Our program prepares you for a career and certification in personal training or strength and conditioning. You will gain a solid foundation for athletic training, coaching, and other sport-related areas. You will also complete a six-hour internship with your coursework. If you are interested in becoming an allied health professional, our program provides you with the knowledge, skills, and experience to work in commercial, corporate fitness, and cardiac rehabilitation settings.
Programs of Study
Want to learn about performance optimization as well as sport psychology and the mental side of sports? Our sport coaching minor includes coursework in movement analysis, care and prevention of injuries, strength development, and conditioning and speed. You will have opportunities to learn about sports officiating, sports supplements, and adaptive and paralympic sports.
Program Requirements
The minor consists of 15 credit hours. Students should complete the minor prior to their last semester if possible.
Note that courses counting toward the minor cannot be applied toward major or core coursework for your program. (Some of the elective courses are required in some Kinesiology majors.)
Are you interested in athletic administration? With the Graduate Minor in Sport Management you will study sport management, sociology of sport, sport finance/marketing, sport ethics, and public relations. You will also complete a practicum where you will learn from senior athletics administrators.
With this minor you will understand student-athlete academic support, finance, compliance with NCAA rules, gender equity and diversity, and event management. Our students come from all over the country with backgrounds in athletic administration, athletic training, coaching, and other areas.
**You must be a graduate student in a graduate program to be eligible to add the Graduate Minor in Sport Management to your degree.**
The bachelor’s degree in exercise, performance, and health optimization will provide you with the knowledge, skills, and experiences to become a capable health professional in commercial, corporate fitness, and community fitness settings -- including careers in strength and conditioning, personal training, athletic training and coaching. You will develop skills to improve the health and fitness of individuals, including the principles underlying optimal health, technical skills for assessing health and fitness, and behavioral strategies to encourage physical activity.
This program is offered on campus only.
Special Opportunities
Internship: The capstone experience is a full semester internship which provides students with on-the-job experience as well as employment opportunities. Approved internship sites in Alabama and other southeastern states are available in hospitals, corporate facilities, commercial fitness centers, and rehabilitation clinics. Other sites may be approved on an individual basis depending on student interest.
Do you want to help people improve their health or performance? Our exercise, performance, and health optimization master’s degree will provide you with the knowledge, skills, and experience to be an allied health professional. Our curriculum provides you with current information and novel intervention strategies. This prepares you to assume leadership roles in the field of health promotion and performance optimization.
Major areas of study include energy expenditure, exercise psychology, and behavioral fitness. You will learn research methods and techniques, as well as how to work with special populations. You will gain hands-on experience and master your skill throughout your internship, and you will learn how to change behaviors and environments to improve the health and wellness of all people.
This master’s program prepares you to work in commercial settings, cardiac rehabilitation, corporate fitness, and more. We offer thesis and a non-thesis options for this masters degree.
Undergraduate Advisor
Our faculty conduct a variety of research in their laboratories from the mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy to the psychophysiology of exercise adherence. They study anything from what makes you motivated to exercise, to the effects of whey protein on the body, to what part of the brain is activated when you perform a task. Many of the faculty have an “open door” policy where you can be involved and get hands-on experience.
Our faculty engage in outreach efforts to improve the lives of people of all ages in the community. Some programs include fitness assessments, biomechanics analyses on athletes, and stress reduction and mindfulness training. You can assist in these efforts and help optimize performance, even as an undergraduate student.
