Course Components
The course fee includes access to the online course and test, reading assignments (delivered as PDFs throughout the course), one-year access to the course and Coaching Aids (PDF downloads), automatic test scoring, certificate of course completion printable from the website, and entry in the National Coaches Registry. A separate component (included in the course price) covers IESA-specific policies and points of emphasis. With this course, nothing will be shipped to you, and you will have immediate access to it upon purchase.

Course Description
Learn fundamental coaching concepts and responsibilities and come away with the most important coaching points of the major skills and tactics of youth sports.

In this interactive online course, you’ll learn to prepare for your season and provide the best possible experience for your athletes. The course is supplemented by excerpts taken from various Coaching Youth Sport books written by Human Kinetics Coach Education, which are provided as PDFs from within the online course. As you progress through the online course, you’ll be prompted to read excerpts to complete course activities.

A separate test (included in the course price) covers IESA-specific policies and points of emphasis.

The course includes many interactive exercises that apply and enrich concepts from the excerpts. The course introduces volunteer coaches to the games approach to coaching, which uses small-sided games to teach skills and tactics. It also includes a handy Coaches’ Clipboard utility with forms, documents, and detailed plans for successful practice sessions and game-day coaching. The course concludes with an online 30-question test.

Learning Objectives
In this course, you’ll learn how to

• focus on middle school interscholastic coaching;
• meet your coaching responsibilities, including examining your priorities as a coach;
• communicate effectively with athletes, parents, and officials;
• provide for safety and respond to injuries;
• develop a training program for athletes to promote lifelong fitness;
• prepare for, and coach on, competition day;
• create plans for your season and individual practices, and
• understand key IESA bylaws.

Audience

This course is a sport-neutral course geared toward coaches of athletes ages 6 to 13 participating in a recreational, noncompetitive setting (junior high and middle school coaches).

Guided by a mentor coach, coaches face learning challenges in the following units:

• Your Responsibilities as Coach
• Communication
• Safety and Fitness
• Rules
• The Games Approach to Coaching
• Season and Practice Plans
• Game-Day Coaching

 

The Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) provides the leadership and framework to ensure safe, equitable opportunities for students who are enriched through participation in education-based interscholastic activities.

Established in 1981 and rooted in an athlete-centered philosophy that places the developmental needs of athletes ahead of winning at all costs, Human Kinetics Coach Education courses and resources are customized and widely used by youth sport organizations, state high school associations, school districts, state departments of education, colleges and universities, and national governing bodies of Olympic sports to teach, train, and certify coaches.