CoSIDA members are encouraged to research this option of participating in REGIONAL campus crisis training via Sport Event Risk Management Workshops - partnership with NACDA, National Center for Spectator Sports Safety & Security (NCS4) and U.S. Homeland Security.
CLEVELAND - For the second straight year there will be special regional training classes offered for Divisions I, II and III NACDA member institutions on sport event security management. These regional workshops are being offered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in partnership with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the National Center for Spectator Sports Security Management and the Southern Mississippi University National Center for Spectator Sports Safety & Security (NCS4).
In 2009, 29 Sport Event Risk Management Workshops trained 1,061 individuals and 228 Division I, II and III affiliated institutions. The events received outstanding results as the learning curve of knowledge that participants gained was over 27% based on pre-test and post-test scores.
The training programs are designed to develop unique and essential expertise in sport venue security management and critical infrastructure and key resources protection. Course components include a pre-training online package, on-site training involving risk analysis simulation models and a take home transition package.
CoSIDA membership president Justin Doherty, the assistant AD for external relations at Wisconsin, notes that in event of an incident – catastrophic or otherwise – schools will have to communicate with a number of audiences. Athletics PR and sports information professionals are valuable campus assets who can help fill that need.
“We’re going to need to communicate with our staff, fans and the media, and we’re going to need to know what to say, how to say it, when to say it and to whom,” said Doherty. “It’s hard to say whether you could ever be prepared for something like that, but this is the best effort we can make to train people ahead of time. Communication is essential in those types of situations, and it just makes sense that your sports information people would be in the mix.”
The workshop schedules for the 2010 workshops will kickoff in April and are now available at
http://www.ncs4.com/workshop.php.
2010 Sport Event Risk Management Workshop Information Invitee List & Registration (find your institution here and regional workshop info in your area)Regional Map of Workshop LocationsCourse Design & Details (PDF)View 2009 Workshop Summary & Statistics (PDF)