Books published by publisher Human Kinetics, Inc.

If you want to ride like a pro, you should learn from a pro! In Mastering Mountain Bike Skills, Third Edition, world-champion racer Brian Lopes and renowned riding coach Lee McCormack share their elite perspectives, real-life race stories, and their own successful techniques to help riders of all styles and levels build confidence and experience the full exhiliration of the sport. Mastering Mountain Bike Skills is the best-selling guide for all mountain biking disciplines, including enduro, pump track racing, dual slalom, downhill, cross-country, fatbiking, and 24-hour races. It absolutely captures the sport and offers everything you need to maximize performance and excitement on the trail. Learn how to select the proper bike and customize it for your unique riding style. Develop a solid skills base so you can execute techniques with more power and precision. Master the essential techniques to help you carve every corner, nail every jump, and conquer every obstacle in your path. Last, but not least, prepare yourself to handle every type of weather and trail condition that the mountain biking world throws at you. Whether you’re a recreational rider looking to rock the trails with friends, are a seasoned enthusiast, or are aspiring to be a top pro, Mastering Mountain Bike Skills will improve your ride and dust the competition. Don't just survive the trail—own the trail, and enjoy the thrill of doing it.

Improve shot power, increase on-court speed and agility, and outlast the opposition with Complete Conditioning for Tennis, the most comprehensive tennis conditioning resource available! The only strength and conditioning resource endorsed by the United States Tennis Association, Complete Conditioning for Tennis details how to maximize your training with exercises, drills, and programs that • assess physical strengths and deficiencies, • improve footwork and agility, • increase speed and quickness, • enhance stamina, • increase flexibility, • reduce recovery time, and • prevent common injuries. Throughout, you will have access to the same recommendations and routines used by today’s top professional players. From increasing the speed and power of your serve and groundstrokes to enhancing on-court agility and stamina, you will be ready to take the court with confidence and endure even the most grueling matches. Off the court, you’ll learn recovery techniques and preventive exercises for keeping shoulder and elbow injuries at bay. Featuring more than 200 on- and off-court drills and exercises combined with exclusive online access to 56 video clips, Complete Conditioning for Tennis is an essential resource for players, coaches, instructors, and anyone serious about the sport.

You volunteered to coach the football team, but are you ready? How will you teach the fundamental skills, run effective practices, and harness the energy of your young team? Fear not: Survival Guide for Coaching Youth Football has the answers. Longtime coach Jim Dougherty teams up with Brandon Castel to share experience and advice you can rely on from the first practice to the final game. It’s all here in the drills and the plays: evaluating players’ skills, establishing realistic goals, offering in-game coaching tips, and making the practices fun! Develop your team’s offensive and defensive skills for all positions with the Survival Guide’s collection of the game’s best youth drills. For plays that young players can actually run, flip to the Survival Guide’s offensive playbook and defensive alignments. And to get the most out of every practice, follow the ready-to-use practice plans. Turn to the series that has already guided thousands of first-time coaches in basketball, soccer, and softball to rewarding and productive seasons. With Survival Guide for Coaching Youth Football, you’re already well on your way.

Field a winning fastpitch softball team year after year with the knowledge and insights of a coaching legend! Coaching Fastpitch Softball Successfully provides the guidance and technical expertise you need in order to build and maintain a competitive team, covering every facet of leading a squad on the field and developing a program off of it.Hall of Fame coach Kathy Veroni, who has won more than 1,250 fastpitch games in her career, and pitching expert Roanna Brazier share their insights and experiences in this authoritative, comprehensive guide to coaching fastpitch softball. From developing a coaching philosophy and planning for the season to teaching the skills and tactics of the game, you will find proven formulas for success within these pages.With practice and conditioning plans, administrative forms, sample scouting charts, tactics for dozens of game situations, and more than 130 drills, Coaching Fastpitch Softball Successfully is the most complete resource available for aspiring and experienced coaches alike. Take advantage of the authors' expertise to gain a winning edge over your competition.

Learning to play volleyball has never been more effective—or more fun—than with Volleyball Fundamentals, Second Edition. Parents, coaches, and instructors of volleyball skill courses will immediately benefit from the solid foundational information and practical tips on how to teach every aspect of the sport. Players will enjoy using this resource because they will learn by doing—spending less time reading and more time engaged in playing the game. Volleyball Fundamentals begins by teaching the basics that get players ready to take the court. The book covers positioning and the importance of reading the opposing players, communicating with teammates, and preparing for movement on the court. The guidance on formations and rotations will help students get an immediate sense of where they belong on the court. Clear instructions, accompanied by illustrations, for drills help players master specific skills such as serving, receiving a serve, setting, attacking, blocking, and digging. Each skill is introduced through a simple four-step sequence: • You Can Do It: The skill is introduced with sequential instructions and accompanying photographs. • More to Choose and Use: Variations and extensions of the primary skill are covered. • Take It to the Court: Readers learn how to apply the skill in game play. • Give It a Go: These sections provide direct experiences—such as drills, small-sided games, and six-versus-six gamelike activities—for the reader to use to gauge, develop, and hone the skill. Throughout the book, teaching cues offer advice for avoiding common mistakes. New to this edition is a chapter on how to effectively use the libero position (defensive specialist) in game play. Sections on offensive and defensive tactics, scoring systems, rules, and modified games have also been updated to make the game as easy for you to teach as it is for your students to learn. As part of the Sports Fundamentals Series, Volleyball Fundamentals will help you teach the basic skills and tactics of the game so that your players can compete on the court in no time at all.

