I always had fun to but did the shy, nerdy and obese kids have fun? Could it have been to the advantage of the obese kids to learn how to lose weight and set goals? Something like this should be done.
If your obese by the age 5, you will be obese the rest of your life. This reason behind this is that you become accustomed to things such as sugar and also you never lose fat cells once you gain them, you can only make them smaller! For a person who is already obese, that person has to do a lot of work to not only lose the weight but to stay thin!
I think that dietary habits and exercise should start with the parents as well as the school system.
But I see your point! If kids are shown a way to lose wt at least they have some sort of fighting chance.
yeah but what credilbity do you think that would give someone?
Don’t look at the degree type, look at the courses of their CV.
Ok have looked, almost all the coaches I have looked at have Bsc’s minimum in Exercise Physiology or Kineisology or a related field. Anyone give me examples of people who have become qualified coaches without a degree in an exercise related field? I am asking this because I am still undecided about my career but am starting a degree course in September. I want to know what my options are. I know its a bit late for that but life changes.
I don’t have a degree in an exercise related field.
What do you mean by “qualified”? You can attain the highest track and field coaching qualification without a university degree of any kind.
You can also coach an Olympic champion without any sort of sports science qualification.
You can either coach or you can’t. Some years ago, when Allan Wells was still racing, a British coach did research on all the coaches in Britain who had “produced” at least one international representative. The findings revealed more than 80 per cent of these “successful” coaches “produced” their first international rep within 18 months of taking up coaching.
HOWEVER it is mostly bureaucrats who hire and fire coaches at universities and sports institutes. And they want to see paperwork. So if that’s where you want to coach, you would be best advised to get your degree.
Then again, you can have every degree under the sun but if you don’t get “results” your coaching days might be numbered.
This is an important reply for several reasons. Think about the statistic that 80% of successful coaches produced their first international athlete within 18 months of starting.
To me, this means that the principles and practices of success are in place from the start.
They include, dedication and willingness to work hard, persistance, predictability (show up for practice on time every time!), reliability (don’t run off with your first success and dump the rest of the group).
These qualities are life skills and not taught in school.
18 months to a international rep? Can that be possible in the USA? The standards are very high here.
A few questions:
What are the biggest gains you (or any other quality coaches) have seen in 18 months?
If you were to take, lets say a male 100m runner to the international level, what do you look for?
What are the absolute minimum reqirements performance wise?
Thanks
If you want credibility build an awsome athlete.
A degree is just a paper. Get the results. I know people with exercise phisiology degrees who dont know jack shit about training an athlete. You have to be more than just book smart. You have to be able to sense what to do with an athlete, not just talk the talk. Talk will get you through the door but if you dont produce bye-bye.
This survey is not from the USA but it’s still psooible to put an athlete on a junior or developmental squad.
If you want results, look first at developing a large enough group to ensure that talent must be there in sufficient supply.
I absolutely agree with the above comments made by KitKat, Charlie and nycjay!
The problem, I suppose, is that until you reach this point of successful and to a certain extent, independent coaching, you have to earn a living and a degree -on any subject- and/or working under a “bureaucratic” system may -unfortunately- help on this. And this can easily delay your progress in a coaching career; if everything is there, however, it will come!!
As you all say though the latter does not imply a cause and effect relationship, for sure, if that’s the question!
That’s my opinion, of course…
Thanks for the excellent replies. It has certainly made me feel better that such an esteemed coach as yourself Charlie does not have a related degree. I also noticed SIff has a degree in Applied Mathematics or something.
I have become very interested in training knowledge and am now almost sure this is the field I want to go into. A masters in Mechanical Engineering won’t get me into the industry on its own, how do you start working with athletes without the related degree? Get another qualification like the CSCS in america? Obviously I am still pretty much a beginner but I plan to be extremely well versed in sports science by the time I want to be training athletes.
If memory serves correct CF got his degree in history. Funny enough, my former coach got his degree in history too! I learned alot from my coach and he is one of the big reasons why I am so interested in the Strength and Conditioning field! He took his midget baseball team to the nationals (again if memory serves correct) and they won! However, the similarity that I now see in both CF and my coach were that they both had a hunger for knowledge. CF learned alot from other great coaches as well; for example, Tudor O Bompa, the GERMANS, and etc… My coach learned alot from reading books related to Strength and Conditioning as well as related experience.
The comparison I can draw between my coach and CF is that both were at the elite level themselves and they later persued their coaching careers. CF was ranked #5 in the world at one point in the 100m. My coach played triple A ball, one step away from the majors!
So in conclusion, I definately think you need some book smarts (it doesn’t matter whether you got them from University, reading on your own) and some experience in the chosen sport. If you don’t have either you can still apprentice under someone like CF and pick up the major stuff and go on to become a great coach! Just look at Luke Skywalker and Yoda! Sorry, I’m still hung up on Star Wars after this weekand! 
Can you teach somebody how to use the FORCE? :rolleyes: It doesn’t matter if your an athlete or coach, the guys that are hungry enough (to learn, to apprentice, to teach) to be the best will get to that next level!