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Many high schools and youth sports organizations in your state and across the country are facing a significant shortage of coaches. Have you considered offering a coaching course to help train students for the role in the future? This is a great opportunity for students in your school who are passionate about sports and want to stay involved beyond their playing days, which for most end after high school.
Offer coaching courses at your school
Human Kinetics’ courses Coaching Principles and Sport First Aid are available for adoption for your high school curriculum. This course-tandem has been the gold standard in coaching education for more than 30 years, and both have recently been updated to include the latest research, best practices, and safety standards.
Develop life skills that go beyond coaching
While the courses are sport-centered, the concepts covered extend far beyond the traditional sports setting. They explore essential topics like leadership, conflict resolution, ethics, teamwork, mental health, and sportsmanship—skills that are valuable in a wide range of careers and everyday situations. A student doesn’t need to be an athlete or an aspiring coach to gain meaningful insights and practical tools from these courses.
Students can earn certification
Coaching Principles and Sport First Aid are accepted by many state high school associations as meeting certification requirements for scholastic coaches. Students who take the course you offer may very well be one step closer to being certified when they pursue coaching in the future.
After completing the course, students who wish to earn certification have the option to take the Human Kinetics’ certification test. The certification will travel with them wherever their coaching pursuits may take them.
An example of the program in practice
There are schools offering our courses to high school students right now. One of them is Hartford Unified High School (Hartford, WI) where Christine Shelsta, physical education and health teacher, has been teaching the Coaching Principles course for more than 10 years. She teaches the course as a semester-long course and supplements her classroom teaching with on-field instruction and evaluation. Her passion for sports and coaching is infectious, and students regularly are on a waiting list to get into her courses.
"I offer the Coaching Principles course twice a year, and it’s consistently popular with students—there’s always a waiting list. While many who enroll are athletes, a significant number are not, which brings a diverse range of perspectives to the class. The textbook and course materials serve as excellent teaching resources, and I enhance the curriculum with hands-on sport-specific content to provide a well-rounded learning experience. Students also have the option to take the Human Kinetics certification exam independently of the course, and many choose to pursue it."
Instructor ancillaries ease course preparation and delivery
The ancillaries that accompany the course enable the instructor to deliver it with ease. Ancillaries include the accompanying textbook (Successful Coaching, Fifth Edition or Sport First Aid, Sixth Edition); instructor guide; video clips; PowerPoint slides; unit quizzes; in-class activities; and more. Ancillaries are provided free of charge to adopting schools.
Interested in learning more? Get the process started today!
The first step is to contact John Klein. Just enter your information in the form below. He’ll follow up with you to answer any questions you may have and to get the process started. If you’d like to review our courses before you adopt for your district, he can provide you with reviewer access at no charge.
John Klein
K-12 Sales Manager
John began his women’s basketball coaching career at Lakeland (WI) College, serving as head coach 1982-86. He then spent seven years (1986-93) as the head coach at Fort Hays State University (KS). In 1991, John guided FHSU to the NAIA national championship, culminating with him being named 1991 NAIA Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year. During his tenure at Fort Hays, he won three league championships, and in 1996, John was inducted into the Fort Hays State University Athletics Hall of Fame. John rounded out his coaching career with six seasons at Eastern Illinois University (1993-99). In John’s 26 years with Human Kinetics, he’s drawn from his extensive experience in coaching and athletics to assist high school educators, athletic directors, and coaches implement cutting edge curriculum driven by Human Kinetics’ resources.
Offer courses for college credit
Additionally, you might consider offering the courses for college achievement program (CAP) credits. Our courses are recognized at hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide, meeting the rigorous standards required for academic credit. It’s a great way to provide students with engaging, relevant learning opportunities—and even better if they can earn college credit while pursuing their interests in coaching.