In episode 17, we continue to speak with Katie Card, women’s water polo coach.  This is the second of 3 episodes to highlight Katie and her experiences with coaching.

 Please take a moment to view this episode and Tweet It, Post It, or Pin It to spread the word about our video series!  We are increasing the numbers of viewers we have for this series every day and we need your help to grow that base even more!

In episode 16, we have the opportunity to speak with Katie Card, women’s water polo coach.  This is the first of 3 episodes to highlight Katie and he experiences with coaching.

 Please take a moment to view this episode and Tweet It, Post It, or Pin It to spread the word about our video series!  We are increasing the numbers of viewers we have for this series every day and we need your help to grow that base even more!

Today we had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Karen Weaver who shared her extensive experience with us! Thank you for your time, Karen. We can all learn a great deal from your journey!

Tell us about yourself.    Our readers would be interested in your career path.  Can you tell us how your career has progressed over the years?

My career path has been one of coming full circle: I started as a teaching assistant at Purdue University while earning my master’s degree. My goal was to become a college head coach and, back then, you were on the faculty first and received release time to coach. My first full time position was Instructor and Head Field Hockey and Lacrosse Coach at Salisbury State College (now University). I taught undergraduates in the Physical Education majors program.

 After Salisbury, I moved on to become the Head Field Hockey Coach at The Ohio State University as a full time coach for almost 10 years. I coached field hockey both nationally and internationally during that time period while also serving as a Board member of the National Governing Body for Field Hockey in the United States. Coaching at that level brings great opportunity and greater responsibility.

 After 16 years in coaching, I realized that being a collegiate athletic administrator was the next logical step for me. That path took me to a small community college (Cecil College), a large Division I institution (University of Minnesota) and finally an emerging Division III school (Penn State Abington). Recently, I brought my career back 360 degrees when I accepted the position of Associate Clinical Professor at Drexel University in September 2012.

1.       What are your most memorable experiences so far, working in athletics?

 There have been so many. Winning an NCAA National Championship as a head coach is certainly up there. Coaching hundreds of young women and now mentoring dozens of coaches is just as memorable. Having the chance to work and visit some of the premier athletic facilities in the world has been certainly awe inspiring. I loved working the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and being a part of so many other huge events over the years. For the past 6 years, I have enjoyed my role as a color analyst for the Big Ten Network, CBS Sports and ESPN—I get to share my passion!

2.       You are very involved in sport media.  How did this come about?

I guess it comes from watching so many sports growing up…I could never get enough. As you study the role and impact of the media in our society, and you begin to look behind the scenes to see how all of this happens, I have found it fascinating. As a society, it has had a tremendous impact on our lives. I am really interested in the evolving role sports media and technology will have on college athletic programs going forward.

3.       Many coaches would like to increase their program’s visibility.  Can you please give us 5 strategies to achieve this goal?

I truly believe it starts with taking care of the small things. Finding the right student athletes who represent you and your program well is key. If they have a great personal story, make sure folks in your area know about it.  Use social media to engage your followers and keep them up to date—not just who won or lost, but with behind the scenes tales and a casual photo or two of your team on a road trip. The more you think of bringing your fans into the life you and your team share, the more interesting it becomes. (Notice I did not say “lives”—maintaining boundaries is incredibly important for both you and your players).

Finally, be the best self promoter you can be. Find a way to tie in your sport, your team and your school into anything that’s big around your area. Be community minded!

4.       Since you are the “media expert,” do you think this blog post will be our most tweeted post to date?

Only if you promote it!

I’m on it, Karen!  Readers- please pass this link along to your friends and colleagues!  Thanks again to Dr. Weaver for her time today!

This is the final episode focusing on Andrea Williams, the Head Coach of Women’s Basketball at the United States Air Force Academy.

Check it out and then share this video with your colleagues, teams, and friends!!!

We are also recruiting coaching to be featured in our 3rd season. If you are interested or know of a good candidate, please email me at Giddings@drexel.edu.

This second episode focusing on Andrea Williams, the Head Coach of Women’s Basketball at the United States Air Force Academy focuses on developing mentoring relationships that support your coaching career.

Check it out and then share this video with your colleagues, teams, and friends!!!

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We are also recruiting coaching to be featured in our 3rd season. If you are interested or know of a good candidate, please email me at Giddings@drexel.edu.

Happy New Year everyone!  We are happy to be back this year with more episodes of your favorite women’s coaching series!  This is the first episode with Andrea Williams, head Women’s basketball Coach at the United States Air Force Academy.  We hope you enjoy it!  Please also pass this link along to anyone who might be interested in viewing our shows!

