In an effort to increase knowledge about coaching youth sports, MSU is introducing three online courses through the Department of Kinesiology with the first class starting this fall.
The courses are part of a new coaching education certificate program at the graduate-school level, but are available to anyone who is a part of the lifelong education program. In conjunction with MSU's Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, the courses are designed to give coaching guidance at the youth and high school levels. The institute researches youth sports and conducts training camps.
The courses are beneficial in a couple of different ways. Said Eugene Brown, Department of Kinesiology's online course coordinator.
"There is a value for online education," Brown said. "It's a secondary thing that will make it easier for coaches to obtain the proper information about coaching or being an administrator in a sport."
The first course is Kinesiology 854, Sports Law for Administrators and Coaches. It aims to teach the concepts, policies and procedures relevant to the legal and administrative aspects of coaching.
Kinesiology 855, Psychological Bases of Coaching Athletes, is the second course and will be offered spring 2004. This course centers around studying the sociological, psychological, philosophical, developmental and instructional aspects of coaching.
The third course is Kinesiology 856, Biological Bases of Coaching Athletes, and will be available in summer 2004.
It offers students a chance to learn about the anatomical, physiological, medicinal and biomechanical aspects of coaching.
The three courses are directed primarily toward individuals who want to become high school coaches or administrators. None of the classes are sports-specific and each will allow a person to apply the information taught to any sport.
Neither Brown or his peers have attempted to present coaching courses online, and he said there is some uncertainty about how to monitor the classes. But by keeping the class size at 25 students, he said it will be an informative course.
MSU women's golf coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll said offering these types of classes will benefit youth and high school sports.
"It's a good thing that we are offering some education for people," Slobodnik-Stoll said. "In my experiences, I know there are a lot of youth coaches that have no experience with sports, so something is better than nothing."
For more information, contact Eugene W. Brown in the Department of Kinesiology at (517)353-6491.
