Ex Writer 38 | - ✏ Freelance Writer
Oct 29, 2014 | #1
Abstract
Students in classrooms all across the world are struggling with the delicate balance of the coach-teacher conflict. Often, we find coach's in the classroom teaching students without proper knowledge, nor education. These coaches are using their fundamental coaching regulations and are being put into classrooms where they pass student-athletes when a the student is failing the course, tend to give leniency towards those on their athletic team and have never been certified to teach in the first place. There are many organizations in place to help these coach's in classroom setting. Though this may be helpful, these individuals who are out to help these classroom coach's aren't certified teachers either. Should coaches be in the classroom teaching subjects that they aren't fully knowledgeable on?
There is an ongoing argument questioning whether or not coaches should be teachers as well. Some students make it through classes on their academic ability, while others are pushed through based on their athletic ability. Today, coaches are finding themselves in teaching roles, but they are not certified to teach. One must ask themselves, why are coaches that aren't certified able to teach at the same level as Master's level educators? Unfortunately, in a lot of areas, athletic ability tends to rank higher then academic ability.
Different states in the United States have different standards for the teachers and coaches that they hire and due to this, our country is educationally handicapped because of coaches teaching classes like algebra (PhD). Essentially, the function of a coach is to educate students through participation in interscholastic competition; however, an interscholastic program should be designed to enhance academic achievement and should never interfere with opportunities for academic success (The Coaches Code of Ethics). Coaches are meant to organize, instruct and teach amateur and professional athletes the fundamentals of a sports team.
Some entry level positions for coaches are required to only experience sport as a participant. Head coaches and sports instructors at all levels usually mist have a bachelor's degree in exercise and sports science, physiology, kinesiology, nutrition and fitness, physical education and sports medicine (McKay). Some entry level positions require experience in the sport that they are going to coach, and those who are not certified teachers must meet individual state requirements for certification. In private schools, these teaching certifications are not always required. With extreme experience and knowledge of the sport, is often required. Coaches need to possess high levels of communication and leadership, while being resourceful and flexible (McKay).
Typically, a school of 800 students or more with have approximately a third of its faculty involved in coaching sports. Some of these coaches are teachers during the day program and coaches after (predominately Basketball and Football coaches). With all of this being fact, years ago, you would have found coaches in physical education classrooms, however now, coaches teach everything from science to algebra (Cotton). Since these coaches are in main teaching roles, it is difficult to hide them from school boards. Though these coaches may have some familiarity with the subjects that they are teaching, their time, commitment and reputations of their values are set on the sports and not on academics (Cotton). Unfortunately, nowadays schools are more interested in the success of their sports teams rather than the success of students' academics.
In classrooms across the United States, academic subjects only get part of an hour a day, five days a week. Athletic programs average two and a half hours a day, not including game days. With this information, it is clear to see that sports activity is getting more than three times the amount of attention than actual academic programs are getting (Cotton). Students also are able to leave school early for travel time for away games, watch games and in some states, are able to use a certain amount of time during the academic day to practice instead of putting the primary focus on education (Cotton). In this day in age, our citizens are consumed by successful professional sports games and are creating an atmosphere for a student that leads them to believe that sports are more important than academic education. Also, students view professional players that consistently get injured and return to the sport, heroic rather than focusing on the seriousness of the condition (Cotton).
Physical education is seen as a discipline where growing children learn the essential skills to become physically active adult. Though this is true, high school students who are not participating in the recommended levels of physical activity become obese adolescents and this rate continues to increase (Reed). In 2000, thirty-one percent of adults were assumed obese and sixty-four percent were simply considered overweight. If the same sixty-four percent of adults were illiterate, federal and state governments would typically aggressively move to develop programs to fix the problems (Reed). A major problem lies within the fact that our educational system and the public hold coaches responsible for this obesity and not the actual physical educators. It is very important that the teacher/coach conflict is re-evaluated so that problems can be resolved.
