Description

What does it mean to be a student athlete? What roles can race, gender, and class play in the career development of student athletes? How does the identity development of student athletes interact with their college and career readiness? What is it like to exit from sport due to injury, retirement, or deselection? The answers to these and many other questions will be explored through synchronous and asynchronous small and large group discussions, conversations with community stakeholders, individual research, and student projects.

This hybrid course is for any undergraduate student interested in analyzing the complexities of the lived experience of elite student athletes through a strengths-based counseling lens.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

• Recognize the indicators of healthy and unhealthy career development of student athletes.
• Critically reflect upon one’s perspective on the student athlete experience and respond sensitively to others’ perspectives.
• Identify and utilize several sources of knowledge, such as academic journals and films, to address critical issues related to student athlete career development.
• Analyze and evaluate the multicultural issues that influence the student athlete experience.
• Coordinate the development and production of teaching tools for athletic stakeholders such as parents, instructors, administrators and student athletes that address critical issues related to the student athlete career development.

Instructional Methods

Instructional methods employed for this course include, but is not limited to: small and large group discussion, guest presentations, and case studies. I have designed the course to facilitate the contributions of all of us to create the body of knowledge with which we all will leave the experience. To this end, attendance and participation is critical to the growth and development of all involved.