Excellence in Coaching Certificate
As our society and technologies have changed so have the ways coaching has been delivered to our youth, unfortunately often in a negative way. This is most evident at the high school level, where for many years institutionalized apprenticeships were used to develop and promote coaches. The wise and sage experienced head coach would be aided for many years by a faithful and committed assistant who would take over for the head coach once the head coach reached retirement. This system is still practiced in some school systems but is becoming increasingly obsolete. Today we have many coaches who are no longer part of a school system, may not possess a degree and in some cases haven’t graduated from high school. We no longer have enough mentors for developing coaches.
This class, taught by Dr. John Planek, who has over 25 years experience as an athletic administrator, will seek to fill that void and provide a firm foundation for developing a coaching philosophy and a set of tools that will help participants improve as coaches, and provide a better experience for all those athletes that interact with coaches during their career.
Students who successfully complete the program will earn an Excellence in Coaching Certificate from the School of Continuing Studies at Dominican University."Passionate educators who strive to create exceptional learning opportunities for their student-athletes will find Dr. Planek's course engaging, innovative and inspiring."
Paul Pryma, Principal, Glenbrook North High School (former high school coach and athletic director)
Course Topics
- Beyond winning and losing
- The mastery approach to coaching
- Positivity and criticism
- Sportsmanship
- Creating a team culture
- Making practice count
- Competition coaching
- Parents as coaches
- Coaching legacy
- Coach as tipping point
- The mind of a champion
- Legal issues and liability
- Training, conditioning and safety
- Officials, rules and compliance
- Putting it all together