This conflict started in the mid-1970s where there was a shortage of coaches in the school system. At this time, more women became more active in sports, more assistant coaches were hired and there was a decrease in the availability of physical education jobs. Most high school level physical educators are also coaches (Reed). Since that time, there has been an increase in coaching programs being offered by higher education sources while also increasing the interest in the coaching profession. High schools have the ability to hire properly certified physical educators who want to teach as well as hire coaches who want to coach. Though there are several factors within this conflict, the problem is associated with physical education at the high school level and either hiring or not hiring certified physical educators (Reed).
Many of these physical educators are coaches first and that is where their primary problem lies. Our society can be considered obsessive over sports. The system that we run off of supports and rewards coaches with more assets then they do for certified teachers (this includes media exposure and enhanced professional status). However, though this is true, when the teacher/coach conflict is discussed with professionals, many coaches who are also teachers tend to overlook the conflict and instead point out that high school physical education is underfunded and lacks resources that would provide students with adequate movement opportunities (Reed). These coaches/teachers often refer to non-participating students as "lazy" or that they have too many "distractions". A lack of resources does not relieve physical educators from being responsible for diminishing activity levels of American youth (Reed).
Many studies have shown that most high schools physical education teachers admittedly provide more effort, time and attention to their coaching positions, rather than teaching physical education in the classroom. A large percentage of these individuals would rather coach and not teach (Reed). Perhaps a major reason for this is because coaches make much more money than certified teachers in certain areas of the United States. Football coaches in the state's largest high schools generally make much more money than state teachers do, including certified teachers with graduate degrees and decades of experience (Bow). Head coaches in schools with a population of 950 students or more, are making an average of $73,804 while teachers, who hold certifications and degrees average only $42,400 per year according to records obtained by the Austin American-Statesman through the Texas Public Information Act (Bow). The Associated Press reported that 5A and 4A coaches earn an average of $54,000 a year while the state's average teacher only earned around $31,000. The gap between teachers' and coaches' salaries has widened by 7.3% over the past ten years (Bow). Since this study was done in 1995, with inflation, teachers make an average of $40,207 and coaches earn an average of $69,488.
In Texas, out of approximately 461 schools, five coaches earned more than $100,000 a season. The lowest paid coach, Houston Furr's Cornell Gray, made $42,300 (Bow). Twenty-seven schools in Texas pay their football coaches more then they pay their principles. Ten years ago, the Texas Education Agency and state officials expressed their disappointment with the fact that their coaches were earning more than teachers. Facts are that education is much more important than sports; however they have misplaced the important roles in a school for the more exciting roles (Bow). Though school boards in Texas are trying to fix this misconception that a coach's role is more important role then teachers, they still believe that football is a top priority. Though sports play an important role in an adolescents life, their education should always be held to a higher authority.
Coaches in Texas believe that their salaries are justified due to the amount of days and hours they spend with each student. On average, coaches' typically work 226 days of the year when teachers only work 187 days a year (Bow). The president of the Texas State Teachers Association, Donna Haschke considers sports an important role; however she still believes that sports should come secondary to a formal education. Most superintendents will say that winning is not as important as teaching academics and good values. However, superintendents cannot deny that a team's advancement into the playoffs provides more money in the school district and also get more exposure. Coaches receive a base salary for their teaching/coordination responsibilities, but most would say that they do not do it for the money, but rather for the influence that they have on a minor's life. They all believe that they are teaching the fundamentals of sportsmanship, teamwork and the ability to take constructive criticism (Bow).
Sports are taken very seriously in certain states. Texas, for example, has decided to increase the number of credits that can be applied toward a students' graduation. Initially, high school individuals were only able to apply two credits; now they can apply four towards a student's graduation. Coaches and athletic directors were happy with the change. They were the ones that initially sought this change. With coaches in the classroom, more physical education credits increases a coach's ability to teach. This helps a coach's athlete pass classes that they ordinarily (with a certified teacher) would struggle with. Coach's fought a students' ability to only receive two credits from athletic participation along with parents of students who were athletically inclined, but academically struggling, giving the student/athlete a higher potential to pass classes without actually understanding the rubric (Benning). The new law increases the credits students can apply toward a degree in many elective subjects and in theory would allow the student to get credit for up to seven athletic courses, which in turn allows the student to take less core classes like English, Science, History, Math, etc..
