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Bachelor of Arts in Sport Leadership | Undergraduate Degree Program

Bachelor of Arts in Sport Leadership

Bachelor of Science in Sports Leadership 

Earn your sport studies degree from Ottawa University and gain a strong foundation of the knowledge and skills you can use across any number of career paths within the field of sports, from coaching to sports marketing.

About Ottawa’s Bachelor of Sports Leadership

Did you know your interest in sports can fuel your career path? If you’re ready to turn your passion for athletic endeavors into job opportunities, Ottawa’s sport studies degree can help you gain the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to become an effective professional within the field of sports.  

Ottawa’s sport studies curriculum features a strong foundation of courses including social sciences, history of sport, exercise science, business, and methods courses. You will be challenged to apply what you have learned to real life through multiple practicum experiences and an internship with working professionals.

Career Prospects for Sports Leadership

For sport studies graduates, there are a number of opportunities to impact organized sports and recreation in a wide range of job areas including:

  • Sports administration
  • Recreation
  • Coaching
  • Facility and event management
  • Sports marketing
  • Compliance
  • Sports management
  • Sports communication and information

To get started working toward your sports leadership degree contact us today.

Sport Leadership is offered at the following locations.

  • Ottawa, KS (Residential Campus)
  • Surprise, AZ (Residential Campus)

Sport Leadership Major Courses

Required Major Courses

History & Principles of Heath, Physical Education, and Recreation
Introduction to the history, philosophy, and principles of physical education, health education, and recreation.  Topics include procedures, issues, current practices, and ideas that exist in those fields.

Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries
Introduces the prevention, care and rehabilitation of athletic injuries. Learn to evaluate injuries common to sports, as well as preventative taping and wrapping of different anatomical joints.

Foundations of Finance
Examines financing of an organization from the administrative viewpoint.  Consideration of internal financial management as well as external financing and capital structures. Prerequisites: ACC 20364 Accounting for Business Operations.

IDS: Psychology and Sociology of Sports
Examines aspects and skills of psychology of sports including personality, motivation, goal setting, mental skills, team building, and coaching styles and strategies.  Scrutinizes the centrality of sports in society and how sport reflects society in key areas including race/culture/religion, youth/parenting, socioeconomics, media, violence, gender, and sexuality.

Sport Facility & Event Management
Course designed to provide the student with a comprehensive understanding of the concepts, theories, principles, and procedures involved in the design, planning, and furnishing of sports facilities. Topics also include aspects associated with the development, implementation, and operations of sporting events.

Legal Issues in Recreation and Sport
Course is designed to address legal issues in physical education, recreation, and sport management. Areas covered include the history of law in sport, negligence, tort as well as constitutional and labor laws as they apply to physical education, recreation, and sport.

First Aid Instructor Training
Emphasizes practical applications for all age ranges in resuscitation and emergency treatment of strokes, heart attacks, burns, cuts, abrasions and broken bones. Detailed application of an AED is also emphasized. Red Cross certification in First Aid and Adult, Child, Infant CPR and AED is awarded upon completion. Students are certified as Red Cross instructors in these areas. Prerequisite: Junior or Senior standing.

Interpersonal Communication
Examines models of relational interaction, verbal and nonverbal messages, language use, critical listening, relational dynamics, self-concept, identity-management, disclosure, intimacy, defensiveness, supportiveness, perceptual processes, emotional influences, interpersonal conflicts, and the impact of gender, race and culture on communication.

Principles of Marketing
Analysis of consumer behavior and configuration of target markets. Emphasis on management of organization activities designed to satisfy target market planning, pricing, promotion and distribution of the product or service.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Holistic Wellness
Students will obtain actionable steps to apply every day to address equity, diversity, inclusion, and holistic wellness. Students will develop cultural competence, identify biases, understand intersectionality, and develop skills and strategies to minimize the effects of bias and stereotypes in order to create an inclusive environment that enhances patient, client and member (group/team/community) engagement and retention. Students will learn how to develop the mindset needed to become an advocate for diverse professional environments, and to cultivate the skills to support traditionally marginalized groups.

Internship: Physical Education
Places student in a recreational dealing with program, management and leadership roles beyond the formal course of study.

Theory of Admin in HPE&R
Examination of administrative philosophies and processes including administrative behavior, leadership, and organizational procedures.  Topics include theory and practices in physical education, sport and recreation, as well as program evaluation procedures.

Senior Seminar
Various professional certifications, career opportunities, and graduate school options are identified and discussed.  Guest lectures and field trips explore career opportunities and expand professional network.  Major focus on research and preparation for the senior comprehensive.


Required Supporting Courses

General Psychology
Introduces basic elements in understanding human behavior. Emphasis on basic concepts and terminology of psychology including the biological basis of behavior, sensation, perception, history of psychology, growth and development, motivation, learning, measurement and scientific methodology, emotion, personality, abnormal behavior, and psychotherapy.

Accounting for Business Operations
Introduces operating activities of business. Emphasis on using income statements to plan and evaluate the operations of a for-profit entity.

Full Degree Catalog

University Accreditation

Ottawa University, as a whole, is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Specific degree programs within our institution have also been accredited by relevant bodies within the field:

We are proudly recognized for our commitment to student excellence by the following designations:

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