American Sport Education Program Certification

The American Sport Education Program (ASEP), is a certification program for youth coaches of a variety of sports to learn the importance of coaching principles as well as medical safety for potential athletic injuries. ASEP spans the U.S. and educates more than 25,000 youth coaches every year.

  1. History

    • In 1976 Rainer Martens, a physical education professor and sports psychologist at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign founded the American Coaching Effectiveness Program (ACEP). Martens' goal was to improve amateur sports across the U.S. by improving the quality of coaching. Eventually, the program was changed to its current title, and between 1990 and 2005 ASEP joined forces with the National Federation of State High School Associations to either urge or require coaches to take certification classes. In 2006 that partnership ended, and ASEP works directly with the high school associations of over 40 states.

    Who Needs It

    • Baseball is just one of the many sports in which ASEP offers classes.

      Although ASEP has expanded to include educational classes for athletes, parents, officials and administrators, the focus of the program remains on the coaches. Many states require that coaches take at least basic ASEP classes in coaching principles and sports first aid. Beyond those basic classes, ASEP offers specific coaching education including baseball, basketball, football, softball, tennis, cheerleading, volleyball and wrestling.

    Features

    • ASEP certification ends by passing a course test.

      ASEP offers its students the choice of taking many of their classes either online at their own pace or in a classroom, usually over two days. Either way, all classes end with a test that requires a passing score for certification. Students are allowed to retake the test if they are not able to pass on the first attempt but must purchase it for the second time.

    Benefits

    • An ASEP certified coach is trained in both teaching the fundamentals of a specific sport to athletes and communicating effectively with others. Beyond that, ASEP's Sports First Aid class teaches coaches how to react to emergency medical situations before proper authorities arrive. ASEP has become a respected name among high school associations and a certificate of completion can make a coach's resume more marketable when searching for a new job.

    Significance

    • Since ASEP began, more than 1 million coaches have take ASEP courses. ASEP continues to update its courses on a yearly basis, ensuring that the content is up to date and always relevant to their goal: "Athletes first, winning second."