Each semester, Kansas State athletics earn academic credit for "on field" participation. This basically means that they can receive academic credit for participating in sports, practices, games, etc.... Some athletes are able to count as many as four credit hours toward their academic degrees by playing on more school sport teams. Though this is fact, it does not change from high school to college. A Washington Post survey of physical education courses taught at the 117 schools that field Division I-A football teams, found that nearly three dozen universities award academic credit for participation on intercollegiate sports teams.
These universities only had two stipulations. The first is being a member of the sports team and the second is participation and attendance at practices and games (Schlabach). The play-for-grades classes provide truths about the challenge of reconciling academic missions with successful athletes. In April, the NCAA (National Collegiate Association) approved academic change. The changes include taking away the opportunity to earn those academic credits (for participating in school sport) if they failed any of their academic courses. Some would say that this will encourage athletes to keep up on their academic work to work toward earning a degree, while maintaining their participation in school sports.
An apparent loophole in the NCAA's eligibility regulations is leading to an increasing number of top recruits to intentionally fail to graduate from high school early which improves their chances of playing sooner in college. When athletes believe that they will not meet the minimum athletic eligibility standards, they will intentionally fail a course or withdraw from school all together. This type of behavior is encouraged to good athletes who struggle academically by their coaches in the classroom. The grades that these athletes earn after listening to their coaches/teachers, will apply toward their college eligibility requirements. Coaches that are teaching academic courses encourage this behavior from their students. The coaches want them to have a successful athletic career even if it means that they have to "cheating the system". Typically, it is the classes that coaches are not teaching that they tend to fail (Dreams).
One may be wondering what the role of a coach is. On a typical day, a coach will instruct the athlete on proper form and technique in beginning and it continues as the athlete advances in exercise. Coaches attempt to maximize the player's physical potential. Coaches oversee an athlete as they refine their individual skills in the specific sport. They also manage the team during both practices and competitions against other teams. They help an athlete to learn sportsmanship, a competitive spirit and most importantly, team work. Coaches will select, store, issue and inventory all of the equipment, supplies and materials needed. Coaches also have the ability to substitute players for high quality team chemistry and success. They will evaluate the opposing competitors and direct a team strategy while they call specific plays during competition to surprise or overpower their opponent (McKay).
Though many are opposed to coaches taking over teachers roles, The National Football Foundation's Play It Smart, helped many students get back on track. This program was launched in 1998 and it is funded by the NFF (National Football Foundation) and the College Football Hall of Fame. The NFF raises money from individual organizations and businesses, including the NFL and the NFL Players Association (Esfarjani). High schools get involved with Play It Smart by approaching the NFF with an application and this is followed by an on-site visit from the program. When a school is chosen, it is assigns an academic coach. The academic coaches are not certified teachers, but they are required to have at least a Bachelor's Degree in Education.
Academic coaches are trained during a week-long session that involves topics like strategies for taking the SAT/ACT, life skills and teaching in a diverse population. Each of the teaching coaches is required to take seminars every year. The NFF says Play It Smart has more than 11,000 participants throughout 136 high schools in 35 states. The graduation rate of students enrolled in this program has increased by 98% which is comparable to a national rate of 86%. The NFF has spent more than $15 million on the program, helping students increase their chances of graduating. Academic coaches commit a minimum of twenty hours per week and stay at the school from the beginning of the football season through till the end of the school year. Though individuals involved in this program have good intentions and so far a very good success rate, it is still questionable to how qualified these individuals actually are. The NFF spends a lot of money working with athletic students, but one must ask themselves if a one week session and a bachelor degree qualifies them to "teach". Clearly, they would most likely have an even high success rate if they were to employ actual certified teachers as opposed to what they currently employ.
