Feature: Selected Sport and Physical Education Career OpportunitiesNo.52
January 2008
 
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  Feature: Selected Sport and Physical Education Career OpportunitiesNo.52
January 2008
 
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Being a Sport Coach / Sport Scientist at a High Performance Centre
Catherine Sellers

 

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) directs three training centers for elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes in Colorado Springs, CO., Lake Placid, NY., and Chula Vista, CA. The centres provide housing, meals, medical and performance services along with training facilities that are available to Olympic calibre athletes year round.
The Chinese have a saying that “Only elite coaches can produce elite athletes.” The demand on coaches is as great today as ever before. The coach is expected to know information and how to use physiology, nutrition, psychology, video technology, amongst other things, in their day-to-day interaction and training with athletes. When you add in the number of competitions, the travel schedule and training, it’s a very difficult job.

What do US Olympic Coaches look like?
Olympic level coaches in the United States are academically very educated. 83% have college degrees (76% had degrees 20 years ago) with 42.5% having a Masters degree or higher. 52% of US coaches have degrees in Physical Education or Kinesiology, which is a dramatic increase over the last twenty years (36% in a previous study). These coaches have been experienced competitors in their sport with over half (55%) competing post-college in the international arena and 35% actually competing in the Olympic Games. Three quarters make a living coaching, but only 14% coach at the University level.

How does the USOC assist Olympic Coaches?
Performance Services is a new concept within the USOC. Previously known as Coaching and Sport Science, we have done more than change the name to Performance Services, we have changed the way that we work. We are committed to providing applied, focused and integrated Sport Science, Sport Medicine and Coaching Services for our USA National Team Coaches and their athletes to assist them in achieving “Sustained International Competitive Excellence.”
Performance Services is an apt description of what we do. We provide services to coaches to help improve performance. Our four Team Leaders meet with coaches to develop strategies about improving performance and offer suggestions on how the USOC can provide resources that can help in their quest for Olympic medals. The teams have been developed by the similarities in sport—Endurance (led by Jay T. Kearney), Team and Technical (April Heinrichs), Strength and Power (Wes Barnett) and Acrobat and Combat (Alan Ashley). The beauty of being in like sports is the ability to identify topics of concern across the board for those sports. Can we make the most out of our limited resources to impact performance? Can we learn from each sports’ ideas and direction to make improvements? Those are key questions that this format helps to answer.
The Team Leaders have developed a cadre of applied scientists and experts to provide services to USA coaches and teams based on their knowledge within the four groups. Each of the sports and coaches has different needs, but as much as they are different, they are alike. The ability to have meaningful conversations regarding improving performance has been beneficial for all.
Each team has a sport psychologist, registered sports dietician, performance technologist, physiologist, strength and conditioning coach, medical service director and a biomechanist (where deemed necessary). This team works hand-in-hand with coaches to find solutions that can work for issues that relate to performance. The role of the Team Leaders is to prioritise the needs and allocate resources to the task that has been presented by the coaches in a particular sport.
The medical services are provided at each training center by certified Athletic Trainers, who are also involved in the integrative approach. The Medical Director for each team provides additional resources and services to our athletes.
The third arm of Performance Services is not tied to the Team Leader structure but provides support for the Team Leader structure. This includes our Recovery Center, Library and Coaching Departments.
The Recovery Center is a relatively new addition to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center. Our coaches and athletes had requested an area for athletes to have hot and cold whirlpools, dry sauna, steam bath and massage after workouts. The need for this area and the response to it has been very positive (you can imagine why!). We have coupled that with beverages and snack food that focus on carbohydrates and proteins, so that the athlete can leave from workout, walk to the Recovery Center and have their physical and nutritional recovery needs met.
Our library is one of the finest libraries in the country as it relates to sports. This is an invaluable asset for not only the Performance Services staff but the coaching community as well.
The Coaching department provides seminars and services to help coaches become better at their profession. Typically, Coaching will offer between five and six seminars each year, while working on other programming to benefit coaches and athletes.

Career Opportunities
The Performance Service staff has a good mix of scientists with terminal degrees and practitioners with Masters degrees.
The Sport Psychologists are licensed or eligible for licensing in the state in which they practice. The USOC requires a Psychologist with a clinical or counseling background, due to the wide variety of situations that may occur while on the road with teams.
Physiologists provide valuable assistance to our coaches and athletes regarding training. It is important for our physiologists to understand the science, but also be able to convey that information to both coach and athlete in a manner in which they can understand.
Colorado Springs is at altitude. Dr. Randy Wilber (Physiologist) is one of the leading experts in altitude training as well as environmental issues. Dr. Wilber is preparing our coaches and athletes for the conditions in Beijing.
The Biomechanists have a wide range of experience as technology is rapidly changing in that field as the demands for analysis of movement increases. At this time, our biomechanists have terminal degrees.
Performance Technology engages the use of video and any other technology to look at performance. The range of tools continues to grow as technology reduces the size of the instruments that can be used. This group provides scouting and “down and dirty” filming for the coaches to analyze for technique and/or team movement.
In the nutrition field, the USOC requires a registered Sports Dietician. The progression in this field is to become a registered Dietician and then complete additional certification through the American Dietetic Association for the sports certification.
The USOC has an intern program for all of our science positions as well as other divisions around the USOC (Marketing, Media, Finance, etc.) The positions are typically for a semester. For more information on that program visit http://www.usoc.org/12675.htm

Key Issues for the Future
1. The demise of Physical Education programs and its impact on the Coaching profession.
We all realise the importance of being able to be a good teacher and understanding the basics of teaching skill. With the reduction in the number of Universities offering Physical Education, we have to wonder where our coaches will acquire this knowledge base. While we are seeing a rise in the number of Universities offering Coaching programs, they are not identify nor teaching “performance” level issues, but rather focusing on “participatory” levels.
2. The pool of scientists able to remain working on sports issues
Scientists that have an understanding of the world of coaching are a very limited pool. Most have struggled in the field as the money and many career paths have moved to the more financially lucrative medical model. This changes the manner in which scientists communicate to coaches. Coaches, typically, want to hear from other elite level coaches about how they accomplished their success. Scientists have to look at the problem and issue from the coaches perspective. The coach, after all, is the client and is looking for answers that are not apparent to them.


Contact
Catherine Sellers
United States Olympic Committee
Colorado, USA
Email: cathy.sellers@usoc.org





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