The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) delivered its one millionth online education course of the year on November 18 – the first time that feat has been accomplished in a calendar year since the NFHS Coach Education Program was started in 2007.

“It is humbling to deliver one million courses this year and know people are getting involved in professional development,” said Dan Schuster, NFHS Director of Coach Education. “I truly believe there is potential to deliver millions of courses annually and hope that this is only the beginning.”

When the NFHS launched its Coach Education Program almost nine years ago, its purpose was to promote learning among interscholastic coaches and educate them as to their roles in an education-based setting, while keeping costs minimal to the users. The program was started with two courses – Fundamentals of Coaching and First Aid for Coaches – and a total of 15,196 courses were delivered that first year. Now, 39 courses are available through the NFHS Learning Center at www.NFHSLearn.com, and more than 3.8 million courses have been delivered. Sixteen of the 39 courses are available free of charge.

This year, the NFHS has expanded its services of online education courses to officials, students and music adjudicators in an effort to reach all groups involved with education-based activity programs.

“We are elated that the NFHS Coach Education Program has delivered its one millionth course for the first time in a calendar year,” said Bob Gardner, NFHS executive director. “It is a true testimony to the value of the program to our nation’s high school coaches and a credit to their desire to better serve their student-athletes. We are also glad that www.nfhslearn.com has expanded its users to go beyond coaches to reach parents, officials, administrators and students. Our plan is to continue to grow to serve additional high school constituents.”

“The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) successfully lobbied the New York State Education Department in 2014 to accept the NFHSLearn courses for coaching certification in New York. We are excited to offer our coaches the opportunity to gain valuable information from the NFHS. The NFHS online courses will have a tremendous impact upon the manner by which coaches are educated.”  - Robert Zayas, NYSPHSAA Executive Director

More NFHS Learning Center stats:

• The previous high for course delivered in one year was 775,348 in 2013
• In 2007, its first year, NFHSLearn delivered 15,196 courses
• Most delivered course in 2015 was Concussion in Sports (543,978)
• Concussion in Sports was launched in 2010 as the the Learning Center's first free course
• Sudden Cardiac Arrest was delivered 87,523 times, and Heat Illness Prevention was delivered 84,236 times
• 88% of the courses delivered in 2015 were free courses
• 19,000 sports-specific courses were delivered this year
• Coaching Soccer was the first sports-specific course launched in 2008
• Spirit Safety Certification was the most delivered sports-specific course in 2015
• Coaching Tennis will become the 19th sports-specific course in spring 2016
• Fundamentals of Coaching was delivered 56,425 times in 2015
• Two free courses were launched in 2015 - Captains Course and Sudden Cardiac Arrest
• Courses were ordered in 32 countries