Sport Management (B.S.)

Sport as a career follows the trend of sport’s growing importance in society; sport helps define social and cultural identity in American society (Schwab, Dustin, Legg, Arthur-Banning, Timmerman & Wells, 2012).

As the field of sport management is one of the fastest growing fields and majors on campus, students are encouraged to diversify their educational and applied experiences (COSMA).

In order to diversify, many ESU students major in Sport Management with minors in Communication Studies, Business Management or Spanish. Students interested in careers in the sport management industry could also diversify educational and applied experiences with a Sport Management Minor to compliment many other majors (e.g., Media Communication & Technology, Communication Studies, Business Management).

A minor in Athletic Coaching would better prepare undergraduate students interested in coaching either as a full-time position, a part-time position or as a volunteer.

Additionally, a coaching minor may help students interested in graduate education earn an assistantship as an athletic coaching graduate assistant. Currently, a number of SMGT, PETE and other students coach on a part-time or volunteer basis and many ESU Athletic Teams have student managers from a number of majors across campus.

In addition to student interest in Athletic Coaching, many state and national organizations have created standards to assess the quality of training and continuing education for coaches in the United States. Currently the U.S. is the only major economic country that does not have mandatory training standards for athletic coaches and “a majority of youth sports coaches are ill equipped for their role” (Sage & Eitzen, 2013, p. 86). Organizations working to improve training standards include Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA), Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE), and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NAAIA).

The Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE; previously known as National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE)) has developed National Standards of Sport Coaches, which overviews eight domains of coaching with standards and benchmarks in each domain. A solid minor in Athletic Coaching would include coursework from four departments (i.e., ATEP, EXSC, SMGT, PETE) to meet SHAPE’s domains. This proposed Athletic Coaching Minor will require students to take coursework across the four departments, while still providing much flexibility to meet the students’ interests and needs.

The Sport Management, Psychology & Exercise Science Departments often have student inquiries about a minor in Sport & Exercise Psychology.

These requests come not only from students in these majors but also Physical Education Teacher Education, Exercise Science & Interdisciplinary Studies as well as a number of student-athletes and aspiring coaches. These interested students represent departments across the ESU Colleges (e.g., Sport Management; Psychology; Physical Education Teacher Education; Management; Recreation Management; Exercise Science); therefore, our three departments have joined together for a multidisciplinary minor proposal in Sport & Exercise Psychology.

A minor in SEP will better prepare undergraduate students interested in graduate education in the area. Students will understand the behavior of individuals in sport and exercise with specific focus on the major sport and exercise concerns related to a psychological perspective. Content areas include personality and motivation factors, performance in groups, enhancing sport performance, and the psychological effects of participation in sport and exercise.