Health for Life provides the keys necessary for adopting healthy habits and committing to healthy living in high school and throughout the life span. The text covers all of the components of personal well-being, including physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health. It provides students the knowledge in making healthy choices and fosters the skill development required for taking healthy actions. Health for Life helps students in these ways: • Analyze how key influences affect their health and wellness, such as family, peers, media, and technology • Explore consumer topics and use appropriate resources to find answers to challenging questions • Sharpen their interpersonal communication skills as they share health knowledge; debate controversial topics; demonstrate refusal, negotiation, and refusal skills; manage interpersonal conflicts; and promote healthy living among their peers • Use decision-making skills and apply healthy living skills as they identify solutions to problems posed • Evaluate their own health habits as they relate to a variety of behaviors • Create goals for behavior change and establish plans for healthy living • Communicate health information with family and advocate for healthy living at home and in their communities • Discover how health and technology intersect on various topics The text is divided into seven units of 20 chapters. The chapters help students explore a range of topics, including mental health, nutrition, physical activity, stress management, healthy relationships, avoiding destructive habits, and making good health choices throughout life. Health for Life has an abundance of features that help students connect with content in personal ways and retain the information. Here’s a glance at some of those features: • Lesson Objectives, Lesson Vocabulary, Comprehension Check, and Chapter Review help students prepare to dive in to the material, understand it, and retain it (standard NHES 1). • Connect spurs students to analyze various influences on their health and wellness (standard NHES 2). • Consumer Corner aids students in exploring consumer health issues (standard NHES 3). • Healthy Communication gets students to use and expand their interpersonal communication skills as they share their views about various health topics (standard NHES 4). • Skills for Healthy Living and Making Healthy Decisions help students learn and practice self-management so they can make wise choices related to their health and wellness (standard NHES 5). • Planning for Healthy Living assists students in applying what they’ve learned as they set goals and establish plans for behavior change (standard NHES 6). • Self-Assessment offers students the opportunity to evaluate their health habits and monitor improvement in health behaviors (standard NHES 7). • Take It Home and Advocacy in Action prepare students to advocate for health at home and in their communities (standard NHES 8). • Health Science and Health Technology focus on the roles of science and technology as they rellate to health and where science and technology intersect regarding health issues. • Living Well News challenges students to integrate health literacy, math, and language skills to better understand a current health issue. In addition, Health for Life is reinforced by its online resources for teachers and students. Following are highlights of these two invaluable resources. Teacher Web Resource The Teacher Web Resource contains the following: • Complete lesson plans; the first three lessons have a corresponding PowerPoint slide show • An answer key to all worksheets and quizzes • A test package that includes tests for each chapter; tests consist of multiple-choice, true-or-false, fill-in-the-blank, and short essay questions All lesson plans and assessments support identified learning objectives. Each lesson plan includes these features: • Preparing the Lesson (lesson objectives and preparation) • Bell Ringer (a journal question for students, or a quiz or activity to begin class) • Lesson Focus (main points of the lesson paired with a student worksheet) • Lesson Application (main activity paired with a worksheet) • Reflection and Summary (lesson review) • Evaluate (student quiz or test or worksheet review) • Reinforcing the Lesson (Take It Home and Challenge activities) Student Web Resource The Student Web Resource contains these features: • All worksheets, quizzes, and other materials referred to in the lesson plans • Vocabulary flip cards and other interactive elements from the iBook edition • Expanded discussion of selected topics that are marked by web icons in the text • Review questions from the text, presented in an interactive format for students to fill out to check their level of understanding Delivering the content that will help students value and adopt healthy lifestyles, and loaded with the features and online resources that will help students understand and retain the content, Health for Life promises to be one of the most crucial texts for students today.

The world’s best-selling jump rope training guide returns, and it’s bigger, better, and more complete than ever! In Jump Rope Training, Second Edition, former U.S. wrestling champion Buddy Lee presents his jump rope training system used by over 25 U.S. Olympic teams. Workouts for a variety of sport skill and fitness components are included, such as endurance, strength and power, speed, agility, and balance. This second edition also includes the latest on rehabilitation of sport injuries and optimizing body composition for athletic performance. And, to get you started immediately, Jump Rope Training presents sample sport-specific training programs for more than 40 sports. If you’re ready to take your workouts to the next level, turn to the system that the world’s top athletes have come to rely on. Jump Rope Training will not only change the way you train but also change how you feel, look, and perform. It’s the proven approach to improving fitness and performance.