The most recent and comprehensive set of standards were developed and published in 1996 by the National Association or Sport and Physical Education (NASPE). The standards set by NASPE are accepted by organizations throughout the country and are being used to determine the content of coaching education programs. As these standards increase in popularity and acceptance, there would be a "standard of care" for coaches in the eyes of the law. Coaches are now required to have the training and expertise in each of the carious areas detailed in the set of standards.
The legal and ethical issues are not mutually exclusive, like other legal responsibilities, and they are based off societal ethics (doing what is right) (Engelhorn). Coaches much prevent discrimination and harassment of athletes. When coaches are in charge of athletes, they are expected to be safe, both physically and emotionally. The following is a list of legal duties adapted from the Coach Youth Sports Web Site and represents the many codes of conduct and behaviors recommended for coaches:
1. Conducting practices and games in a safe physical environment.
2. Use of current knowledge of proper skills and methods of instruction.
3. Use of safe and appropriate equipment.
4. Proper short and long term planning.
5. Proper matching of athletes in practices and games by size, experience and ability.
6. Provision of adequate supervision of athletes.
7. Providing warnings to the parents of athletes of risks in sport participation.
8. Sensitivity to the health and well-being of athletes under their care.
9. Provision of appropriate emergency care.
10. Prevent harassment and discrimination by coaching staff and athletes.
11. Report suspected child abuse to proper authorities.
12. Respect and protect the confidentiality of student personal records.
13. Report breaches of ethical behavior by colleagues.
These regulations on coaches lead academic professionals to believe that they are capable of running classrooms. With these same principles, coaches run classrooms without exact knowledge or education in the subjects that they are teaching. By doing this, students that are not catching onto the materials, but play on an academic sport, tend to pass these classes regardless. Unfortunately, coaches attach themselves to their athletes and therefore allow them to get away with failing a course but passing anyway. If they aren't passing them, they are teaching them how to drop out of school for potential early success in their athletic career (Engelhorn). The coach's ethical responsibilities are useful responsibilities that guarantee the achievement of the educational mission of an interscholastic athletic program (Engelhorn).
The function of a coach is to educate students through participation in school athletics and competition. These programs should be designed to enhance academic achievement and should never interfere with opportunities for academic success (The Coaches Code of Ethics). Each student-athlete should be treated the same as the students that are not participating in sports. Each coach should understand that they have a huge influence, good or bad, on the education of the student-athlete. Coaches should never place the value of winning above the value of instilling the highest ideals of character. A coach should be setting examples for the student-athletes in whatever setting they are in. In addition to this, the coach should also prevent the use of tobacco, alcohol and drug free from all the students they interact with.
A coach dealing with a variety of different students and student-athletes, they should be promoting more students to get into the interscholastic program. By doing this, they are encouraging students to be more active in the everyday dealings of the school environment. Also, it may help students better their attention span by giving them something to look forward to after school. Coaches must study for the classes that they are going to be teaching so not to go into the class blind. A coach shall also never exert pressure on faculty members to give student-athletes special consideration. A coach shouldn't scout opponents by any means other than those adopted by the league and/or state high school athletic regulations (The Coaches Code of Ethics).
Works Cited
Benning, T. "Texas High School Athletes Gain Grounds in Class." The Wall Street Journal.
Bow, A. "High School Coaches Salaries: In Dollars Coaches Beat Teachers." Statesman.
Cotton, H. "Athletics vs. Academics." EdWeek.
Dreams, N. "Athletes Intentionally Fail High School." 2001. SEC Football Talk.
Engelhorn, R. "Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of a Coach." Iowa's State University.
Esfarjani, B. "Coaches Focus on Academics." 2006. USA Today.
McKay, D.R. "Athletic Coach: Career Information." 2010. Career Planning.
PhD, R.W. "Are Coaches Good Classroom Teachers?" 2009. Creaters.com: A Syndicate of Talent.
Reed, J.A. "Separating Teacher, Coach Roles Would Improve Phys Ed: South Carolina Needs to Hire Physical Educators to Teach High School Students, Not Coaches." Green Villie.
Schlabach, M. "Varsity Athletes Get Class Credit: Some College Give Grades for Playing." 2004. Washington Post.
