Good coaches have the right qualifications and training in order to effectively organize and coach the participant/athletes with whom they work especially when young people are involved. The Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) www.coach.ca and its partners have developed an education, training and certification program to help you become better. Each year, more than 50,000 coaches take an NCCP workshop and since it began, more than 1 million coaches have participated in the program, making it one of Canada’s largest adult education programs.

If you are interested in becoming a better coach, consider coach training and certification. The National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) provides coach education, training and certification for 65 different sports in both official languages across Canada. NCCP workshops are designed to meet the needs of all types of coaches, from the first-time (novice) coach in the community sport context to the head coach of a national team.

The NCCP is THE recognized national standard for coach training and certification in Canada. As part of the program, all coaches are trained in ethical decision-making and sport safety. In response to an extensive evaluation, the Coaching Association of Canada has adapted the NCCP to fit today’s coaching environment. Since 1997, the emphasis of the NCCP has been on developing competent coaches – an exciting step towards helping them to become more effective and have a more meaningful impact on an athlete’s experience. Among these important changes has been a shift in emphasis from “what a coach knows” to “what a coach can do”. This transformation to a competency/outcomes-based approach has been a key factor in the re-development of the program.

Certified “Competent” Coaches

Certified “Competent” coaches enjoy the credibility of the sporting community and of the athletes they coach because they have been observed and evaluated “doing” what is required of them, as a competent coach, in their sport. They are recognized as meeting or exceeding the high standards embraced by more than 60 national sport organizations in Canada. Fostering confidence at all levels of sport, certification is a benefit shared by parents, athletes, sport organizations, and our communities.

The Football Canada NCCP is being developed to make the certification process part of your on-going coaching experience which provides timely evaluation and feedback within your day to day coaching environment.

Steps

There are three steps for most coaches to follow as they work towards certification:

1. When you have completed some of the required training for a context - you will be considered to be “In Training”;
2. When you have completed all required training for a context – you will be considered to be “Trained”; and
3. When you have completed all evaluation requirements for a context – you will be“Certified”.