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Beyond Winning – a book to inspire your coaching philosophy
Beyond Winning – a book to inspire your coaching philosophy

Beyond Winning – a book to inspire your coaching philosophy

By Brian Marshall

One of my favourite books on coaching philosophy is Beyond Winning – The Timeless Wisdom of Great Philosopher Coaches by Gary M. Walton (1992). Whilst the book discusses coaches of a bygone era (for example, John Wooden, Doc Councilman and Percy Cerutty) the ideas about philosophy of coaching (what we believe in, why we coach) can inspire our current generation of coaches to think about their values and beliefs.

When I am working with coaches on a course or mentoring them, I will often show them the summary below from Walton’s book. I will then ask them:

Which characterstics or values can you see in yourself today?

Which characterstics or values would you like to aspire to?

It is a good starting point for discussing philosophy and how we work with our athletes and how we conduct ourselves.

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