1997-01-27|Coaching in Canada: Still an Honorable Profession
For Immediate Release
- The profession of coaching in Canada has been recently sullied because of the documented sexual abuses of junior ice hockey coach, Graham James. This is particularly ironic in that Canada stands as a nation with proven long-term leadership credentials in education and certification of coaches. Canada is respected worldwide for its National Coaching Certification Programs (NCCP) which have been developed through significant federal funding and tested Canadian academic and coaching expertise. The NCCP programs have since been copied, bought or borrowed by other countries such as the United States, Australia, Great Britain, and Mexico
- The irony that I find most particular, is that I will shortly begin a book tour in France, Sweden and Korea over the next month, to extol the substantial, collective wisdom of our respected expert Canadian coaches. They have shared their wisdom, strategies and knowledge with me over the last five years, which has resulted in the publication of Great Job Coach! Getting the Edge from Proven Winners. Yet the Canadian press has recently cast a serious doubt upon the coaching profession, as evidenced by the CBC's, The Fifth Estate
- Educators, lifelong teachers and Canadian coaching icons, such as Jack Donohue, Dave Chambers, Marina van den Merwe, Ken and Kathy Shields, Dave King and Clare Drake have traced their career profiles in Great Job Coach! so that developing coaches in the profession can learn about this important area of Canadian life.
- People from other societies wish to learn from our effective, educational Canadian programs that we have been wisely put in place so that those coaches, who spend so much time with our youth, have a balanced and effective pathway to follow in teaching young Canadians. Many of these processes and guidelines are already institutionalized in NCCP programs with over 600,000 certified Canadian coaches working with an estimated 2.5 million athletes.
- The importance of training these coaches, as we do in Canada, is clear. Rolf Carlson from Stockholm has shown that two income Swedish working parents only spend an average of 10 minutes a day of quality time with their children because of the demands of work and school. Untrained coaches, however, who do not receive comparable NCCP training, devote more one hour of quality time with these same youngsters.
- The reason that I was invited to France, Sweden and Korea is to elaborate upon the lessons that we have learned from the Canadian experts who presently coach our youth. Canadian expertise in coaching is envied worldwide. We should be proactive in its promotion, while maintaining safeguards for the participants. We must be cautious in painting with the same negative brush, the thousands of certified amateur coaches who provide significant learning and healthy life experiences for our young Canadians.
- Potentium Inc., headquartered in Ottawa (Ontario) CANADA, specialises in Coaching and Sports Psychology. Its Home Page on the Internet World-Wide Web is at the following URL.
- Please direct comments to the following E-mail address.
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