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Coach for College Overview – Dec. 2011
Report from Parker Goyer
Assumptions
 The rise in the level of play, competitiveness, and appeal of college athletics to spectators has in
some cases led to the idea that athletes are first and foremost at university to play sports and should
not devote time to other activities which could potentially lessen athletic performance. This attitude
is reinforced through scholarship schemes, admission processes, some athletic personnel, and
rigorous, year-round sports training and competition schedules. Consequently, a large number of
college athletes do not engage in in-depth, time-intensive community service initiatives or in study
abroad programs or cultural immersion experiences in foreign countries.
 On average, Division I college athletes live in a sheltered environment where all of their food,
accommodation, clothing, and education needs are met through universities, athletic departments,
and/or families which are well-resourced compared to the rest of the world. Consequently, they may
be unaware of the challenges faced by many people in less wealthy parts of the world, and also have
limited or inaccurate information about them.
 Playing sports well enough to become a member of a university team has required such extreme
focus and dedication that most of college athletes’ successes have come in sports and not in other
areas. In addition, college athletes may internalize the negative perceptions of those unaffiliated with
athletics, who may have low expectations for them in non-sports domains such as academics or
service to benefit others.
 Intense dedication to their sport since early childhood has prevented many college athletes from
developing an identity outside of sports. In college, student-athletes may be encouraged to place
most of their focus on practicing in and competing in their sport and to not engage in or worry about
long-term planning outside of sports. Thus college athletes are often unsure of career and life goals
after graduation when their careers as competitive athletes come to an end, which poses a large threat
to their identity.
Core Problems Coach for College Seeks to Address
 College athletes lack a commitment to or fail to prioritize using their skills gained from
athletics to help those less fortunate.
 College athletes lack the skills needed to understand the perspective of people in other
countries and work effectively with people from different cultures.
 College athletes tend to take for granted the advantages and resources responsible for
their own success in becoming a university student-athlete and underestimate the role of
favorable environmental circumstances in their achievements.
 College athletes lack confidence in their abilities to succeed outside of sports
competitions and sports-based achievements.
 Upon graduation, former college athletes have a need for a new source of meaning and
purpose once sports is no longer able to fulfill this function, especially since the
overwhelming majority will not become professional athletes.
 Like other Americans, college athletes may prioritize the good of the individual over the
good of the community, instant gratification rather than what is good in the long-term,
and overweight money as key to happiness. If these attitudes are taken to the extreme,
they can have negative effects on themselves and American society.
Program Activities (Per Three Week Camp)
Program Activities (General)
Organization of rural Vietnamese adolescents in
each four-hour session (2 sessions per camp) into
Program Activities (U.S. Athlete
Perspective)
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2
teams of 12-15 students
Each American coach teaches six 45-min sports
classes (in soccer, tennis, basketball, OR
volleyball) and six 45-min sports-themed academic
classes (in Biology, Physics, English or Math) to
FOUR teams of youth in each session
Each American coach teaches twelve 45-min Life
Skills Classes to ONE team of youth in each
session and encourages this same team in the
team-based sports competitions held weekly
College students are organized into cross-cultural
coaching groups of four college students (2 U.S.
college athletes and 2 Vietnamese college students
per group). 12 coaching groups in total (1 for each
Sport, Academic, and Team of Youth). The college
students share meals and accommodations in the
rural community during the camp and on
weekend trips to cultural sites.
Teaching and Coaching At-Risk Youth,
Use of Student-Athlete Leadership
Skills, Expertise in Teaching SportsBased Curriculum
Repeated Mentor-Student Interactions
with One Team of Youth
Exposure to Collectivist Culture,
Intensive Immersion in Developing
Country, Team-Teaching and Social
Interaction with Foreign College
Students, Sustained Interaction with
Local Rural Citizens
Outputs
Each Summer
 8 U.S. college athletes participate per 3 week camp at a given site along with 8
Vietnamese college students
 4 three-week camps are held at a given site each summer (currently in Vietnam but
eventually will expand to other countries)
 Up to 32 American college athletes can participate at a given site each summer
 In one camp, each American coach spends 96 hours teaching, 29 hours overseeing
competitions, 19 hours in camp preparation and lesson planning, and 5 hours in
orientation and closing ceremonies for youth.
