NCCP Tools and Programs

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Making Head Way in Basketball

Designed to help you gain the knowledge and understanding around concussion safety for your athletes, this basketball concussion module will cover:

Concussion Awareness

Concussions can occur while participating in any sport or recreational activity. Since the circumstances under which a concussion can be sustained are so varied, it’s important for all coaches, parents, and athletes to be aware of the signs, symptoms, and what to do if a concussion occurs.

These concussion awareness resources have been developed as part of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s “Active & Safe” initiative and are designed to help you gain the knowledge and skills required to ensure the safety of your athletes. Get concussion smart via our award-winning “Making Head Way” eLearning modules, test your concussion IQ, find out what happens during a concussion, or simply browse through real concussion stories.

For more information on the eModule and concussion guidelines, click here. 

Coach the Basics

Why Coach?

There are many reasons why people get involved in coaching a community sport. Here are a few:

• as parents we want to spend time with our child in an active way;
• as individuals we want to volunteer and get involved in our community;
• as teachers we have taken on extra-curricular school activities;
• as athletes we want to pursue our passion in a different direction and give back to our community;
• as fans we simply love sport and want to give coaching a try.

But what does a coach do?

A community coach strives to do the following:

• encourage young athletes to be active and to have fun;
• plan purposeful practices and create engaging activities;
• lead their participants in developing gross motor skills;
• help participants identify how to improve their performance by providing constructive criticism and advice;
• manage problems by making ethical and respectful decisions
• enable safe participation by creating a safe environment
• teach others how to respect themselves, others, and their sport.

In short, when you become a coach, you help others reach higher, both in sport and in life!

What does it take to become a coach?

The simple fact that you’re visiting coach.ca means that you have one of the key ingredients of all coaches – passion!

Here is a list of other skills that are useful to becoming a community coach:

• Enjoy working with children
• Ability to be creative and to improvise
• Communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work within a team environment
• Ability to lead effectively
• Problem-solving skills
• Critical-thinking skills

Don’t worry if you think you don’t have some of these skills – you’ll find that if you simply go out there and give it a try, you will find that the skills will develop with time and practice.

It’s also not important at first to know every technical aspect of the sport you choose to coach – far more important is the passion and enthusiasm you bring to the role. 

For further information about how to get started, click here.

Reach Higher

Advanced Coaching Diploma

The Advanced Coaching Diploma (ACD) is the pinnacle of a coaches’ education in the National Coaching Certification Program. ACD coaches are recognized as being among the most qualified coaches and leaders of athletes and sport programs provincially, nationally and internationally.

The Diploma consists of four core themes; Coaching Leadership, Coaching Effectiveness, Performance Planning, and Training and Competition Readiness. Each theme requires coaches to complete a series of modules comprised of several 3 hour units of in-classroom sessions, seminars, workshops or labs. Coaches will be evaluated in each module based on their ability to demonstrate competency coaching developing athletes. Coaches enrolled in the Diploma program will work with a designated master and/or mentor coach who will support them in their completion of program requirements. The diploma program requires a mid-point and final assessment by a panel of content specialists. The Diploma is one step towards certification in the Competition-Development Advanced Gradation context. To complete his/her certification, the coach must contact his/her NSO to apply for the sport-specific evaluation.

For coaches seeking Level 4/5 task recognition, please contact your Canadian Sport Institute (CSI) or Canadian Sport Centre (CSC) Director to get your personal mapping/schedule.

For more information about the Advanced Coaching Diploma, click here.