Shipp, B. "Coach Investigated over Grade-Changing Scandal." 2009. WFAA-TV.
"The Coaches Code of Ethics." 2009. National Federation of State High School Associations.
Students in classrooms all across the world are struggling with the delicate balance of the coach-teacher conflict. Often, we find coach's in the classroom teaching students without proper knowledge, nor education. These coaches are using their fundamental coaching regulations and are being put into classrooms where they pass student-athletes when a the student is failing the course, tend to give leniency towards those on their athletic team and have never been certified to teach in the first place. There are many organizations in place to help these coach's in classroom setting. Though this may be helpful, these individuals who are out to help these classroom coach's aren't certified teachers either. Should coaches be in the classroom teaching subjects that they aren't fully knowledgeable on?
High School Coaches as Teachers
There is an ongoing argument questioning whether or not coaches should be teachers as well. Some students make it through classes on their academic ability, while others are pushed through based on their athletic ability. Today, coaches are finding themselves in teaching roles, but they are not certified to teach. One must ask themselves, why are coaches that aren't certified able to teach at the same level as Master's level educators? Unfortunately, in a lot of areas, athletic ability tends to rank higher then academic ability.Different states in the United States have different standards for the teachers and coaches that they hire and due to this, our country is educationally handicapped because of coaches teaching classes like algebra (PhD). Essentially, the function of a coach is to educate students through participation in interscholastic competition; however, an interscholastic program should be designed to enhance academic achievement and should never interfere with opportunities for academic success (The Coaches Code of Ethics). Coaches are meant to organize, instruct and teach amateur and professional athletes the fundamentals of a sports team.
Some entry level positions for coaches are required to only experience sport as a participant. Head coaches and sports instructors at all levels usually mist have a bachelor's degree in exercise and sports science, physiology, kinesiology, nutrition and fitness, physical education and sports medicine (McKay). Some entry level positions require experience in the sport that they are going to coach, and those who are not certified teachers must meet individual state requirements for certification. In private schools, these teaching certifications are not always required. With extreme experience and knowledge of the sport, is often required. Coaches need to possess high levels of communication and leadership, while being resourceful and flexible (McKay).
Typically, a school of 800 students or more with have approximately a third of its faculty involved in coaching sports. Some of these coaches are teachers during the day program and coaches after (predominately Basketball and Football coaches). With all of this being fact, years ago, you would have found coaches in physical education classrooms, however now, coaches teach everything from science to algebra (Cotton). Since these coaches are in main teaching roles, it is difficult to hide them from school boards. Though these coaches may have some familiarity with the subjects that they are teaching, their time, commitment and reputations of their values are set on the sports and not on academics (Cotton). Unfortunately, nowadays schools are more interested in the success of their sports teams rather than the success of students' academics.
In classrooms across the United States, academic subjects only get part of an hour a day, five days a week. Athletic programs average two and a half hours a day, not including game days. With this information, it is clear to see that sports activity is getting more than three times the amount of attention than actual academic programs are getting (Cotton). Students also are able to leave school early for travel time for away games, watch games and in some states, are able to use a certain amount of time during the academic day to practice instead of putting the primary focus on education (Cotton). In this day in age, our citizens are consumed by successful professional sports games and are creating an atmosphere for a student that leads them to believe that sports are more important than academic education. Also, students view professional players that consistently get injured and return to the sport, heroic rather than focusing on the seriousness of the condition (Cotton).
Physical education is seen as a discipline where growing children learn the essential skills to become physically active adult. Though this is true, high school students who are not participating in the recommended levels of physical activity become obese adolescents and this rate continues to increase (Reed). In 2000, thirty-one percent of adults were assumed obese and sixty-four percent were simply considered overweight. If the same sixty-four percent of adults were illiterate, federal and state governments would typically aggressively move to develop programs to fix the problems (Reed). A major problem lies within the fact that our educational system and the public hold coaches responsible for this obesity and not the actual physical educators. It is very important that the teacher/coach conflict is re-evaluated so that problems can be resolved.