 In one camp, each American college athlete has close working relationships with 3 other
U.S. college athletes, usually from other universities, and 6 Vietnamese college students
 In one camp, each American college athlete teaches 72 youth a total of 9 hours and 24
youth a total of 18 hours.
2008-2011
 4 summer programs held
 18 three-week camps held
 23 different university sports teams represented
 12 different universities represented
 2 different sites (involving students from eight middle schools) used, starting in summer 2011
Duke
UNC-Chapel Hill
Virginia Tech
UVA
University of Miami
Florida State
Boston College
Wake Forest
Number of American Student-Athlete Participants
Summer 2008
Summer 2009
Summer 2010
10
8
9
10
8
8
4
7
4
8
Summer 2011
10
12
11
6
4
5
4
3
Total
37
38
22
18
4
5
4
3
2
3
Clemson
Georgia Tech
Maryland
NC State
Total
20
Can Tho University
Number of Vietnamese College Student Participants
Summer 2008
Summer 2009
Summer 2010
Summer 2011
20
32
32
66
Site
Hoa An
Hoa An
Hoa An
Hoa An
Thuan Hung
Summer
Program
2008
2009
2010
2011
2011
24
32
Number of Middle School Student Participants
9th Grade
8th Grade
7th Grade
Camp
Camp
Camp
49
50
50
77
69
68
118
108
64
81
71
78
87
98
100
2
2
2
1
62
6th Grade
Camp
50
59
70
58
102
2
2
2
1
138
Total
150
TOTAL
199
273
360
288
387
Outcomes for American Student-athletes
 Increased Commitment to Positive Social Change
o Greater feeling of responsibility to help others gain access to the same education and sportsrelated resources to which they have had access (Social Responsibility)
o Increased commitment to help underprivileged youth improve their life outcomes and
overcome other barriers they face in seeking higher education (Commitment to Social Issues)
o Greater motivation to participate in similar initiatives in the future, in their local communities
or other countries (Community Engagement)
o Greater motivation to seek out more systemic solutions to education reform and poverty
alleviation in developing countries (Civic Activism)
o Greater motivation to participate in movements to bring about positive social change (Social
Movement Participation)
 Greater Cultural Competency
o Increased knowledge about the culture, language, and challenges faced by people in another
country and curiosity to learn about other cultures (Knowledge Discovery)
o Increased ability to communicate with others, especially those from different cultures
(Communicative Competence, Reduction in Communication Concerns)
o Increased ability to take the perspective of people who are different from them (Social
Perspective Taking Propensity and Confidence)
o Increased awareness of similarities with people of other cultures and appreciation of the
diversity within other cultures (Perceived Similarity with Outgroups and Appreciation of
Diversity Within Outgroups)
o Increased understanding of, tolerance for, and respect for people of backgrounds and cultures
different from their own (Tolerance, Respect for Otherness)
o Ability to empathize with diverse others (Empathy)
o Ability to consider a wide range of possible approaches when evaluating a situation and to
respect perspectives other than one’s own (Flexible Thinking, Open-mindedness)
 Development of Global Perspective
o Increased knowledge about the difficulties faced by low-income youth in developing
countries which make it harder for them to take advantage of higher education opportunities
(Consciousness Raising, Increased Awareness of Developing Country Challenges)
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o More nuanced understanding of challenges faced by poor people in developing countries
(International Understanding, External Causal Attributions, Role of Resources in
Determining Outcomes)
o Identification and connection with humans generally and not just from one’s immediate
context (Global Identity)
o Broader outlook on life and ability to think beyond their immediate surroundings. Value and
appreciate the shared desires and issues faced by people throughout the world and desire to
contribute to the solution of important global problems (Broader Perspective)
Increased Self-Efficacy to Generate Positive Social Change
o Increased self-efficacy to solve challenging problems in unfamiliar contexts (General SelfEfficacy)
o Increased confidence in their ability to teach and positively influence youth (Teaching SelfEfficacy)
o Increased confidence in their ability to use skills learned in sports to make an impact in
alleviating important social problems (Self-Efficacy Towards Service)
o Increased motivation to participate in community service upon their return to their
hometowns or college campuses (Community Engagement)
o Increase in their international social contacts with whom they can work to coordinate social
action (International Contacts/Networks).
o Desire to take advantage of further opportunities to become involved in the program’s
development and expansion through volunteer or staff roles (Program Continuation)
o Increased confidence to be agents of positive social change in solving global problems
(Engagement in Social Entrepreneurship)
Increased Sense of Purpose
o Increased awareness of issues and causes they care about and from which they derive
meaning (Meaning Making)
o Orientation towards service/public sector careers and relevant college majors (Self-Efficacy
in Career Planning)
o Establishment of a new identity that is not defined by athletic achievement (Identity
Establishment)
o Development of what college athletes consider to be a passion or calling to a cause greater
than themselves (Discovery of Passion/Calling)
o Increased entry or intention to enter education-related, youth development-related, and/or
international development-related careers (Teaching and/or International Related Life Plans)
o Development of a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. Feeling a sense of
belonging to a cause greater than themselves (Purpose in Life)
Impacts
 A mutual understanding and respect is fostered between universities who are rivals in athletic
competitions, leading to a willingness to collaborate on future initiatives (Stronger Relationships
Between Rival Athletic Universities)
 Student-athletes upon their return from the program exhibit increased respect for and service to
people in the local community (Stronger Relations Between U.S. Universities and Local
Communities)
 The program fosters a greater sense of community between athletes and non-athletes who share
similar civic engagement experiences and between university administrators and athletic departments
who previously did not often collaborate (Decreased Academic-Athletic Divide at U.S. Universities)
 Once in the workforce, especially in business, finance, or non-profits, student-athletes exhibit
enhanced moral reasoning in their decisions and actions (Increased Moral Reasoning Among Former
College Athletes in the American Workforce)
 Increased feelings of goodwill toward people in foreign countries, about which Americans
previously may have had inaccurate information (Increased Goodwill with Other Nations)
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Increased awareness among American donor organizations about the challenges faced by youth in
developing countries, who make alleviating these challenges a priority in their philanthropy
(Increased U.S. Awareness of Developing Country Challenges in Education)
Advantages of Coach for College
 Involves travel to a part of the world to which student-athletes would not ordinarily visit.
 Intensive, carefully designed immersion experience in parts of a foreign country not easily accessed
by tourists.
 The program offers a real-world, hands-on learning experience which can supplement or enhance
related university coursework.
 Student-athletes make measurable progress in problems faced by developing countries, including
increasing psychological well-being among rural adolescents, instilling life skills needed to obtain
21st century jobs, and reducing the secondary school dropout rate, as a result of the program design
and the program’s repeated work in the same communities year after year. They are also able to
observe firsthand evidence of results in the three weeks they serve as participants.
 CFC has rigorous theories of change and models for evaluation that can provide data for universities
on the effect of international volunteer programs on college students and for governments on the
effect of social-psychological interventions on the rural poor.
 Upon their return, student-athletes can serve as great spokespeople and ambassadors for their
university among key university stakeholders.
 The program offers multiple opportunities for participation with increasing levels of responsibility,
and the chance to become part of an international movement.
Financing
The total cost associated with the summer 2012 program is about $325,000. Operating a program of this
nature in Vietnam is challenging, and we are moving to a partnership with the East Meets West Foundation
(www.eastmeetswest.org) to assist us in this process. We have also hired a U.S. Assistant Director who will
oversee marketing, selection, preparation, and logistics for the American athlete participants and will be
onsite with them during the summer. In total, the administrative costs that we have to cover are now around
$180,000. $2600 is the cost of those expenses directly associated with a student-athlete’s participation
(flight, visa, curriculum, uniform, food, housing, and transportation while in country) and $1600 is what we
expect each student-athlete to raise to support other parts of the program budget. The cost structure that is
most feasible for us is for each university to pay a fixed fee to defray the administrative costs associated
with running the program and a variable cost according to the number of athletes it desires to support. To
operate the program as designed, we need a minimum of 32 athletes total (8 athletes are required per camp),
and can accommodate a higher total number of athletes in increments of 8 (e.g., 40, 48, 56, 64). We are
currently in the process of expanding fundraising efforts to individuals and companies in the U.S. and
Vietnam. However, we have limited ability to include student-athlete participants whose universities do not
cover the direct costs of their participation ($2600/athlete). Ideally, a portion of the ACCIAC funding would
be available to fund a certain number of “at-large spots” for which student-athletes from any of the 12
universities would be eligible, while also helping to defray the program’s administrative costs. In the future,
our goal is to obtain funding from all 12 universities.
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