NCCP Certification

THE NATIONAL COACHING CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

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 development and experience. Football Canada’s Long Term Athlete Development Model is the basis for its NCCP, because it places the participant/athlete first and the coach is at the centre of the athlete’s develop.

The NCCP has undergone a number of changes in recent years. In response to an extensive evaluation, the Coaching Association of Canada has adapted the NCCP to fit today’s coaching environment. The Football Canada’s NCCP is being designed and will be implemented to develop the coach’s knowledge, skills and attitudes (behaviour) appropriate to his or her athletes’ stage of development. Among these important changes in the “New” NCCP is the shift in emphasis from “what a coach knows” to “what a coach can do”. This transformation to a competency/outcomes based approach is a key factor in the re-development of the program.

THE NEW NCCP MODEL (COMPETENCY-BASED MODEL)

The new NCCP is made up of three streams and a total of eight contexts, each with its own coaching requirements. Football Canada has decided that all eight contexts are relevant to the development of football and essential to the meeting the “Football for Life - through Long Term Athlete Development” goals of Enhanced Excellence and Enhanced Participation. The Three Streams of the NCCP are:

Stream 1 – Community Sport

The Community Sport Stream has a decidedly recreation focus. In the “Initiation” context the development of fundamental movement and Fundamental Football Skills are essential where fun, fitness, and participation are the focus at the younger ages. In the “On-going” context fun, fitness, and participation are key elements and in many cases competitive recreation is the focus. Coaches in the Community Sport – Initiation Context typically become involved on a voluntary (and often short-term) basis because their children participate in a sport. However, many coaches work with participants of all ages who are new to the sport.

Stream 2 – Competition

The Competition Stream has three (3) contexts – Introduction to Competition, Competition Development, & High Performance. The focus of athlete development in these contexts is Excellence”. The coaches in these contexts tend to work with athletes over the long term to improve performance, often in preparation for provincial, national, and international competitions. Additionally, Coaches in the “Competition” stream usually have previous coaching experience or are former athletes in the sport.

Stream 3 – Instruction

The focus of the Instruction Stream is “supporting the athlete in training” through the sport specific skill development. Coaches in the Instructor Stream must have sport-specific skills and training, whether coaching at the beginner or advanced skill levels. Many of the coaches in the Instructor Stream are former participants in the sport.

A message from Past Technical Director of Football Manitoba, Kris Johnston

Over the course of the last month I have had people asking questions with regards to the grandfathering of coaching certification into the “New NCCP” streams. I am writing this today to try and help explain this process further. Rest assured that all coaches that are fully certified as either a level one, two or three coach will receive recognition in the new system.

In the “New NCCP” system there are no more levels, instead certification is broken up into streams. The streams coincide with the age of athlete that you are coaching and is directly linked to the training that the athlete requires. The first stream is the “Community Sport” stream, this stream is designed for coaches working with athletes age 7-13 years (Manitoba Minor level). This stream is designed to focus on fundamentals and teaching athletes how to train and prepare for their sport. The second stream is called “Introduction to Competition” and is designed for coaches working with athletes age 13-18 years (Bantam/Juvenile/High School/Midget). This stream is designed to focus on training athletes to compete higher level competition. The third Stream is called “Competition Development” and is designed for coaches working with athletes who are 18 years of age and up (Major/Junior/University). This stream is designed to focus on training athletes to compete to win at a high performance level. Each of the new streams has different areas of study that coaches will be able to access, including; position coach training, coordinator training and head coach training.

As I mentioned earlier, all fully certified coaches will be grandfathered into this new system. The information regarding recognition for the (Old) NCCP Levels is found below along with a basic chart that gives a breakdown of what a coach with an old level will receive as recognition in the new system.

Recognition Principles:

1. Levels-Based (Old) NCCP qualifications are valued in the “New” Competency-Based NCCP and will remain part of each coach’s transcript;


2. Coaches from the “old” NCCP will be granted qualification equivalencies into the “New” NCCP;


3. In each “coaching” context, coaches must complete gaps in training and evaluationthat exist between the “Old” NCCP and the “New” NCCP within a five (5) year period.