This conflict started in the mid-1970s where there was a shortage of coaches in the school system. At this time, more women became more active in sports, more assistant coaches were hired and there was a decrease in the availability of physical education jobs. Most high school level physical educators are also coaches (Reed). Since that time, there has been an increase in coaching programs being offered by higher education sources while also increasing the interest in the coaching profession. High schools have the ability to hire properly certified physical educators who want to teach as well as hire coaches who want to coach. Though there are several factors within this conflict, the problem is associated with physical education at the high school level and either hiring or not hiring certified physical educators (Reed).
Many of these physical educators are coaches first and that is where their primary problem lies. Our society can be considered obsessive over sports. The system that we run off of supports and rewards coaches with more assets then they do for certified teachers (this includes media exposure and enhanced professional status). However, though this is true, when the teacher/coach conflict is discussed with professionals, many coaches who are also teachers tend to overlook the conflict and instead point out that high school physical education is underfunded and lacks resources that would provide students with adequate movement opportunities (Reed). These coaches/teachers often refer to non-participating students as "lazy" or that they have too many "distractions". A lack of resources does not relieve physical educators from being responsible for diminishing activity levels of American youth (Reed).
Many studies have shown that most high schools physical education teachers admittedly provide more effort, time and attention to their coaching positions, rather than teaching physical education in the classroom. A large percentage of these individuals would rather coach and not teach (Reed). Perhaps a major reason for this is because coaches make much more money than certified teachers in certain areas of the United States. Football coaches in the state's largest high schools generally make much more money than state teachers do, including certified teachers with graduate degrees and decades of experience (Bow). Head coaches in schools with a population of 950 students or more, are making an average of $73,804 while teachers, who hold certifications and degrees average only $42,400 per year according to records obtained by the Austin American-Statesman through the Texas Public Information Act (Bow). The Associated Press reported that 5A and 4A coaches earn an average of $54,000 a year while the state's average teacher only earned around $31,000. The gap between teachers' and coaches' salaries has widened by 7.3% over the past ten years (Bow). Since this study was done in 1995, with inflation, teachers make an average of $40,207 and coaches earn an average of $69,488.
In Texas, out of approximately 461 schools, five coaches earned more than $100,000 a season. The lowest paid coach, Houston Furr's Cornell Gray, made $42,300 (Bow). Twenty-seven schools in Texas pay their football coaches more then they pay their principles. Ten years ago, the Texas Education Agency and state officials expressed their disappointment with the fact that their coaches were earning more than teachers. Facts are that education is much more important than sports; however they have misplaced the important roles in a school for the more exciting roles (Bow). Though school boards in Texas are trying to fix this misconception that a coach's role is more important role then teachers, they still believe that football is a top priority. Though sports play an important role in an adolescents life, their education should always be held to a higher authority.
Coaches in Texas believe that their salaries are justified due to the amount of days and hours they spend with each student. On average, coaches' typically work 226 days of the year when teachers only work 187 days a year (Bow). The president of the Texas State Teachers Association, Donna Haschke considers sports an important role; however she still believes that sports should come secondary to a formal education. Most superintendents will say that winning is not as important as teaching academics and good values. However, superintendents cannot deny that a team's advancement into the playoffs provides more money in the school district and also get more exposure. Coaches receive a base salary for their teaching/coordination responsibilities, but most would say that they do not do it for the money, but rather for the influence that they have on a minor's life. They all believe that they are teaching the fundamentals of sportsmanship, teamwork and the ability to take constructive criticism (Bow).
Sports are taken very seriously in certain states. Texas, for example, has decided to increase the number of credits that can be applied toward a students' graduation. Initially, high school individuals were only able to apply two credits; now they can apply four towards a student's graduation. Coaches and athletic directors were happy with the change. They were the ones that initially sought this change. With coaches in the classroom, more physical education credits increases a coach's ability to teach. This helps a coach's athlete pass classes that they ordinarily (with a certified teacher) would struggle with. Coach's fought a students' ability to only receive two credits from athletic participation along with parents of students who were athletically inclined, but academically struggling, giving the student/athlete a higher potential to pass classes without actually understanding the rubric (Benning). The new law increases the credits students can apply toward a degree in many elective subjects and in theory would allow the student to get credit for up to seven athletic courses, which in turn allows the student to take less core classes like English, Science, History, Math, etc..
