Past News and Announcements
ETSU establishes Center of Excellence for Sport Science and Coach Education
Thursday, August 21, 2008
JOHNSON CITY – A new Center of Excellence for Sport Science and Coach Education – the first of its kind in the nation – has been established at East Tennessee State University.
The center will be housed within ETSU’s Claudius G. Clemmer College of Education and will focus on research, education and service in the field of sport performance and coach education, with particular emphasis on the study of sport science.
“There are a number of exercise physiology programs in the country, but there is a distinct difference between exercise physiology and sport science,” said Meg Stone, the center’s interim director. “Exercise science studies the physiological mechanisms and health issues using exercise and training, while sport science examines the scientific methods and principles for enhancing sport performance and the sport training process. The center is the first program in the United States to look specifically at sport science and its relationship to performance.”
A major goal of the center is to develop a formal education program for coaches. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) conducted a survey which revealed that no adequate academic-based coach education programs currently exist in the country.
“A growing number of athletes are sustaining injuries, and they constitute approximately 10 percent of all injury-related emergency room visits,” Stone explained. “Young athletes often feel pressured by parents and coaches and begin to push themselves. Over-practicing, inappropriate instruction from coaches, and non-age appropriate exercises can be detrimental, not only for performance improvement but, more importantly, overall health. We are now seeing cases where ligament surgery is being performed in pre-adolescent children.
“Coaches with an understanding of sport science can help protect athletes from these injuries and increase competitive success at all levels.”
Stone adds that the center will partner with the local sport community by working with athletes of all ages on techniques for improving performance, as well as providing education for coaches on injury prevention.
Another goal of the center is to provide sport scientists, coaches, athletes, and athletic medicine and health professionals with knowledge on the cutting-edge advances in sport science. Specific educational opportunities will include symposia led by international experts, conferences, and meetings addressing specific contemporary issues, including a “Coaches College.”
The center will also support ETSU’s proposed Ph.D. program in sport physiology and sport performance now undergoing review.
“We are shifting focus from the concept of ‘sport participation’ and moving more toward ‘sport performance,’” said Dr. Mike Stone, who will also be working with the center. “In the past, most of the advances in sport and participation were made independent of sport science, but other countries have been embracing this change. In the Olympic competitions, it basically comes down to one performance enhancement team versus another, and countries that have integrated sport with science in the training of its athletes have seen greater success.”
Dr. Stone, who is an associate professor in ETSU’s Department of Kinesiology, Leisure and Sport Sciences and director of the ETSU Exercise and Sport Science Laboratory, says a number of research endeavors are being planned, including the translation of basic research to training protocols in order to improve performance and decrease injury; performance interventions that are not part of the normal training regimen, such as nutrition, rest, and overall wellness; and work that is related to improving the performance of athletes of all ages and those with medical conditions and physical disabilities.
For example, the center will work with Dr. Charles Stuart, a professor of Internal Medicine at ETSU’s James H. Quillen College of Medicine, on a National Institutes of Health-funded study looking at the effectiveness of strength training in preventing diabetes.
Both Meg Stone and Dr. Mike Stone have experience with the USOC and bring extensive backgrounds in sport science and performance to ETSU. Meg has had a distinguished career as an Olympian and a coach. She competed in the discus for Great Britain in 1980 and 1984 and was a gold medal winner in the 1982 Commonwealth games. She also competed in track and field for the University of Arizona and continues to hold the NCAA shot put and discus collegiate record. In Europe, Meg was the first woman to serve as the national track and field coach for Scotland. She has also coached several international-level athletes, including four Olympians in the U.S. and Great Britain, as well as athletes who later played in the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and National Football League. Meg was among four recipients of the first-ever “Legend in the Field of Strength and Conditioning” award, which was voted on by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches association.
Dr. Mike Stone served as the head of sports physiology for the USOC before joining the ETSU faculty. Other academic roles include Chair of Sport at the University of Edinburgh and an adjunct appointment at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia. He has received several awards, including the NSCA Lifetime Achievement, and he is the only fellow of the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association and a fellow of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. His research has resulted in more than 140 publications, two books, and a number of contributed chapters in texts. In addition, he has coached several international- and national-level weightlifters, including one Olympian, and throwers both in the U.S. and Great Britain.
Dr. Mike Ramsey, ETSU assistant professor of Kinesiology, Leisure and Sport Sciences, is also directly involved in the Center of Excellence and the proposed doctoral program. Ramsey’s background is in collegiate basketball and volleyball, and he is a specialist in cardiovascular responses to exercise and training and bone mineral alterations as a result of training.
Besides the three primary staff members, the program has already attracted a number of undergraduate and graduate students as a result of the emphasis on sport science and coaching.
On April 15, 2008, Dr. Michael H. Stone (left) received from Dean Hal Knight (right) the 2007-8 Clemmer College of Education Award for Scholarship/Research. On August 22, 2008, Dr. Stone received the ETSU Award for Scholarship/Research.
On April 15, 2008, Volha Batsula (Sport & Leisure Management major) was awarded the Faculty Award for Outstanding Student 2007-8.
No Child Left Inside: A Presentation by Fran Mainella
March 27th 2008
Sponsored by the Department of KLSS,
Clemmer College of Education,
Women’s Studies Program,
and Women’s Resource Center