Herron with students

Academy faculty member Robert Herron taught the institution’s International Certification in Sports Management (ICSM) program to students in Bangkok, Thailand.

A pair of United States Sports Academy instructors recently visited Thailand to teach courses for the institution’s international sports certification program to prepare students there for careers in sport.

Academy exercise science faculty member Robert Herron and national faculty member Dr. Dave Shrock taught the institution’s International Certification in Sports Management (ICSM) program on behalf of the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT). The ICSM program includes management topics such as sports event planning, marketing and public relations, and facilities. In Bangkok, the Academy teaches both the ICSM and the International Certification in Sports Coaching (ICSC) program, which includes a wide range of coaching and related administrative skills.

Each year under the program approximately 100 students are drawn from the Sport Authority of Thailand (SAT) and its affiliated sport organizations around the country to attend the certification programs — typically 50 for each certification.

Herron earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Auburn University at Montgomery and a master’s degree in exercise science from the University of Alabama. Additionally, he is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® with distinction from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA-CSCS*D) and a clinical exercise physiologist through the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM-CEP). Herron has extensive experience in higher education teaching and applied research.

Shrock with students

Academy instructor Dr. Dave Shrock taught the institution’s International Certification in Sports Management (ICSM) program to students in Bangkok, Thailand.

Shrock is the Academy’s 2017 Alumnus of the Year and is part of the institution’s roster of instructors credentialed to teach its post-secondary, non-degree programs internationally.

Shrock earned his Doctor of Education degree in sports management from the Academy in 2009 and serves as a member of the Academy’s National Faculty, teaching the institution’s international sport education programs in Thailand, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Shrock has more than 40 years of track and field coaching experience, including 20 years as a college coach. As a coaching educator, Shrock has educated more than 1,500 coaches throughout the country and has directed track and field schools and clinics for over four decades. In 2017, Shrock was awarded the McGill Legacy Coaching Award, given annually by the USATF Coaching Education Committee, in recognition of his “passion and leadership nationally for the promotion of USATF coaching education.”

Since its founding nearly a half-century ago, the Academy has leveraged its role and resources as a special mission sports university to make a global impact through quality sport instruction, research and service programs in 67 countries around the world. These contributions have varied in scope from the full-charge conduct of a nation’s entire national sport effort to individual coaching clinics, seminars, and symposia. For more about the Academy’s international programs, go to https://ussa.edu/international/.