Coaching Principles

In the first column of the season, I listed out the criteria that the NHSBF wanted our coaches to meet to continue coaching.
This generated some interesting feedback, not all of which was positive. Generally, I think everyone that works with student-athletes wants to improve their coaching skills, but I also believe we have too many people who feel that because they've been coaching for 10, 15, or 20+ years, they know all they need to know about coaching.
This year, the NHSBF is requiring at least one coach from each program to complete the American Sport Education Program (ASEP) Coaching Principles course and Sport First Aid course. Both of these courses are offered on line to make it easier for our coaches to get the necessary certifications to coach.
I decided to take the courses too. I wanted to make sure I understood the time involved for someone to do this on-line, but I also want the knowledge. I've read the course text before, and found it to be most helpful when I was doing more coaching.
These days, I'm interested in teaching this course, so to do this, I need to pass the course with a grade of 90% or better.
I signed up for the on-line course last week, and today finished Part 1, Principles of Coaching. Despite having read the material before, I can see this isn't going to be a walk in the park. I've been reading two units at a time and then going on-line to review and do the lessons contained within each unit.
Each unit has a 3-5 question summary quiz to take before moving on to the next unit.

Principles of Coaching helps the coach come to grips with what their coaching philosophy is, how they would respond to different scenarios that test that philosophy, and also introduces the coach to the idea of Athletes First, Winning Second.
Everyone likes to think they would put their athletes ahead of winning, but this philosophy gets tested over and over in practice and competitive situations.

It took two days, approximately four hours, to complete Part 1. For any coach "offended" that we would ask them to take this class, Part 1 should make it clear why this ought to be a required course for all coaches, regardless of the sport they coach. I can also see application to business people who want to become leaders in their companies.

So, whine all you want about the requirement to complete this course. The bottom line here is that you'll be a better coach, which is what we're looking for, and you'll be doing your student-athletes a favor.