Only 150 people in the world have an accredited degree like the one Ágnes Kovács, Olympic champion swimmer, earned this year at UC Berkeley in the US. She holds training sessions as a certified executive coach, while, presumably, she will graduate from the University of Physical Education's PhD program next year.
Ágnes Kovács has been invited to perform and train as an Olympic champion for years, and she wanted to learn the basics of her new profession through the highest-quality training currently available. He graduated from UC Berkeley in California in the spring and has since achieved exceptional success not only as an instructor but also as an executive coach.
The Olympic, world and European champion swimmer, who was elected to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2014 and to the immortals of his former university, Arizona State University, in 2015, gave a presentation at the Sport and Innovation Conference in May. His presentation, which was held in Hungarian and English at the international scientific event jointly organized by the Hungarian National Chamber of Commerce and the University of Physical Education, was a great success.
One of our most successful Hungarian swimmers has always invested a lot of energy in learning and has very consciously laid the foundation for the years after elite sports. She graduated from Arizona State University in 2005 with a degree in marketing and communication, and then from Corvinus University of Budapest with a degree in economics and sociology. Ágnes Kovács is the ambassador of the International Directorate of the University of Physical Education, a lecturer at the institution, and a PhD student since 2013. She has spent the past few years not only researching and teaching, but also obtaining an executive coach qualification at the top-ranked UC Berkeley in California in the spring of 2017. "I definitely wanted to take part in international training, and here I found the opportunity that offered me the highest quality education. UC Berkeley is one of the most prestigious universities, and only 150 people in the world currently have a degree like the one I obtained there. The training lasted from autumn to spring - in October I was in America in person, participating in an intensive 140-hour local training - and later continued online. months of work. My practical final exam was at Moody’s and Salesforce in downtown San Francisco,” said the former swimmer. “Being aware, building a career in a planned way, daring to take on difficulties, and seeking professional help is becoming more and more common in Hungary, which is very good. As an athlete, I also had a team and coaches behind me: I know exactly how much their work meant and how much they contributed to my performance and results. In the life of a company manager or an employee, there are many situations where the help of a coach can not only make solving problems faster and easier, but also more effective, and make things move forward.”
Ágnes Kovács, in addition to being an increasingly sought-after professional who holds group and individual training sessions in Hungarian and English, also wants to deal with authentic leadership theory in more depth in the future. In addition, he is expected to complete his doctoral dissertation next year, which examines the relationship between domestic elite athletes and the media. The data from the in-depth interviews he conducted and the questionnaires sent to more than 130 Olympians and media professionals are currently being compared and analyzed.
In addition to all this, he is receiving more and more domestic and international requests and work.
“It took me years to clarify exactly what field I wanted to work in, what I wanted to develop in. It has now become clear that I want to deal with people. I receive constant feedback that what I do is useful and valuable even by international standards, and that it is worth staying on this path. For example, in June I will go to Prague to present at the 14th European Conference on Sport Sociology on a topic related to my PhD research. It is a great pleasure and recognition for me that the abstract I submitted in advance of my presentation was rated 100 percent (10 out of 10) by several international reviewers. "...and my research topic was considered to be filling a gap and innovative on an international level. And such feedback motivates me immensely."