Since the state of Iowa permits parents with a coaching certificate to actually oversee school sports teams, educators are free to focus on teaching. Opening up school coaching to a new segment of the population ensures that fewer teams and scheduled leagues have to be canceled for lack of a volunteer coach. Of course, the most significant aspect of the Iowa coaching certification is the actual registration process that offers some oversight into which volunteers may coach children, and who is exempt.
Community colleges in Iowa offer the classes associated with the coaching certification. One such example is the Eastern Iowa Community College District (a link is placed in the Resources section) that requires mandatory attendance at all scheduled classes for successful completion of the program. You do not have to have a college degree to take the classes, but you must be at least 18 years of age.
Iowa coaching certification applicants must take and pass classes that discuss the prevention of common sports injuries as well as how to treat them, should they occur. Basic physiology, human growth and also coaching theory and ethics round out the study portion of the coaching certification Iowa requires.
Take the prescribed coaching classes, and then fill out the application for coaching certification Iowa officials accept. Attach a proof of completed coaching certification course of study and also a waiver that gives Iowa permission to check your criminal history statewide as well as nationwide. Include a completed fingerprinting chart that shows your officially taken prints. At the time of your application submission, these prints cannot be older than 45 days. Finally, add a check for $137 that is made out to the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners.
The complete package must be mailed to Dave Morgan at the Board of Educational Examiners Licensures, Grimes State Office Building, 400 East 14th St., Des Moines, IA 50319.
You must renew the Iowa coaching certification every five years. In order to be accepted, you are required to attend five approved renewal activities--such as coaching workshops coaching classes---and also take a class entitled "Mandatory Reporter of Child and Dependent Adult Abuse." Renewal costs $85. In a pinch, you may extend your initial coaching certification for 12 months, but there is a $40 fee associated with this process.