Coach Development

In Canada, coach education and training is guided by the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC). Under CAC supervision, each National Sport Organization (NSO) is developing coach education that best matches the needs of both athletes and coaches.

The NCCP is competency based which means the educational experiences are interactive and involve more than rote information (what you know). They also focus on the “how” of coaching and the implementation of your knowledge (what you can DO with what you know). A significant focus of the new NCCP is accessing coaches’ prior knowledge and engaging their expertise in dialogue, practice, and interaction. In this way, even experienced coaches with an extensive knowledge base can glean important skills, networking, and self-evaluation opportunities through the NCCP process.

There are two primary coaching education streams within the Triathlon NCCP program – Community Sport and Competition. These streams reflect the level and focus of athletes that coaches work with in the streams.

NCCP Coaching Pathway

The NCCP Community Coaching pathway aims to give coaches the knowledge, skills and tools needed to create a safe and healthy environment for athletes.

Basic Registration

Triathlon Canada is moving to a National Triathlon Registration System (NTRS) to create a more professional and protected community in the sport. The new basic registration system for triathlon coaches in Canada is the starting point of coaching membership and education. All coaches must register before starting their training.

Basic registration and coach licensing can be found here.

Community Coach

The Community Coach (youth or age group) wants to help new athletes and support age group athletes by teaching basic triathlon skills and introduction to events. The Community Coach is focused on safe participation, teaching skills and technique, and fun. This context is designed for coaches of athletes moving from FUNdamentals to Learn to Train and Train to Train stages of long term athlete development (LTAD).

Affiliated Triathlon Alberta clubs must have an NCCP Community coach in-training on their roster, and have a community coach in-training onsite at all sanctioned training events.

The 5 CAC Multi-sport modules are offered online through Alberta Sport. They consist of:

NCCP Teaching and Learning

  1. NCCP Sport Nutrition

  2. NCCP Basic Mental Skills

  3. NCCP Planning a Practice

  4. NCCP Design a Basic Sport Program

Click here to see a full list of Community Coach Courses being offered.

Competition Coach

A Competition Coach wants to train and support athletes who are interested in moving into the High Performance pathway.  The Competition Coach focuses on refining skills and technique, physical training,  sport psychology, and all aspects of the daily training environment in order to develop strong practice and competition skills. This context is designed for coaches of athletes in the Train to Train, Train to Compete, and Train to win stages of LTAD.

The 8 CAC Multi-sport modules are offered online through Alberta Sport. They consist of:

  1. NCCP Plan a Practice

  2. NCCP Design a Basic Sports Program

  3. NCCP Coaching and Leading Effectively

  4. NCCP Developing Athletic Abilities

  5. NCCP Prevention and Recovery

  6. NCCP Psychology of Performance

  7. NCCP Managing Conflict (and online evaluation)

  8. NCCP Leading Drug-free Sport (and online evaluation)

In addition, you will have to complete one NCCP sport specific training in swim, bike or run.

  • Swimming Canada: Swimming 101

  • Athletics Canada: Club Coach (Endurance)

  • Cycling Canada: Skills and Tactics (Road)

High Performance  Competition Coach

This context is currently to be developed by Triathlon Canada.  The High Performance Coach wants to work with Provincial and National level athletes who are on the poduim pathway. This context is for coaches of athltes in  the Train to Win stages of LTAD.

For more information on coaching, contact our office at info@triathlonalberta.ca.