Join us as we conclude our discussion with Marci Kornegay, Head Women’s Golf Coach at the University of South Florida.

This is the second episode of Season 2 of The Real Women of Coaching.  Marci Kornegay of the University of South Florida discusses her path into coaching.  Take a look at what she has to say about her story and then pass this along to others who coach or those you feel might be interested in coaching.  Spread the word!

Welcome to the first installment of the Real Women of Coaching Collegiate Edition – Season 2.  

In this first episode, we sit  down with Marci Kornegay, the Head Coach of Women’s Golf at the University of South Florida. This is the first of 3 episodes highlighting Marci.

Enjoy!

For my post this week, I would like to share a personal story with you.  A few weeks ago, I signed 2 of my children up for a soccer camp.  Simple enough, right?  You go online and you register.  I can handle that, done. Then I noticed a little box you could check that indicates you would be willing to host one of the coaches in your home during the week of the camp.  Hmmm… If they select you to do this, you receive the fee back for the camp.  So I thought about this for “about a minute.”  Do I have time for this? No.  But…we have au pairs and are used to having unrelated people live in our home, not to mention I have a soft spot for coaches (especially those without a home!), so I clicked the box.  Now I say to myself, “If I only knew!”

As I learned, UK Elite brings qualified coaches to the US to coach soccer programs – residential, week long, once a week, etc…the list goes on and on…  Some of the coaches are here for 9 months from March – November, some are here for 8 weeks or so in the summer,  and most are staying for a duration somewhere in the middle of those time frames.  Jimmie and John were assigned to us for the week.  I was immediately captivated by them.  They were young, full of energy, and very excited to be in the United States and coaching.  We had done a UK Elite program before and I looked into it again because of the quality coaching, but I didn’t really know if the quality was the UK Elite program or those particular coaches my son had last spring.  After watching Jimmie and John coach my guys this summer, I am convinced it is both – they pick great coaches and they train them well!

After an amazing week with these guys, UK Elite asked if we could keep them on for another week because they would be doing a camp that was still close in proximity to our home.  This time, we easily responded, “yes, we love these guys.”  But then, we were informed, after agreeing to keep them on, that John would need to leave and go to another site and we would be getting a new coach.  Whoa…hold up.  We agreed to letting THESE 2 guys stay, not some new person we didn’t know.. Right?  Had my husband or I been a stickler about this and said no, we would not have had the fortuitous opportunity to meet Ash.  Within the first hour of meeting him, I probably would have agreed to let Ash live with us permanently!

Here’s how the conversation went down (paraphrasing, but you’ll get the gist):

Amy: “So, Ash, how long have you been here?”

Ash: “A few weeks, but I already love it so much here in the US.  It is really great here.”

Amy: “So what do you do back in England?”

Ash: “I am in a PhD program for Sports Coaching.”

Do I even need to go on?!?!  Ash has aspirations to coach, perhaps even at the collegiate level here in the US, or teach coaching.  He has passion for it, experience doing it, and a great degree to back it up (get it finished, Ash!).  I love this guy – like any good coach, he draws you right in.  My only regret is that I was too busy working and did not have the opportunity to really speak with him in depth about coaching education in the UK (which if you look into it, is a great model!) and the research he has done, etc.  I wanted to know more…how many courses were in your program?  How many students?  What is the working relationship between faculty and students?  Is the program applied – do you have hours on the field?  Where do you see the field of coaching moving to in the near future?  What needs to be done to improve coaching education in the UK?  In the US?  Globally?  Could my students do an exchange program with students in your program?  Could I get your professors’ contact information?  Maybe we could do something online between the programs?  Do you offer fellowships/scholarships to international students?  Can I move in with your parents for a couple of weeks, to check things out myself, Ash?  Just kidding.

I know this much – Ash helped to re-inspire me to look at the global community of coaches.  We share so much and have so much in common.  Sport for Development, Sport for Peace, Sport for the Common Good…these are phrases we hear all the time and, quite honestly, are largely focused on athletes.  But what about us?  Coaches can truly benefit from a global perspective, from learning with one another…I encourage you to look outside the boundaries of your country and see how you too can expand your global network.

So, would I click the box again? YES!!!!  This time emphatically!  Thank you, Ash, Jimmie, and John for a great 3 weeks (yep, did I forget to mention we did it for another week?) and thank you UK Elite for having such a wonderful program!