Preparation is the key to success for sports coaches everywhere, so that’s why the United States Sports Academy is teaching three post-secondary, non-degree sport education programs to coaches in the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica.
Since 2020, the Academy has worked with the Jamaica Olympic Association and Jamaica Paralympic Association to develop programs that would benefit the nation’s coaches and the national sport effort there.
In January, the Academy launched three certificate programs in Sports Management, Adaptive Sports, and Sports Governance in Jamaica to aid the organizations in their mission to promote educational opportunities to their coaches and athletes. Coaches from a wide array of sports are participating, including handball, badminton, judo, taekwondo, gymnastics, baseball, chess, volleyball, lawn tennis and track and field.
“We have about 20 coaches in the program and most of them are already leading their respective national teams,” Center for Professional Studies and Continuing Education Director Dr. Katrina Wahlstrom said. “It has been exciting to see how they are able to take what they have learned in the classroom and immediately use that information in their careers.”
The coaches recently completed their first courses, and each track should finish in Fall 2022.
Since its founding 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/
