ResourcesNo.52
January 2008
 
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Book Review
Deborah Mkhosanna & Lateef Amusa

 

Rostron, S., Upton, P., Lentin, K., Raiz, A., Hughes, C. & Sievers, E. (2006).
Sharing the passion: Conversation with coaches
Cape Town, SA: Advanced Human Technologies.
ISBN 0-620-36268-5 Cost: $25.00 USD
This book is easy to read, given the fact that the contents are not of great interest to the general public. Though the book focuses on a particular field, it does not contain too much jargon. It is compiled in an understandable order, which deals with one aspect of coaching at a time.
It is a broad subject that has been summarised to benefit both the non-professional and the expert of the field in a similar but diverse way. The book gives counsel and advice to both coaches and those being coached. It reviews the coaching field and how it has evolved since 1940, from performance coaching to the recently introduced business of personal coaching.
The book also discusses the "thought provoking" approach that seems to be an answer to most of the sporting codes coaches, whether coaching national or provincial teams. The approach is orderly and theoretically it strikes one as a perfect approach. The adage "old habits die hard" contradicts this approach, however, especially because the approach seems to be time consuming, requiring the coach to deal with the players’ individual assessment and adjust the performance of the player's personal life and personality in order to fit into the whole "fixed" team. The approach raises many questions.
The book motivates and explains briefly and in plain language, the importance of health coaching and how the health coach can provide basic knowledge for the client. It breaks down anatomy and physiology into simple terms in order to illustrate the importance of the body and the vital roles played by the neuro-muscular skeletal system, nutrition, and the emotional effects and how all these add up to one equation. This chapter propels one to want to know more.
Amongst other countries, South Africa has been one where business and personal coaching have been recently introduced. Previously, a coach was perceived as a performance trainer. This chapter plainly explains the work and the difference between a coach and a mentor.
One chapter serves as a learning tool for anger-management, where coaches are advised not to brush over a problem when dealing with clients, but instead to go deep into detail with the client, assessing the client's daily life and include the client in the processes of assessment, healing and rehabilitation.
The last chapter of the book is an interview with an internationally accredited executive coach who is said to have focused exclusively on the discipline of coaching and is dedicated to establishing coaching as an industry with professional standing. The interview is steered in various ways in order to counsel coaches and give the "basic standards" of what is expected of them.
Overall, the book is an interesting read. It gives a different perception to coaching, while encouraging and giving guidance to individuals who are interested in becoming a personal coach. It also gives the diversity of coaching fields and how each in its own way achieves the goals set by the individual client, or a company, or the expectations of the team, team management and the fans.


Contact
Prof. Deborah Mkhosanna
University of Venda for Science and Technology
Thohoyandou, South Africa
Email: dmkhosanna@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Lateef Amusa
University of Venda for Science and Technology
Centre for Biokinetics, Recreation & Sport Science
Thohoyandou, South Africa
Email: amusalbw@yahoo.com




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