Interdisciplinary vs. Multidisciplinary

An internet definition of interdisciplinary study is as follows: An interdisciplinary community or project is made up of people from multiple disciplines and professions who are engaged in creating and applying new knowledge as they work together as equal stakeholders in addressing a common challenge. Multidisciplinary can be defined as such: the act of joining together two or more disciplines without integration. Each discipline yields discipline specific results while any integration would be left to a third party observer. An example of multidisciplinarity would be a panel presentation on the many facets of the AIDS pandemic (medicine, politics, epidemiology) in which each section is given as a stand-alone presentation (wikipedia.org).

Interestingly enough, my company (Excel Sports) takes a definite interdisciplinary approach to attacking projects and problems. We have coaches, players, and administrators taking ALL of the aforementioned roles on. For example, I will lead a class using my playing background, as well as my coaching background, and supervise and set up a class under the label of administrator. ALL of the employees of Excel Sports have backgrounds as players and coaches, as well as referees and administrators. Setting up a league, or camp, or class puts all of our experience to the test. We are NOT multidisciplinary because we are all integrated in our approaches. When I work with another coach, its not JUST a player working with JUST a coach. We both have experience working from multiple disciplines, and doing so simultaneously. Our "disciplines" are structured as I mentioned before. We have players/coaches/administrators/promoters all working together, all performing these tasks at the same time, making us pretty much interdisciplinary by nature. Our organizational structure is essentially heirarchical. We have our President/CEO Dandrick Moton, then below him is the second in command who takes over for Dandrick when he is out of town...he is Coach Mike (coach, administrator). Below him, we have all the other coaches/players/administrators/promoters. That is where I come in...at the bottom.

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Oh, and my concentration areas are Sociology and Family Studies. I chose these concentrations because I am not much of a numbers guy. I like theory and the study of society and family structures. Sociology and Family Studies apply to my work site because I work with families and kids, so naturally I will be able to observe child development and how the various family forms come together around sports. I took a class called Sociology in Sport, so naturally my duties as coach and basketball league administrator apply to what I have studied in my concentration. After graduation, I plan to resume my baskeball career by playing overseas, but after that, I would like to apply my degree to the path I am currently in. Basketball is my love, and this work study experience will help me in the future because I would like to do what Excel Sports is doing (to a certain extent).

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Hi, I'm Kellen. I am working with Excel Sports under President/CEO Dandrick Moton. Excel Sports is a basketball centered sports company who puts on camps, classes, charity work, community outreach, fundraising, and private instruction for kids serious about basketball. I am doing some coaching, promoting, and some administrative work for the leagues put on by Excel Sports.

Best of luck to all of you!

Kellen Walter

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