Sports coach

Athletes and related professions participate in sports competitions, conduct sports training, apply rules related to sports events and supervise their development.

These jobs include:

• participation in sports competitions;
• conducting sports training for the purpose of developing abilities and knowledge about sports;
• application of the rules related to the conduct of sports competitions and supervision of the competition;
• related businesses;
• supervision of other associates.

The most general generic competencies at the level of each cycle of education, which must be possessed by every graduated student, regardless of the study program or the institution where he completed his higher education, are defined as:

• Dublin descriptors (Dublin descriptors), which represent a set of criteria on the expected achievements and abilities of students to distinguish different cycles of education, which were proposed by the Joint Quality Initiative (JQI), and which are accepted as the basis of the description of each cycle of education on ministerial meeting in Bergen in May 2005.
• The general framework for qualifications in European higher education (Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education - EQF for HE), which was adopted at the ministerial meeting in Bergen in May 2005.

These competencies are categorized as instrumental, interpersonal and systemic:

• Instrumental competencies include:
  • Cognitive abilities, understanding and manipulation of ideas and thoughts.
  • Methodological abilities to communicate with the environment: organizing time and strategies for learning, making decisions or solving problems.
  • Technological abilities related to the use of technological means, computers and the application of information management skills.
  • Language skills such as written and oral communication or knowledge of foreign languages.
• Interpersonal competences: Individual abilities that include the ability to express one's feelings, social skills such as interpersonal skills, working in teams, or expressing social and ethical commitment. These competencies enable processes of social interaction and cooperation.
• System competencies are those skills and abilities that relate to the entire system. They represent a combination of understanding, sensibility and knowledge, with the help of which a person will be able to see the relationship between individual parts and how they make up the whole. These abilities include the ability to plan changes in order to improve existing systems and create new systems. Systemic competences require prior acquisition of instrumental and interpersonal competences

Qualifications representing the successful completion of the first cycle (180-240 ECTS points) are awarded to students who:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the field of study, which builds on their secondary education and is common at first cycle level, supported by appropriate learning resources at higher education level (university textbooks, information and communication technologies), which includes aspects of knowledge of advanced achievements in a given field of study;
• can apply detailed knowledge and critical understanding of the principles related to a given field of study/discipline in a way that shows a professional approach to work or profession, and possess competencies that are usually expressed by the ability to form and support opinions and positions with arguments and the ability to solve problems within the given field of study;
• have the ability to collect and interpret relevant data (within a given field of study) on the basis of which they make judgments that may also include reflections on relevant social scientific or ethical issues;
• they can apply the basic methods of acquiring knowledge and applied research in a given discipline, and are able to decide which approach to use to solve a given problem, and are aware of the extent to which the chosen approach is appropriate for solving such a problem;
• can present and convey information, ideas, problems and solutions to an audience that is specialized in a given field of study, but also to an audience that is not specialized, using the appropriate language (and where appropriate, one or more foreign languages) and using communication tools technology;
• have built learning skills necessary for further study, with a high degree of autonomy and academic skills and properties necessary for research work, understanding and evaluating new information, concepts and evidence from different sources;
• possess the foundation for future self-direction and lifelong learning;
• have acquired interpersonal and teamwork skills, suitable for employment and/or further study.

Sports science studies are oriented towards students' acquisition of the main sports-science, teaching, organizational and specific training competencies. Also within the framework of undergraduate studies, students who have completed their studies will be able to face, based on the principles of sports scientific knowledge, initiatives that connect health and sports and to solve the problems of sports practice. They will be able to apply their basic competencies built during their studies in new areas of sports practice and to meet the needs and expectations of different target groups. They will be trained to apply and develop concepts that meet the emancipation needs of various social groups, including people with special needs.

Specific descriptors of sports coaching studies:

• High professional qualification in purposeful and long-term orientation of women and men, especially in youth sports, as well as in women's and men's selected sports disciplines and activities, especially competence in coaching in situations of competition and workload.
• General knowledge of the science of training and in-depth mastery of a specially chosen area of ​​sports disciplines;
• Knowledge of results and research methods of training science as well as relevant assumed (basic) sciences;
• Basic competence of conceiving, realizing, documenting and interpreting measures undertaken during training;
• Basic competence of methodical foundation of theoretical concepts;
• Basic competence in the application and interpretation of the diagnosis of behavior observed in the laboratory and in the field;
• Basic competence in leading a certain training process as well as in leading medium and long-term structured training of an individual athlete as well as a group of athletes;
• Basic competence in developing the concept of training for employees;
• Competence in leading a group;
• Competence in organizing competitions, managing sports facilities, events, RK-campaigns, conferences, etc.;
• Knowledge of sports organizational structures of domestic and international especially partner organizations (media, etc.);
• Good knowledge of conducting sports-biomechanical motor analysis;
• Competence in the selection and application of computer systems for training and competition analysis;
• Knowledge of methods of biomechanical diagnosis of movement;
• Using biomechanical muscle dynamometry;

Competence in assessing the biomechanical parameters of the skeletal system.

