The National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) is a coach training and certification program for 65 different sports and is offered in both official languages across Canada. NCCP workshops are designed to meet the needs of all types of coaches, from the first-time coach 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.

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.

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.

While continuing to equip coaches with the tools they need to become successful community leaders, the program itself 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. 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.

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.

For a brief overview of the structure of the NCCP model, please view this presentation.