In co-operation with it provincial partners, the Canadian Cycling Association has compiled a schedule of coaching courses across the country.

• Schedule of Coaching Courses
• Competition Development / Level 3 course February 2012, British Colombia

Coaches Evaluation and Certification

About Evaluation for Certification:
All coaches, to be certified in NCCP competition-stream contexts (e.g. Introduction to Competition) are required to successfully complete an evaluation process. Evaluation in Ready to Race Introduction to
Competition has three parts:

(a) Successful completion of the Make Ethical Decisions (MED) on-line evaluation at the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) website: http://nccpeval.coach.ca/production/med/e/index.asp?Language=English

(b) Completion of a Portfolio of written work based on the content of the Ready to Race Introduction to Competition learning workshops, which is then reviewed by an Evaluator.

(c) Completion of a final evaluation. This may be done at a competition, or by completing an on-line evaluation developed by CCA.

Process for On-line Evaluation
1. The coach applies for evaluation by completing on-line registration (see link below)

2. CCA will confirm the coach has completed training and is eligible for evaluation.

3. When eligibility is confirmed, CCA will send the coach a password to permit access to the evaluation web site. This will give the coach access to an on-line Portfolio template as well as the on-line exam questions.

4. The CCA will appoint an approved Evaluator and provide his contact information to the coach. The coach sends his/her completed Portfolio in electronic form to the designated Evaluator. The Evaluator may either rate the Portfolio complete and return it with comments (successful result) or rate it incomplete and return it for revisions. In this case the coach has 30 days to make the changes and have the Evaluator rate the Portfolio “complete”.

5. When the Portfolio work is rated “complete” by the Evaluator, and when the coach has achieved a successful MED result, he/she may proceed to final on-line evaluation. In the final on-line evaluation, the coach completes a skills analysis exam and a coach behavior exam. Both involve the coach viewing video or pictures and answering a series of multiple-choice questions.

6. If the coach scores less than 60% on the on-line exam, he/she will be informed of an unsuccessful result by the Evaluator, who will recommend specific areas for improvement (action plan). The coach will be required to re-register and attempt evaluation again. If the coach successfully completes the on-line evaluation with score between 60% and 80%, the Evaluator will hold a debriefing with the coach and develop an action plan. The debriefing may be done by conference call or using a to-be-developed on-line debriefing survey. If the coach scores over 80% the Evaluator simply gives the coach a memo of successful completion.

7. The Evaluator now marks the successful coach as “passed” and completes a Course Register Form (CRF) for the evaluation and sends this electronically to the NCCP database and copies it to the CCA office and the PSO office in the province the coach resides in.

8. Upon certification, all Ready to Race! Introduction to Competition coaches have five years to complete prescribed professional development tasks and activities to maintain certification.

What is the Fee?
The Fee is $150 for each complete evaluation. This covers the work of the Evaluator in assessing the Portfolio and in conducting the on-line evaluation and debriefing, as well as administrative costs.

Ready for your on-line evaluation:

Please visit the following link for all the instructions: http://digitalcoachingsystems.ca/digitalmentoring/course-registration-forms/296-cca-registration-form.html

National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP)

The Canadian Cycling Association in partnership with the Coaching Association of Canada and Canada’s Provincial/Territorial Cycling Associations, offers development programs for coaches within the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP).

Currently, the Cycling NCCP includes:

• Let’s Ride! Community Cycling Initiation
• Ready to Race! Introduction to Competition
• Level 3 Technical (to be replaced by Competition Development in 2010)
• Level 4 and 5, through the National Coaching Institutes

Every cyclist deserves a certified coach. For more information or to register for NCCP in your province, contact your provincial/territorial cycling association. For information on Cycling’s transition to the new NCCP contexts, click here.

Click here for general information from the Coaching Association of Canada.

Let’s Ride! Community Cycling Initiation:
Let’s Ride! Community Cycling- Initiation (CCI) is the NCCP context for coaches who will primarily work with novice, pre-competitive cyclists at the community level, including participants in the Active Start, FUNdamentals and early Learn to Train stages of athlete development. The program is simple, based on a number of pre-designed lesson plans, and adaptable to the varying skill and ability levels of participants. The focus of the program is on having participants develop skills which are basic to MTB, BMX, and Road, in a controlled, off-road, off-trail setting such as a sport field or parking lot.

CCI training has two parts – the “Let’s Ride!” CCI workshop (5 hrs), and a Basic Cycling Skills workshop (8 hrs). The first workshop provides information on ethical coaching, participants and their needs, basic practice planning, equipment and other important information for coaches of beginner cyclists. The second workshop provides an opportunity for “on-bike” practice in skill teaching and analysis, practice coaching and use of provided lesson plans. On completion, coaches have “Trained” status in NCCP. Click here for more information (PDF 239 KB)

Ready to Race! Introduction to Competition:
Ready to Race! Introduction to Competition (R2R) is the context for coaches who will primarily work with new competitive cyclists at the community and club level. These athletes will likely be in the Learn to Train to Train to Train stages of LTAD, although the context could apply to any new racer of any age. These athletes have basic but developed cycling skills and the desire to begin competing within a structured training and competition program. They should have passed through an entry-level Community Initiation program (CCI) to help them develop the basic skills.

R2R training replaces all elements of Level 1 and Level 2 Cycling in the previous “Levels NCCP”. R2R training consists of five modules:

• Training Basics, classroom, 14 hours;
• Basic Cycling Skills, on-bike, 8 hours;
• One of MTB, Road, or BMX Skills and Tactics, on-bike, 7 hours;
• Training to Race, classroom, 14 hours;
• A second of MTB, Road, or BMX Skills and Tactics, on-bike, 7 hours.

On successful completion of the modules, the coach has Trained status in NCCP. After successfully completing an evaluation of his/her coaching performance and completing the on-line Make Ethical Decisions module, the coach can attain Certified status.

Competition Development: This context is in development.

National Coaching Institutes (NCI’S)

Canada’s eight National Coaching Institutes (NCIs) offer qualified coaches a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from a variety of experts in the fields of coaching, sport science, leadership, business, and technology and to share experiences, strategies, and challenges with fellow coaches.

The NCIs offer highly interactive, practical courses to national sport organization-approved Level 4 candidates. The program options are

• a one-year program available at the NCI–B.C. in Victoria
• a two-year program available at the NCIs in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, and Vancouver.
• a customized learning program that could involve study at more than one NCI or an extended period of study.

An NCI Diploma in High Performance Coaching may lead to NCCP Level 4 certification with the approval of the candidate’s NSO.

Eligible candidates must :

• Be NCCP Level 3 certified
• Be approved by is provincial association
• Have a minimum of three years of coaching experience in a year-round training program
• An undergraduate degree in physical education is recommended, but not required.

Click here for more information from the Coaching Association of Canada.

Contact at CCA: Mathieu.Boucher@canadian-cycling.com