Each semester, Kansas State athletics earn academic credit for "on field" participation. This basically means that they can receive academic credit for participating in sports, practices, games, etc.... Some athletes are able to count as many as four credit hours toward their academic degrees by playing on more school sport teams. Though this is fact, it does not change from high school to college. A Washington Post survey of physical education courses taught at the 117 schools that field Division I-A football teams, found that nearly three dozen universities award academic credit for participation on intercollegiate sports teams.
These universities only had two stipulations. The first is being a member of the sports team and the second is participation and attendance at practices and games (Schlabach). The play-for-grades classes provide truths about the challenge of reconciling academic missions with successful athletes. In April, the NCAA (National Collegiate Association) approved academic change. The changes include taking away the opportunity to earn those academic credits (for participating in school sport) if they failed any of their academic courses. Some would say that this will encourage athletes to keep up on their academic work to work toward earning a degree, while maintaining their participation in school sports.
An apparent loophole in the NCAA's eligibility regulations is leading to an increasing number of top recruits to intentionally fail to graduate from high school early which improves their chances of playing sooner in college. When athletes believe that they will not meet the minimum athletic eligibility standards, they will intentionally fail a course or withdraw from school all together. This type of behavior is encouraged to good athletes who struggle academically by their coaches in the classroom. The grades that these athletes earn after listening to their coaches/teachers, will apply toward their college eligibility requirements. Coaches that are teaching academic courses encourage this behavior from their students. The coaches want them to have a successful athletic career even if it means that they have to "cheating the system". Typically, it is the classes that coaches are not teaching that they tend to fail (Dreams).
One may be wondering what the role of a coach is. On a typical day, a coach will instruct the athlete on proper form and technique in beginning and it continues as the athlete advances in exercise. Coaches attempt to maximize the player's physical potential. Coaches oversee an athlete as they refine their individual skills in the specific sport. They also manage the team during both practices and competitions against other teams. They help an athlete to learn sportsmanship, a competitive spirit and most importantly, team work. Coaches will select, store, issue and inventory all of the equipment, supplies and materials needed. Coaches also have the ability to substitute players for high quality team chemistry and success. They will evaluate the opposing competitors and direct a team strategy while they call specific plays during competition to surprise or overpower their opponent (McKay).
Though many are opposed to coaches taking over teachers roles, The National Football Foundation's Play It Smart, helped many students get back on track. This program was launched in 1998 and it is funded by the NFF (National Football Foundation) and the College Football Hall of Fame. The NFF raises money from individual organizations and businesses, including the NFL and the NFL Players Association (Esfarjani). High schools get involved with Play It Smart by approaching the NFF with an application and this is followed by an on-site visit from the program. When a school is chosen, it is assigns an academic coach. The academic coaches are not certified teachers, but they are required to have at least a Bachelor's Degree in Education.
Academic coaches are trained during a week-long session that involves topics like strategies for taking the SAT/ACT, life skills and teaching in a diverse population. Each of the teaching coaches is required to take seminars every year. The NFF says Play It Smart has more than 11,000 participants throughout 136 high schools in 35 states. The graduation rate of students enrolled in this program has increased by 98% which is comparable to a national rate of 86%. The NFF has spent more than $15 million on the program, helping students increase their chances of graduating. Academic coaches commit a minimum of twenty hours per week and stay at the school from the beginning of the football season through till the end of the school year. Though individuals involved in this program have good intentions and so far a very good success rate, it is still questionable to how qualified these individuals actually are. The NFF spends a lot of money working with athletic students, but one must ask themselves if a one week session and a bachelor degree qualifies them to "teach". Clearly, they would most likely have an even high success rate if they were to employ actual certified teachers as opposed to what they currently employ.
