In the Competition Development context, adolescents and young adults are coached to refine basic sport skills, to develop more advanced skills and tactics and are generally prepared for performance at provincial and national level competitions. In order be to fully trained in the competition development context, coaches must also take Make Ethical Decisions and Designing A Basic Sports Program (either in a multi-sport or sport-specific environment).
The program is broken down into six workshops on the following topics:
Competition Development Modules
Managing Conflict (5 Hours)
Suitable for Instructors and Competition Coaches.
The Managing Conflict module will allow you to:
- Identify common sources of conflict in sport;
- Determine which individuals or groups are most likely to find themselves in situations involving conflict;
- Learn important skills that will help you prevent and solve conflict resulting from misinformation, miscommunication or misunderstanding;
- Develop skills that will empower you to listen and speak effectively in conflict situations while maintaining positive relationships with athletes, parents, officials and other coaches
Leading Drug Free Sport (4 Hours)
Suitable for Competition Coaches
After taking this module you will be able to:
- Fully understand and explain the consequences of using banned substances in sport
- Educate athletes about drug-testing protocols at major competitions;
- Encourage athletes to safeguard their sport values and take greater responsibility for their personal actions;
- Apply the NCCP Ethical Decision-Making Model to your coaching as it relates to keeping your sport and athletes drug-free
Psychology Of Performance (7.5 Hours)
Suitable for Competition Coaches
Completing Psychology of Performance will allow you to:
- Help athletes learn to manage distractions and use visualization techniques to prepare themselves technically and tactically for training and competition;
- Learn how to work with athletes or teams to identify performance and process goals related to their ability to focus on performance;
- Learn debriefing skills that can be used to help athletes assess their performance in both training and competition.
Prevention & Recovery of Injury (8 Hours)
Suitable for Instructors and Competition Coaches
After taking Prevention and Recovery you will have the knowledge needed to:
- Identify common injuries in your sport and develop appropriate prevention and recovery strategies to keep your athletes injury-free during training and competition;
- Offer valuable information and guidance on hydration, nutrition and sleep as they relate to injury prevention;
- Choose skills and drills that help athletes perform appropriate warm-ups and cool-downs;
- Develop functional evaluations for an athlete’s return to play;
- Implement recovery and regeneration techniques to help an athlete maintain or return to optimal performance post injury.
Coaching & Leading Effectively (10 Hours)
Suitable for Competition Coaches
After taking this module you will be able to:
- Promote a positive image of sport, and model it to athletes and those supporting their performance
- Deliver clear messages and explanations when communicating with athletes and their supporters;
- Identify opportunities to interact with all athletes and use feedback to improve and correct performance and behaviour.
Manage a Sport Program. (4.5 Hours)
Suitable for Instructors and Competition Coaches.
The Manage a Sport Program module will allow you to:
- manage administrative aspects of the program and oversee logistics;
- manage staff’s roles and responsibilities;
- manage camp and tournament finances and travel; and
- report on athlete progress throughout program.
Advanced Practice Planning (5 Hours)
Suitable for Competition Coaches
This module is a great follow-up to the Planning a Practice module. It is recommended that the Performance Planning module be taken before Advanced Practice Planning.
After completing the Advanced Practice Planning module, you will be able to:
- identify the factors that affect practice planning;
- ensure that practice plans are consistent with the microcycles and phases of which they are part;
- sequence exercises in a practice so that their order is consistent with the research on sequencing;
- develop a plan for training athletic abilities over a microcycle;
- develop a plan for training technical and tactical abilities over a microcycle; and
- develop a plan for a microcycle that helps athletes taper before a competition.
Performance Planning (13.5 Hours)
Suitable for Competition Coaches
This module is a perfect next-step after the Design a Basic Sport Program module. It is recommended that the Performance Planning module be taken before the Advanced Practice Planning module.
After completing the Performance Planning module, you will be able to:
- perform a thorough analysis of the demands of your athletes’ sport at the elite (high-performance) level;
- outline a program structure based on training and competition opportunities;
- identify appropriate measures for promoting athlete development within your own program;
- integrate yearly training priorities into your own program;
- organize and sequence training priorities and objectives on a weekly basis to optimize adaptations; and
- evaluate the ability of your athletes/team to perform up to their potential in competition.
INCLUDES: approximately 2-hour pre-workshop session
Developing Athletic Abilities (9.5 Hours + 2 Hour Pre-Task)
Suitable for Competition Coaches
After completing the Developing Athletic Abilities module, you will:
- Be able to implement general and sport-specific training protocols and methods to effectively develop or maintain the athletic abilities necessary for your sport;
- Know how to apply training principles and variables to training methods that build fitness, endurance, strength, speed and sport-specific conditioning;
- Be able to select and adapt testing and training protocols and methods for athletes training from 6 – 9 to 9 – 12 times per week.
