Author: Andy Driska

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Kinesiology, Michigan State University
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Program Evaluation in Sport

Andy Driska

Supplemental material for this presentation can be accessed by clicking the link below.  At this link, you will find a full list of references used in the preparation of this systematic review.  In the same file, you will find a two-page chart that breaks down each of the 31 articles included in the systematic review. LINK: Full chart of articles included in the systematic review (+) Reference List Feel free to click through these slides if there if something you have missed. Continue reading Program Evaluation in Sport

Coaching, ResearchLeave a comment

Mastery vs. caring climate in youth sport – room for both?

Andy Driska

What are the essential components of an ideal youth sport climate? Should the coach focus on teaching athletes the fundamental skills needed for the sport, focusing on the individual mastery for each player? Should the coach focus on building a caring climate for the players so that they feel like they are a part of the team, and that they are able to take calculated risks to improve their skills? At the 2012 conference for the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, these questions arose several times for myself and my colleagues. Based on my coaching experience, I firmly believe that … Continue reading Mastery vs. caring climate in youth sport – room for both?

CultureLeave a comment

Flat-pack couch

Andy Driska

  I thought Ian Cowburn was joking about a flat-pack couch, but apparently Ikea sells them.  2 weeks later, it’s part of the living room. I like the design constraints of flat-pack furniture, although at 17″ x 36″ x 78″ – you already need a truck to bring this piece of furniture home. Assembly is the part that runs smoothly with most Ikea pieces – it is generally idiot proof, and this couch proved no exception. I have always enjoyed the feeling you get when the plastic bag of screws and bolts has no left-overs.  Some furniture has add-ons, options … Continue reading Flat-pack couch

Travel1 Comment

There are no easy fourteeners

Andy Driska

  My parents have recently retired to Colorado, which makes for a great hiking opportunity each time I visit.  My father (Steve) and I climbed Quandary Peak, at 14,265 feet.  Hiking guides call Quandary an “easy” fourteener, but as the title implies, and a trail sign implored, “there are no easy fourteeners.” The trail begins with a moderate climb through sub-alpine spruce forest, with a comfortable dirt trail.  At this point, I asked to try my dad’s new trekking poles, but when I adjusted them, a hinge pin fell into the grass, not to be recovered.  My dad – MacGuyver … Continue reading There are no easy fourteeners

CultureLeave a comment

Better pedestrian walkways at MSU

Andy Driska

If you have ever been nearly hit by a texting driver that is drag-racing around Circle Drive, you might get to breathe a little easier when you walk around the MSU campus from now on.

After tearing up Beal Street and Circle Drive for improvements to the campus-wide steam heating system, construction crews have made a few major changes to the roads and sidewalks.  Most notably, the sidewalk which runs on the south side of Beal Street, high above a bank on the Red Cedar River, now only extends from the IM Circle building to the intersection with Circle Drive.  Probably a good idea to remove that sidewalk, as it was slowly sliding down the bank towards the river.  The new sidewalk now gives a pedestrian crosswalk to the north side of the street.  Note to MSU, it would be good to install a traffic sign for eastbound traffic on Beal Street at this crossing.

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CultureLeave a comment

Broad Art Museum irks many, but adds to the landscape

Andy Driska

If there is one thing to be said for the Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum ( Web | Twitter ) nearing completion in East Lansing, it is that everyone seems to have an opinion on it.  Buildings in East Lansing have a few different feelings, ranging from depression-era projects, cheap glass and steel ventures from the boom years of the 1950s, and a few structures pre-dating World War I.  The Broad Museum, a project of Zaha Hadid Architects, sticks in your eye, which is exactly why I like it so much.  Not every building on a college campus should look the same.  The new design helps to give the Michigan State University campus a more timeless feel – suggesting that the university has lived through more than one time period.  It shakes up the routine of college buildings that are nice to look at, but predictable.

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CultureLeave a comment

My view of The States (Andy Driska) « msubotswana2012

Andy Driska

Here’s my entry for a photo-blog for an upcoming trip to Botswana with the MSU College of Education.  I’ve got five photos to encapsulate five elements of culture and geography in the USA.  Want to guess what I chose for a landscape?  It’s a landscape only a few would choose. My view of The States (Andy Driska) « msubotswana2012. Continue reading My view of The States (Andy Driska) « msubotswana2012

TeachingLeave a comment

Group process in the classroom: True collaboration, or Survivor?

Andy Driska

Being “voted off the island” is a cultural phenomenon that has sprung up in the last decade, especially in television shows like The Apprentice, Survivor, and American Idol (I don’t watch any of these shows, by the way, I just here that contestants are voted off!).  TV shows that demonstrate collaborative group process?  Non-existent.  They would not make for good television, or so the ad-men tell us!  So when it comes to teaching group process, we don’t have many cultural examples to relate to, and we might be dealing with students who possess a distorted view of “real world” workplaces, where employees who don’t contribute their fair share are simply “voted off the island.”

I want to share my most recent experience with group process as an instructor in a motor development course.  Ultimately, my faith in group process has not been shaken, but through reflection and discussion, I have devised a few best practices that I will be employing in future group assignments.  What follows is an account of student successes and some areas where students struggled.

Continue reading “Group process in the classroom: True collaboration, or Survivor?”