The most recent and comprehensive set of standards were developed and published in 1996 by the National Association or Sport and Physical Education (NASPE). The standards set by NASPE are accepted by organizations throughout the country and are being used to determine the content of coaching education programs. As these standards increase in popularity and acceptance, there would be a "standard of care" for coaches in the eyes of the law. Coaches are now required to have the training and expertise in each of the carious areas detailed in the set of standards.
The legal and ethical issues are not mutually exclusive, like other legal responsibilities, and they are based off societal ethics (doing what is right) (Engelhorn). Coaches much prevent discrimination and harassment of athletes. When coaches are in charge of athletes, they are expected to be safe, both physically and emotionally. The following is a list of legal duties adapted from the Coach Youth Sports Web Site and represents the many codes of conduct and behaviors recommended for coaches:
1. Conducting practices and games in a safe physical environment.
2. Use of current knowledge of proper skills and methods of instruction.
3. Use of safe and appropriate equipment.
4. Proper short and long term planning.
5. Proper matching of athletes in practices and games by size, experience and ability.
6. Provision of adequate supervision of athletes.
7. Providing warnings to the parents of athletes of risks in sport participation.
8. Sensitivity to the health and well-being of athletes under their care.
9. Provision of appropriate emergency care.
10. Prevent harassment and discrimination by coaching staff and athletes.
11. Report suspected child abuse to proper authorities.
12. Respect and protect the confidentiality of student personal records.
13. Report breaches of ethical behavior by colleagues.
These regulations on coaches lead academic professionals to believe that they are capable of running classrooms. With these same principles, coaches run classrooms without exact knowledge or education in the subjects that they are teaching. By doing this, students that are not catching onto the materials, but play on an academic sport, tend to pass these classes regardless. Unfortunately, coaches attach themselves to their athletes and therefore allow them to get away with failing a course but passing anyway. If they aren't passing them, they are teaching them how to drop out of school for potential early success in their athletic career (Engelhorn). The coach's ethical responsibilities are useful responsibilities that guarantee the achievement of the educational mission of an interscholastic athletic program (Engelhorn).
The function of a coach is to educate students through participation in school athletics and competition. These programs should be designed to enhance academic achievement and should never interfere with opportunities for academic success (The Coaches Code of Ethics). Each student-athlete should be treated the same as the students that are not participating in sports. Each coach should understand that they have a huge influence, good or bad, on the education of the student-athlete. Coaches should never place the value of winning above the value of instilling the highest ideals of character. A coach should be setting examples for the student-athletes in whatever setting they are in. In addition to this, the coach should also prevent the use of tobacco, alcohol and drug free from all the students they interact with.
A coach dealing with a variety of different students and student-athletes, they should be promoting more students to get into the interscholastic program. By doing this, they are encouraging students to be more active in the everyday dealings of the school environment. Also, it may help students better their attention span by giving them something to look forward to after school. Coaches must study for the classes that they are going to be teaching so not to go into the class blind. A coach shall also never exert pressure on faculty members to give student-athletes special consideration. A coach shouldn't scout opponents by any means other than those adopted by the league and/or state high school athletic regulations (The Coaches Code of Ethics).
Works Cited
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Bow, A. "High School Coaches Salaries: In Dollars Coaches Beat Teachers." Statesman.
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Dreams, N. "Athletes Intentionally Fail High School." 2001. SEC Football Talk.
Engelhorn, R. "Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of a Coach." Iowa's State University.
Esfarjani, B. "Coaches Focus on Academics." 2006. USA Today.
McKay, D.R. "Athletic Coach: Career Information." 2010. Career Planning.
PhD, R.W. "Are Coaches Good Classroom Teachers?" 2009. Creaters.com: A Syndicate of Talent.
Reed, J.A. "Separating Teacher, Coach Roles Would Improve Phys Ed: South Carolina Needs to Hire Physical Educators to Teach High School Students, Not Coaches." Green Villie.
Schlabach, M. "Varsity Athletes Get Class Credit: Some College Give Grades for Playing." 2004. Washington Post.
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"The Coaches Code of Ethics." 2009. National Federation of State High School Associations.