY informative. Hey, if it worked for the LSU team (NCAA champs this year) then it's good enough for the kids on my high school football team!

I love books that help me understand "how to . . ." and the practical explanations and examples provided in this book do exactly that. It gives details and examples that make the concepts very easy to appreciate. The 8-step coaching model is a great, very practical, roadmap for effective coaching.

This is a great follow up to their first book, "Coach: Creating Partnerships for a Competitive Edge".

Great book! It reads easy and keeps you captivated with the side notes, pics, drawings and quotes that add to the content of the book. This kept me interacted with the book.

I would recommend it for people who are looking to greatly improve their management and communication skills. It was good enough that I requested my entire staff team to read through it.

I don't think you can go wrong.

Tim

Note the sub-title; "Be on the Leading Edge with Synergistic Coaching" and you know what is in it for you to read this book. It is a beautiful handbook for leaders, coaches, mentors and learning organizations.

The synergistic approach to coaching is based on core values of: ME = I am, secure, an optimist, a teacher, just. YOU = are valuable, principled, trustworthy, safe. WE = are allies, vulnerable, learners, reliable. If our needs and success are interdependent, then your success (win) is my success (win).

The authors then go on to outline their research based 8-step coaching process that focuses on gaining cooperation, commitment, synergy and success and back it up with success stories.

Very easy to read and very valuable.

I liked this book alot. I reccommened it yo all my friends and family members.

Whatever offensive set you use you will find inbound plays here to fit your scheme. Some plays work better than others but you can only find that out when you test them in game conditions. A must for your coaching library.

This book is an enormous relief. Keeping kids' classes engaged is always a challenge. When I got this book I started marking drills to use in class and within 15 minutes had more possibilities than I'd use in six months, introducing new games each class. Perhaps ten to twenty percent of the drills wouldn't work for me, some would present too much of an occasion for injury, or didn't suit our curriculum, but on the whole this is a simply great addition to any studio library.

I've had the book only a couple of weeks and have used its drills in both adult and kids classes. They are simply and clearly described and easy to adapt.

This is a dandy book.

This really is a GREAT book!!, No kidding, it's great for all of the "so called" fledgling instructors because it's so quick & easy to put into practice.

After several years of teaching 'though, one can become a little stale and risk losing your students interest or even their membership, because your warm up and training routines have become so predictable and boring.

Are you still doing lots of sit up & press ups?.....YAWN!! Know what I mean?? If you're instructor is still warming up the class this way, do them & your classmates a favour & buy them a copy of this for their birthday!! Everyone will thank you for it.

I haven't seen any other books like or as good as this one, I wish I'd bought a copy of this in 2000 when it first appeared, it would have saved me many sleepless nights worried about what I was going to do the next lesson.

There is one large & clearly presented warm-up & exercise drill on every page, giving a clear "Purpose", "Procedure" &/or "Variations" for each exercise.

Since I started to use this manual my karate classes; both junior and adult; have started to come alive. All the students have much more FUN & are better motivated to work harder, even 'though they don't realise they're putting more effort into the workout - some of the older students even break into a sweat!!

If you manage to maintain or even attract more students to your club because you're using lessons from this book, then it's worth its weight in gold.