Hiking Illinois is your complete guide to 107 of the most scenic day hikes within the Land of Lincoln. No matter what region you wish to explore or how easy or hard a trek you want, this handy guide will lead you to the right trail.In this one-of-a-kind resource, you'll find the following features:- Detailed descriptions of every hike, in every region, including special points of interest, estimated hiking time and distance, and difficulty ratings for each trail- Phone numbers and Web sites, park hours and rules, and available facilities for 60 of the state's most scenic sites - Easy-to-read maps for every park and trail to help you navigate your hike and locate landmarks and other points of interest- A convenient trail finder that provides a summary of each trail's features and available facilities Hiking Illinois brings to life the history, terrain, flora, and fauna of each area. And the descriptions of nearby recreational and sightseeing destinations ensure you won't miss anything on your trip. Hiking Illinois is your guide to enjoying the great outdoors!

Improve shot power, increase on-court speed and agility, and outlast the opposition with Complete Conditioning for Tennis, the most comprehensive tennis conditioning resource available!The only strength and conditioning resource endorsed by the United States Tennis Association, Complete Conditioning for Tennis details how to maximize your training with exercises, drills, and programs that• assess physical strengths and deficiencies,• improve footwork and agility,• increase speed and quickness,• enhance stamina,• increase flexibility,• reduce recovery time, and• prevent common injuries.Throughout, you will have access to the same recommendations and routines used by today’s top professional players. From increasing the speed and power of your serve and groundstrokes to enhancing on-court agility and stamina, you will be ready to take the court with confidence and endure even the most grueling matches. Off the court, you’ll learn recovery techniques and preventive exercises for keeping shoulder and elbow injuries at bay.Featuring more than 200 on- and off-court drills and exercises combined with exclusive online access to 56 video clips, Complete Conditioning for Tennis is an essential resource for players, coaches, instructors, and anyone serious about the sport.

If you want to ride like a pro, you should learn from a pro! In Mastering Mountain Bike Skills, Third Edition, world-champion racer Brian Lopes and renowned riding coach Lee McCormack share their elite perspectives, real-life race stories, and their own successful techniques to help riders of all styles and levels build confidence and experience the full exhiliration of the sport. Mastering Mountain Bike Skills is the best-selling guide for all mountain biking disciplines, including enduro, pump track racing, dual slalom, downhill, cross-country, fatbiking, and 24-hour races. It absolutely captures the sport and offers everything you need to maximize performance and excitement on the trail. Learn how to select the proper bike and customize it for your unique riding style. Develop a solid skills base so you can execute techniques with more power and precision. Master the essential techniques to help you carve every corner, nail every jump, and conquer every obstacle in your path. Last, but not least, prepare yourself to handle every type of weather and trail condition that the mountain biking world throws at you. Whether you’re a recreational rider looking to rock the trails with friends, are a seasoned enthusiast, or are aspiring to be a top pro, Mastering Mountain Bike Skills will improve your ride and dust the competition. Don't just survive the trail—own the trail, and enjoy the thrill of doing it.

Take to the court with confidence and dominate the competition. Volleyball: Steps to Success provides comprehensive instruction in a unique progressive format that will have you digging, blocking, and racking up the kills in no time. With 64 on-court drills and technical instruction for all of the game’s essential skills, national championship coach Becky Schmidt sets you up to become a well-rounded player capable of playing any position on the court. Master individual skills such as serving, passing, and setting through detailed skill instruction, court diagrams, and full-color photo sequences. Then progress to valuable tactics and strategies that will help you become an on-court leader for your team. Learn how to determine your opponent’s strengths and attack the weaknesses. Read your opponent’s offense to be in the right position to dig hits and begin the counterattack. Be the player you always wanted to be. As part of the popular Steps to Success series, which has sold more than two million copies worldwide, Volleyball: Steps to Success is your guide to on-court success.

Experience the raw energy and aesthetic beauty of dance as you perfect your technique with Dance Anatomy. Featuring hundreds of full-color illustrations, Dance Anatomy presents more than 100 of the most effective dance, movement, and performance exercises, each designed to promote correct alignment, improved placement, proper breathing, and prevention of common injuries. The exercises are drawn in stunning detail, capturing the dancer in motion and highlighting the active muscles associated with each movement so you can develop and strengthen different areas of the body. You will clearly see how muscular development translates into greater poise and elegance on the stage. Each chapter addresses a key principle of movement to help you improve performance, beginning with the center of the body, where dance begins. You will learn exercises to target specific areas, such as shoulders and arms, pelvis, and lower legs to enhance flexibility and ensure safety. You will also discover more efficient ways of improving your lines and technique by implementing a supplementary conditioning program that takes into account your changing cycles of classes, practices, and times of rest. Regardless of your ability level or dance style, Dance Anatomy will help you master the impeccable balance, intense muscular control, and grace to prepare you for your next leading role!