Athlete Training and Health (ATH) recently formally announced it has finalized its evidence-led athlete training programs and professional coach development curriculum, created in partnership with the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand (AUT). The shared mission of the two powerhouse organizations is to bring the most advanced sports performance training and learning to athletes of all ages, sport or ability.
ATH and AUT have been in intense collaboration for two years to leverage the most forward-thinking methodologies and practices in the world to launch in the U.S. The result is a system of evidence-led training programs for all athletes and coaches to maximize potential and reach their personal best every day.
“At ATH, we are dedicated to training the next generation of leading performance coaches, who serve as the cornerstone of our advanced programs,” said ATH Vice President of Performance and Sports Science Micheál Cahill, PhD Candidate. “Each coach is held to rigorous standards for delivering hands-on coaching to effectively assess, interpret and prescribe exercise for every individual athlete in line with the ATH training philosophy and methodologies.”
Athlete and Coach Professional Development
Cahill’s work with AUT has led to evidence-based training tracks specific to student, collegiate, professional, adult, team and rebuild/injury recovery athletes. Further, he has instituted a one-of-a-kind professional development plan based on AUT learnings to continually improve coaches’ skill sets. The elite model offers real world immersive education curriculums that require commitment, grit and teamwork:
- Internships: 12 weeks of intense training with two distinct tracks: Volunteer and Certified
- Mentorship: Real world coaching in a 12-month immersion, offering a paid position and structured education alongside a world-class team with cutting-edge equipment and philosophies that upon completion allows successful candidates to undertake postgraduate studies through AUT
- Postgraduate Studies: Successful candidates of the Mentorship program can enroll within AUT’s Masters or PhD programs as an applied performance coach, with ATH offering a scholarship to cover 33% of all tuition costs. ATH will have one AUT postgraduate researcher embedded in each training center leading evidence-led practice.
“The conventional training model focuses on sweat science, however this outdated philosophy does not define a good coach or effective sports performance training,” said Cahill. “My goal is to transform this mindset with methodologies based on applied sports science, ensuring continual improvement and development of all athletes.”
“AUT prides itself on producing excellent graduates who will make a significant impact in the sports and human performance industry,” said Professor John Cronin from AUT’s Sports Performance Research Institute NZ. “Our partnership with ATH holds this outcome at its core by extending the workplace action-learning approach to the United States, ensuring the learning and subsequent graduate capabilities are relevant and meaningful to those in our industry and to athletes of all kinds.”
