![]() | Feature: Selected Sport and Physical Education Career Opportunities | No.52 January 2008 |
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![]() | Feature: Selected Sport and Physical Education Career Opportunities | No.52 January 2008 |
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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
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