The Routledge Handbook of Coaching Children in Sport provides a comprehensive and extensive range of critical reflections of key areas impacting on children’s sport and coaching up to the age of 16. With coaching related chapters authored by academic across various disciplines, including nutrition, psychology, pedagogy, medicine, youth development and sociology, the text provides detailed reviews of the existing state of research and consideration of the implications of these particular factors upon parents, coaches, administrators and clearly the young people themselves as well as recommendations for future research.

This new volume provides in-depth investigation to key topics of coaching topics such as Learning and Child Development, Protecting Young Athletes, Talent Identification and Development and Inclusive Coaching and finally introduce a broad array of contextual considerations for coaches from considering professional learning through to coaching in particular contexts.

This book is more than simply an academic text and it offers insights that will further inform practice in children’s sport coaching. The handbook is relevant for students (UG, PG), researchers, academics, parents, coaches and administrators, as well as those interested in children’s sport coaching and the related topics therein.

Martin Toms, PhD is a senior lecturer (associate professor) in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Birmingham, UK. A former professional sports coach with an MPhil and PhD exploring the sociological issues of young people in junior sport, Martin has been heavily involved in juniors sport all of his adult life. He has published widely and presented extensively around the world on youth sport, including working on international projects and for NBGs/Federations and National Governmental organisations. He has gained European and SCUK funding for youth and coaching related projects as well as being involved in international consultancy. He is a co-editor of the European Journal for Sport and Society as well as the current Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Golf Science.

Ruth Jeanes, PhD is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. Ruth’s research examines inclusion and exclusion within youth sport, particularly examining how sport can be used to achieve broader social policy objectives targeted at young people. Within this, she is particularly interested in the role of coaches in facilitating broader social outcomes for young people. Ruth has published extensively in these areas with over 100 publications across journal articles, book chapters and books. She is widely cited and has been successful in securing extensive funding for her research including two highly competitive Australian Research Council grants.