Launched in 1970, the NCCP is a partnership between the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC), the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, and more than 60 national sport organizations and their provincial and territorial sport associations. As Canada's recognized training and certification program, the NCCP serves a wide range of coaches - from those who introduce beginners to sport to those working with high performance athletes.

In response to an extensive evaluation, the program has been going through a major re-development since the late 1990s. Key to these changes is a shift in emphasis from "what a coach knows" to "what a coach can do." In the new, competency-based system, training and certification programs are based on the clearly defined needs of participants. This new structure addresses the full range of sports in Canada at various levels of skill and in a variety of settings.

The new NCCP model is made up of three streams and a total of eight contexts, each with its own coaching requirements. Each sport is responsible for identifying how many of the eight contexts are relevant to their sport. Skate Canada has identified two coaching streams: instructional and competitive and three coaching contexts within each stream, as shown in the table below. To find out more about the coach training programs, click on the coaching context of interest in the model.

Coaches in the Instruction stream must have sport-specific skills and training, whether coaching at the beginner or advanced skill levels. All are former participants in the sport.

Instruction - Beginner: teaching participants of all ages, basic learn-to-skate skills in a fun and safe environment (CanSkate, CanPowerSkate)

Instruction - Intermediate: teaching participants who already have some experience and proficiency in the sport to refine basic skills and introduced to more complex techniques in figure skating and preparing athletes for interclub and invitational competitions (STARSkate Preliminary - Junior Silver level)

Instruction - Advanced: teaching participants who are experienced and proficient to refine advanced skills and techniques and prepare athletes for invitational and interclub competitions up to the National STARSkate Championship level (STARSkate Senior Silver - Gold level)

Coaches in the Competition stream usually have previous coaching experience or are former athletes in the sport. They tend to work with athletes over the long term to improve performance, often in preparation for provincial, national, and international competitions.

Competition - Introduction: athletes are taught figure skating skills and are prepared for competitions at the sectional/provincial level (Juvenile Competitive level)

Competition - Development: developing athletes are coached to refine basic skills, develop more advanced skills and tactics and are prepared for performance at qualifying and national level competitions (Pre-Novice - Senior competitive level)

Competition - High Performance: athletes are coached to refine advanced skills and tactics and are prepared for performance at international/world/Olympic level competitions (Elite Junior - Senior competitive level)

A coach is described as:

• In Training - when a coach has completed some of the required training for a context
• Trained - when a coach has completed all required training for a context
• Certified - when a coach has completed all evaluation requirements for a context

The new NCCP model distinguishes between training and certification. Coaches can participate in training opportunities to acquire or refine the skills and knowledge required for a particular coaching context as defined by the sport. To be certified in a coaching context, coaches are evaluated on their demonstrated ability to perform within that context in areas such as program design, practice planning, performance analysis, program management, ethical coaching, support to participants during training, and support to participants in competition.

Certified 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.

To check your certification status, please visit the Coaching Association of Canada website at www.coach.ca.