Future Goals Essay

     Any educator knows that you never stop learning therefore, you never stop growing. I started this program to become a better recreational coach and parent that lead me to a new career path as a coach. Looking forward to the future I believe that I would like to offer each athlete I coach the positive influence they need to develop a solid foundation in their sports endeavors. That seems like a really broad statement or goal so to narrow that down I want to focus on developing myself to offer a well rounded base of knowledge for my players and players parents. I have developed a plan incorporating various methods of technology to help me gain additional knowledge and share my knowledge.

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     To start I would like to gain certification in sports nutrition. A lot of young athletes I have worked with are still developing eating habits. Having the additional knowledge that this certification would offer would let me help them establish solid habits that will benefit them in their athletic endeavors today and in the future no matter which sport they decide to pursue. Snack time is a given after any of our games. There a sign up list that parents all chip in to take turns and provide a snack for the hard work of their athletes. Even at the high school level they have the concession stand serving hot dogs and burgers. I love the team building aspects that snack time after the game brings to my team however, the idea is that these snacks are a reward for a great performance. I want to start redeveloping that relationship with food and gear it more towards the idea that food is fuel our body needs, especially for athletes. Here is a link to a programs offered by the American Sports and Fitness Association to gain this certification online. This goal will be challenging, but it is achievable. 

     Additionally, I would like to grow as a leader in coaching. I plan to do this by reaching out to other new volunteer coaches who have started just like I did unexperienced and serving the need and offering them the knowledge I have gained so they to can offer a better foundation for their athletes. I think developing a web based course would be ideal to offer on a larger scale and reach as many coaches as possible to be able to get that knowledge more accessible to the new coaches. I think a lot of times the recreational volunteer coaches have a great passion but they lack the knowledge to be effective and getting the knowledge in their hands gives the athletes the best chance of growing in a healthy way into a sport they thrive in. Something similar to the soccer learning center except the focus would be more for a coach that starts with no knowledge. Similar to a new teachers program that some counties do where teachers pair with a seasoned teacher to grow and help them adjust and overcome the struggles a new teacher faces. 

     Finally, I would like to reach out to other peers who are coaching and are more seasoned than myself to continue to develop myself as a coach. I would like to start by creating a local coaches group possibly through the use of Facebook. Having a designated group would allow for us to come together and share ideas or get feedback from other likeminded professionals much like a teacher summit but to incorporate coaching aspects. Here is one example of an online forum where coaches can come to discuss ideas. 

     Overall, my future goals have evolved from a small scale growing my own daughter as an athlete to growing as many athletes as I can reach. The use of technology today really allows me to reach many coaches to assimilated information and the focus for this is typically in high level clubs. However, reaching out to those coaches who are maybe a one season or two season coach is just as important because they are key to introducing athletes to a solid foundation.