Just a heads-up: In the crafts and hobbies section of our local night school Spring brochure you can take "Action Photography" for six weeks @ $100.

"This class will teach the skills and techniques needed for capturing good images of moving subjects with an emphasis on sporting events. The importance of the right equipment will be discussed. Students should have a basic knowledge of f/stops and shutter speeds. A SLR camera, either film or digital, is required. Students will shoot live sports events as part of the requirements."

I don't know if this type of course is available in other places, but I'm sure that the people who take it aren't all doing it for fun.

I doubt most sports shooters would really be too worried...most of the class would likely show up with an 18-55, 75-300, 28-90, and maybe 18-200/28-300 kind of lens, looking for ways to get better shots of their kid who's started sports.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with that, and I applaud anyone who takes further interest in not only photography, but improving themselves and their skills. Taking a $100 course will not make a 75-300 do f/2.8 at a night game, nor will it speed up it's tracking abilities. It will not make an 18-55mm lens into a 300mm (well, there IS cropping, but a 17 pixel image of a player doesn't really cut it for most people...) It may help the student get a better shot within the limitations of their gear, but for sports, the gear does matter and even the best eye for a good shot might not be able to clearly capture it without a bit of an investment in fast glass. I doubt that you'll see a big increase in purchases of 400 2.8's after the course is over..though maybe an extra 70-200 or two...
Now...if it taught business practices, sports shooting, and info on how to undercut the local shooters while still making money....all for $100....then you'd see people get concerned. Hell, I'd be there (though I have no interest in undercutting anyone).
I read stories here all the time that parents with cameras who were shooting from the stands still go up to the professional shooters and buy prints...the professionals still capture the better images. If your shots aren't much better than the parent's, then there's a problem, and maybe the class is for you*.



*(and I'm talking about the figurative you, not the OP)

<smoke rises from Hammy's head while he thinks...skeems...>

Students will shoot live sports events as part of the requirements."

Cool! As an event photography company, I can get people to shoot for me and have them PAY ME!!

Barry Pehlman wrote:
I don't know if this type of course is available in other places, but I'm sure that the people who take it aren't all doing it for fun.

Sounds more fun than Calculus.

I bet a majority of the students will be parents wanting to take better pictures of their kids. They probably will all go out and shoot some of the schools sports team for practice.

Hammy, from personal experience I bet they'd learn alot more in one day with you than they would in a semester at a class like this. I took a class on photography a few years ago by a local "professional" at our community college and should have just tossed the money out the window. You would just have to teach them out to avoid getting a black eye at baseball tournaments, lol.