The phenomenon of sports and physical culture, sports sciences whether original, multidisciplinary or applied, sports activities and other activities related to sports, the phenomenon of top sports as a calling and activity, and "recreation" and "wellness" as everyday practices and "living skills" , represent an essential element of Western civilization, which is just as legitimate from the point of view of educational needs as institutional education in the field of law, economics or in fundamental and technical sciences.

The basic reasons for establishing studies of this type are the same as for sports management and can be systematized in the following points:

• Lack of investment in an educational complex of physical culture with a built-in development component, in order to follow global trends through sports education;
• Unsatisfied personnel needs in the field of physical culture, sports and activities related to sports;
• The institutional deficiency of the nomenclature of occupations and the established school system in sports, especially for the occupations of sports coach and sports manager;

Because of this, a whole series of professions in sports remained neglected and underdeveloped, and a whole series of top athletes, after completing their sports and competitive careers, could not properly put their abilities and experience into the function of sports, because they lack formal education that is not based only on personal experience.

• The need for sports and collateral activities related to sports (recreation, tourism, wellness, etc.) are based on high professionalism, in contrast to the enthusiasm and volunteer principles on which they are based locally, which implies a different attitude towards education in sports and the nomenclature of occupations in sports.
• Sports science has been neglected as a systematized scientific work, condensed experience and a value system that should ensure the real social valorization of sport and its further development.
• Marginalizing the application of the results of basic sciences to sports (such as medical sciences, psychology, sociology, pedagogy, economics, management, informatics, etc.) and the development of sports sciences as primarily interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary sciences, such as:
  phenomenology and sociology of sports, law and ethics in sports, social history of physical activities and sports, sports informatics and statistics, functional anatomy, physiology of sports activities, biomechanics, atropomotorics, economics of sports organizations, sports marketing, sports psychology, sports pedagogy, sports training didactics , financial, strategic and conflict management in sports and management of sports events and sports facilities, sports marketing, etc.
• Spontaneous development of key scientific disciplines in sports science: sports strategy and tactics, game theory, training science, sports didactics and methodology, competition theory and practice, etc.
• Certain types of sports such as health sports, recreational and entertainment sports, sports for target groups (children, the elderly, disabled people, etc.), occupational therapy sports, wellness, sports tourism, adrenaline or. extreme sports and other forms of mass exercise are not systematically organized and studied;
• The discrepancy between the high talent of potential athletes and the low level of expertise of coaches and other sports workers, which can be overcome by systematic higher education and lifelong education of sports workers;
• The demands of high-tech top sports cannot be met by the general knowledge of sports coaches and managers based on work experience, but by the application of sports science in the education and lifelong education of coaches and sports workers.
• Positive experiences in the application of innovative teaching programs of sports sciences in developed countries;
• The need for the field of sports sciences and accompanying scientific disciplines that provide a holistic approach to the function of physical culture, sports, sports recreation and health, to be studied in an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary manner;

The general qualification profile implies studies that are scientifically oriented to the main components of motor activities: a) sports activity/profession, b) sports training (training system), and c) sports competitions.

It starts from a scientifically based sport-science discipline - the science of training (as applied interdisciplinary humanities) which is oriented towards strengthening and/or developing relevant scientific bases/knowledge of purposeful sports activities in all relevant areas (top prestigious sport - prestigious sport - recreational sport - leisure sport - sport for specific group goals - disabled persons - school sport - sport for the elderly) and which represents the central line of studies.

The leading training-scientific aspects of expediency, planned approach and systematicity in the processes of people's adaptation to sports stimuli during training are taken as criteria for this line of studies.

Students study the theory, technique, tactics and methodology of the chosen sports and the training process in the chosen sports. The student also has a training practice in the chosen sport.

The student has a total of 3 semester hours in the fifth and sixth semesters within the sports specialization, which makes 120 contact hours during the final third year of study.

The student specializes in a total of 4 sports disciplines with 120 contact hours. Contact classes do not include training practice of selected sports disciplines, which are programmed separately within the curriculum.

Field of employment of a sports coach:

• Professional-management functions in associations and clubs to international sports organizations;
• Sports management activities in regional institutions;
• Coaching positions in the field of top sports, prestigious sports, health sports;
• Coaching positions in the field of wellness, recreation, youth sports;
• Sports journalism (creating specific training information);
• Functions in regional and local sports institutions (referees for sports, etc.);

Within the studies, the foundations for lifelong professional mobility and permanent professional development were created.