The US Center for Coaching Excellence (USCCE) has recently completed the second session of the USA Coach Developer Academy with USA Hockey and Swimming at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Based on the successful model created by Penny Crisfield (Apollinaire Consultancy Associates) and the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE), the USCCE/ICCE Coach Developer Academy is designed for individuals who work with, educate and support coaches. Coach Developers play a critical role in the preparation of coaches, and this program is designed to help them develop the skills they need to train, support and challenge coaches to become the best that they can be.
The USCCE were asked to host the joint event for Swimming and Hockey by Tom Avischious and Ken Martel who had attended the inaugural workshop at the USCCE Coaching Summit earlier in the year and wanted to extend the learning to their sports.
Led by Kristen Dieffenbach, Linda Low, Sarah McQuade and Melissa Thompson (ICCE Master Trainers, Trainers and USCCE Board members) the program adopted a blended learning approach which included preparatory e-modules and a highly interactive workshop which addressed how coaches learn, delivery strategies, and facilitation skills of questioning, listening, review and feedback. This program provided many opportunities for Coach Developers to apply their learning in practice with high quality feedback from peers and facilitators.
Feedback on the three-day experience was hugely positive with one Hockey Coach Developer stating:
THANK YOU!!!...THANK YOU!!!...THANK YOU!!!
I’m not even sure where to begin…thanks for having me attend the seminar put on by the USCCE…thanks for the continuing education…thanks for the renewed enthusiasm that it provided me with…thanks for giving me the tools to do my job at an even higher level……I am thinking of ways that I could be better, but perhaps even more importantly I am thinking of how each of the topics I am scheduled to present in the next couple of months can be facilitated not lectured.
If you want to find out how the USCCE can help you enhance your Coach Developer workforce contact us at the USCCE now.
