Sports Mechanics for Coaches

We've all watched in awe of the grace and precision of the gymnast on the balance beam, the speed and fluidity of the Olympic sprinter, the sheer power of the 95-mile-per-hour fastball. Underlying these athletic accomplishments are complex mechanics and physics working in perfect synchronization.

An acute understanding of sport mechanics can mean the difference between average and elite sport performance. Without it, teachers, coaches, and performers are seriously disadvantaged in selecting the best techniques to use, observing faults and identifying their causes, and devising ways to make corrections. Yet many coaches and athletes have avoided studying sport mechanics because they're intimidated by the scientific terminology and mathematics traditionally associated with the subject.

It's the absence of these complexities that makes Sport Mechanics for Coaches, Second Edition, so unique—and valuable. In this new second edition, author Gerry Carr presents sport mechanics fundamentals in a format that's easy to understand and apply. All-new content addresses recent changes in sport skills, techniques, and equipment that affect biomechanics. The new book incorporates updated explanations and more than 125 illustrations and photos. It also contains more sidebars explaining techniques, achievements, and equipment related to the mechanical concept discussed in each chapter. End-of-chapter review questions and practical activities allow coaches and sport science students the opportunity to conduct hands-on experiments on concepts such as torque, momentum, inertia, and lift. Answers and solutions appear in the back of the book, where you'll also find a glossary, bibliography, and general index.

From Sport Mechanics for Coaches, Second Edition, you'll understand how physical laws influence sport performance, and you'll gain the tools to do the following:

-Observe, analyze, and correct errors in performance

-Assess the effectiveness of innovations in sport equipment

-Examine training methods for potential safety problems

-Assess the value of innovations in the ways in which sport skills are performed

-Know what to expect from different body types and levels of maturity

From his experiences as an Olympic athlete, professor of physical education, and teacher of sport mechanics to national coaches, Carr understands how to relate the scientific relationships and concepts to real sport applications. Sport Mechanics for Coaches, Second Edition, is a refreshingly clear, understandable, and meaningful resource for your pursuit of superior sport performance.

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

Carr (physical education, University of Victoria, Canada) presents the fundamentals of sport mechanics in a format that is easy to understand and apply, showing how to observe, analyze, and correct sport technique for better performance. With a minimum of scientific terminology and mathematics, he relates concepts to real sport applications, and, in this second edition, addresses recent changes in sport skills, techniques, and equipment that affect biomechanics. Chapter activities, questions, and explained answers are included. The book serves as the text for the American Sport Education Program Silver Level course on sport mechanics for coaches. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Eadric Bressel, EdD(Utah State University College of Education & Human Services)
Description:This is one of the few books devoted to practical applications of mechanics to sports. It is uniquely structured to avoid mathematical formulas and to focus on how mechanical principles can be used to improve sport performances. The previous edition was published in 1999.
Purpose:According to the author, the objective of the book is to assist readers in understanding how the laws of human movement apply to techniques used in sport. This is an important objective that many undergraduate students need assistance in applying: taking theory based information and applying it to a sport being coached or movement being taught. The book achieves this objective, and gives coaches and teachers strategies that can be immediately applied to various sports.
Audience:As the title implies, the book is intended for coaches, but any person interested in improving sport performance will find the book beneficial. The audience may also include athletes, physical education teachers, athletic trainers, and strength and conditioning professionals. The language and structure of the book may also be helpful to biomechanists who teach undergraduate courses with diverse student interests.
Features:The book includes a qualitative description of mechanical concepts (e.g., force and motion descriptors) with an especially well done chapter on fluid mechanics. The second section of the book explains how mechanical concepts are applied to sport. This latter section includes a mechanical description of select sport skills and information on how to analyze and correct errors in sport skills. While the lack of mathematical formulas is a unique feature of the book that will be welcomed by many practitioners, their absence may prevent a precise level of understanding and application of some mechanical concepts.
Assessment:This book fills an important gap between formal mechanical concepts and techniques used by coaches and teachers to improve sport performances. The second edition is updated and revised based on recent research findings that are relevant to a broad reading audience interested in sport performance.

Gerry Carr, professor of physical education at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, also teaches sport mechanics to coaches at the National Coaching Institute at the University of Victoria. In his university courses, Dr. Carr found that students responded better when he de-emphasized calculations and taught relationships and concepts rather than formulas. That approach forms the basis of this book.

Dr. Carr is a member of many professional organizations, including the Canadian Coaching Association and the Canadian Society for the History of Sport and Physical Education. He publishes extensively in the area of sport history and sport and politics. Dr. Carr has also written numerous books and articles on teaching and safety in gymnastics and on the fundamentals of track and field.

As a student, Dr. Carr competed for Britain in the Olympics as a discus thrower and earned a scholarship to UCLA, where he represented the Bruins in the throwing events.

Dr. Carr earned his PhD from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 1974.