Friday, April 04, 2014

We've got a School of Sport at Stirling

John Lombardi:

It’s time for the sports performance degree. As anyone who watches the college sports enterprise knows, the profession of sports performance (i.e., being a professional athlete, whether on a golf tour or in professional baseball) is demanding, highly technical, and requires a combination of talent, skill, training, preparation, and dedication.

One only needs to observe the increasingly sophisticated methods and techniques required of baseball and football players, or the careful analysis that goes into learning golf techniques or tennis strategy, to understand that we should provide our students interested in sports performance with similar opportunities to those we provide students seeking a career as a violinist or operatic tenor.

To be sure, academic programs in music, or theater, or dance, with courses in theory and history, as well as performance, have been with us for a long time, and have well-established traditions and curriculums. Sports performance, with its tradition of amateur participation and a long-standing existence outside the academic program as an extracurricular activity, does not have the benefit of an academic tradition.

University of Stirling School of Sport:

Our mission is to be the first choice for anyone with an interest in sport – step onto our campus and you’ll discover it is the perfect setting to study and participate in sport.

The School of Sport is at the heart of the University’s sporting life, with experts in areas such as coaching, psychology, management and science.

There are extensive sports science research and teaching laboratories and one of the best collections of sports facilities in the country including a 50m swimming pool and indoor tennis centre.

Sports scholarships support talented athletes and partnerships with the sports industry ensure students have every opportunity to prepare for careers of their choice.

We've even got an American football team -- the Clansmen!

Seriously though, it makes sense. Sports is a business and an important part of the culture.

No comments: