“The SCL program gave me many hands on tools that I put into practice with my students today.”
Teressa graduated from the Sport Coaching and Leadership master’s degree and is now a figure skating coach at the Oakland Ice Center. Find out more about Teressa’s experience in her master’s degree, what she learned, her most impactful class, and how the SCL program helped her reach her career goals!
Name: Teressa Vellrath
Age: 26
Lives: Bay Area, California
Graduated: 2018
Current Job: Figure Skating Coach at the Oakland Ice Center.
What brought you to the SCL program?
I was interested in the SCL program because I wanted to get my Masters degree and then eventually my PhD on my way to achieving my ultimate goal of becoming a licensed sport psychologist.
What were some of the highlights during your time in the SCL program?
The biggest highlights during my time in the SCL program were coming to Michigan State for two weeks each summer and getting to learn from my professors in the classroom and have personal interactions with my fellow peers face to face. I really enjoyed the Summer Coaching School and hearing perspectives and ideas from coaches all over the country. I particularly enjoyed the sessions that dealt with sport psychology topics. I took most away from the sessions that demonstrated exercises that you can do with you athletes to improve mental toughness and the sessions that discussed the different types of motivation and how a coach can create a climate that will lend itself towards highly motivated athletes.
What was your favorite SCL class and why was it your favorite?
My favorite class was KIN 855 – the Psychosocial Bases of Coaching. This course most closely aligned with my interests in sport psychology. I felt it really useful to learn about imagery, attention management, and other mental skills tools that help performance enhancement. It was very helpful to have projects to complete where we needed to put the skills that we learned into practice with our own students.
What is your current job and what do you do in that job?
I am a figure skating coach at the Oakland Ice Center. I teach group classes, private lessons and run the coaching portion of a program called Skate Oakland that gives tutoring services and ice skating instruction to students in the Bay Area who’s families cannot afford these services. In teaching figure skating, I specialize in doing choreography and improving skating skills, but I am also head coach for several students and am responsible for creating yearly training plans that best fit the athlete’s needs and caters best to their competition schedule and when they need to be at peak performance each year.
How did the SCL program prepare you for what you are doing today?
The SCL program gave me many hands on tools that I put into practice with my students today. The tool that I use most often are teaching my athletes about how to set realistic goals and how to go about achieving those goals. I also use what I learned about periodization to help me plan my athletes calendar year and training schedules. Learning about periodization helped me to discern when it is ideal to teach my athletes new skills, when to focus on other aspects of training and how to help my athletes peak at the right time in the season to be successful when they most need to be. The SCL program also gave me a well rounded background in other aspects of sport such as injury prevention, proper nutrition, athlete development and even the legal aspects of sport. Having this knowledge helps me be a well-rounded coach for my athletes.
What is the most important thing you learned during the SCL program?
The most important thing that I learned from the SCL program is to be a coach who is always seeking to gain new knowledge. The best practices and training techniques do not remain constant. Best practices in sport and coaching will shift as academics discover more about sports coaching science, thus it is crucial to be a coach who is always absorbing new knowledge and learning from their peers. The second most important thing I already knew, but was reinforced by this program is that different athletes learn in different ways and there is more than one correct way to teach any single skill. Coaches should learn to be flexible in their coaching and have a tool box with multiple tools they can pull from to help each of their athletes become successful despite their different learning styles.
What advice do you have for current or future students who want to make the most out of their degree?
The advice I have for current and future students is to discuss their ideas and work with their professors and peers as much as possible. Learning happens through discussion and sharing ideas. Through this program you will get the change to interact with students from all different sports backgrounds. I learned a lot from hearing the ideas of other students and receiving feedback after sharing my ideas with others.
Learn more about the SCL program and apply today at sportcoachlead.msu.edu