Students at the New Ulm High School who enrolled in the PE elective course “Art of Coaching and Officiating” are developing coaching experience by running their own simulated practice.

The class is running for the first time at the NUHS to give students a hands-on experience for those interested in careers involving sports past their playing days.

Senior Heinrich Burris enjoys some of the group work activities and seeks a potential future career in this field. “I signed up for this class because of my interest in personal training,” Burris said.

The course is aimed at teaching students how to build their own coaching philosophy including what goals, values, and style you want to coach with, and how to strategize in certain scenarios. It also covers the mental side of sports, which teaches how to fully engage your athletes in the sport they love, while also having a thorough understanding of the game to help improve the skills of the players. Decision-making is another focus of the class which teaches how to make ethical choices and handle serious situations.

Mr. Lieser came up with the idea and said, “I have a curriculum in place, but the class is kind of running on the fly.” With the class airing for the first time, Mr. Lieser has put together this class piece by piece by researching new material as we go.

The class is wrapping up its coaching unit with a practice planning project before moving on to the officiating side of things. In groups of 3-4 people, students were asked to design a well-detailed and time-oriented practice of a sport of their choosing. They then had to act out the practice during the class period with the other students acting as the athletes.