Coaches

Coach Education

Wherever there is an athlete, there is a coach. While some coaches start out as athletes, most are parents, teachers, sport fans, and community members who want to be part of a sport they love and make a difference. Basketball can be a vehicle for positive development, as it prompts participants to learn, achieve and develop.
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When you coach, you encourage participants of all ages to challenge themselves, to be active, and to have fun. Coaching offers immeasurable benefits for both coaches and participants and is one of the most important ways individuals can impact values such as self-confidence, fairness, and teamwork. Coaches will develop exceptional planning skills, promote safety in sport, promote diversity and inclusion, help others build confidence and improve performance, create engaging activities, teach important physical skills, and model respectful behaviour. If you are looking to become more involved in your community, get into sport in a new way, and help youth remain active for life, coaching is for you!
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As the National Sport Organization for Basketball in Canada, Canada Basketball is responsible for creating the coaching education pathway and developing the educational tools that coaches need in order to be successful on and off the court. Our mission is to achieve excellence in leading the growth and development of the game at home. In partnership with our Provincial/Territorial Sport Organizations, we work to deliver the highest quality coaching courses and professional development events.

Coaching Pathway

The National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) provides standardized, inclusive, and safe sport education to coaches and coach developers. Within each NCCP Coaching stream are NCCP Coaching contexts, which align coaching activities with specific types of participants and the stage of their respective development.

Canada Basketball’s coach education pathway is based on the Long Term Development Model. It is evidence based and aims to provide coaches with the necessary tools they need to coach athletes at each stage of development.

On the coach education pathway, a coach can achieve different statuses based on the course work they have completed. These are:

In-Training Status: the coach has completed some of the course work, but has not finished the entire module(s) for their specific pathway
Trained Status: the coach has completed all of the course work, but has not completed their evaluation(s)
Certified Status: the coach has completed all of the associated course work on their pathway and has successfully demonstrated their competency through evaluation(s)

Join Game Plan today to unlock access to different coaching tools and resources!

+Train to Compete (T2C)

The Train to Compete course is suitable for coaches working with athletes at the competitive level who may be working toward or are pursuing university, college, or national team opportunities. It is intended for coaches working with athletes age 16+.
This advanced coach training workshop will set you up for success and is delivered in three separate modules:
- Teaching Basketball Skills module (15-17 hours), which covers:
  - Principals of biomechanics and movements related to basketball
  - Phases of teaching skills
  - Daily practice plans to obtain optimal development
  - Integrating advanced skills/concepts into your practices (shooting, conceptual offense, defensive loading, footwork, screening, advantages, dynamic 1-on-1, and more)
- Strategies and Tactics module (15-17 hours), which covers:
  - Learning how to combine tactics, strategies, and technical components into your program (passing progressions, shooting, offensive and defensive concepts, penetration principals, special situations, FIBA concepts, and more)
- Planning module (12-14 hours), which covers:
  - Important aspects of managing an overall sport program in accordance with the Long-term Athlete Development model (LTAD)
  - Acquiring the ability to monitor performance, develop recovery plans, calculate train-to-competition ratios, and adjust volume and intensity
  - Performance planning, scouting, and how to effectively manage your staff

Coaches are also required to take the following competition-development multi-sport workshops through their provincial/territorial coaching organization:

NCCP Coaching and Leading Effectively

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.

NCCP Managing Conflict + Online Evaluation

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

NCCP Leading Drug-free Sport

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.

NCCP Developing Athletic Abilities

Identify the athletic abilities required in your athletes’ sport;
Evaluate athletes’ abilities and interpret data to prescribe training;
Understand training principles, methods and protocols;
Develop and prescribe training protocols specific to your athletes’ age and stage of development.

NCCP Prevention and Recovery

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.

NCCP Psychology of Performance

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.

Coach Developer Pathway

NCCP Coach Developers are directly responsible for the development of coaches and need to be experts in learning as well as experts in coaching. For basketball, they include:

Learning Facilitators (LFs): coach developers who deliver NCCP workshops and clinics
Coach Evaluators (CEs): coach developers who evaluate Portfolios, Practices and Competition for identified coaching competencies
Master Coach Developers (MCDs): coach developers who are responsible for training new LFs and CEs

NCCP Coach Developer candidates must complete training that is consistent across Canada. To be certified as an NCCP Coach Developer in any of the three roles above, you must:

Successfully complete the online evaluation NCCP Make Ethical Decisions
Demonstrate your competency by completing the four-step pathway below

The NCCP now has a simple and universal 4-step process for becoming a Coach Developer.For more details and steps on becoming a Coach Developer visit https://coach.ca/become-nccp-coach-developer

Core-training: Provides NCCP Coach Developers with the skills to perform their role.
Content-specific training: This includes relevant sport or multi-sport training, as well as micro-facilitation and/or micro-evaluation for an opportunity to practice delivery with peers.
Co-delivery: New NCCP Coach Developers can practice with real coaches alongside an experienced Coach Developer. NCCP Coach Developers are considered "trained" when they've completed the first three steps of the pathway.
Evaluation: Once NCCP Coach Developers are evaluated as having the abilities necessary for their role, they are considered "certified."

Coach Developer Characteristics

Learning Facilitator (LF)

Possess a passion for sport and coaching
An effective communicator
Ability to work in a collaborative environment
Ability to adapt content to meet the needs of all coaches to ensure learning outcomes are met
An understanding of his/her Provincial/Territorial sport community and the contribution of coaching and sport leadership education

Coach Evaluator (CE)

A passion for sport and coaching
Attention to detail and observation
Effective communicator
Knowledge of the outcomes, criteria and evidences as outlines in the NCCP evaluation tools
An understanding of the value of Certified coaches and the contribution of coaching and sport leadership education

Master Coach Developer (MCD)

A passion for sport and coaching
A strong communicator and charismatic leader
Ability to work in a collaborative environment
An understanding of the Canadian sport community and the contribution of coaching and sport leadership education
A proven track record of supporting and promoting the importance of National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) certified coaches and familiarity with competency-based coach education
Flexible work schedule

Professional Development

Maintenance of Certification

Do you want accreditation on things that you already do? The CAC and Canada Basketball recognize the value of having certified NCCP coaches that are engaged in Professional Development programs which reinforce the values of lifelong learning and sharing amongst the coaching community.
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In order for NCCP coaches to maintain their certified status, they will be required to obtain Professional Development (PD) points.
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There are many ways to accumulate points. Events that are organized by the CAC, Canada Basketball, P/TSO or P/TCR will allow coaches to accumulate PD points. Such events include: Coach Schools, Canada Basketball Conferences and Workshops, eLearning modules, NCCP workshops, coach mentorship programs, active coaching and many more!
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In most cases coaches are already earning their required PD points -- Maintenance of Certification Status is simply the introduction of tracking these points and recognizing coaches for their efforts.

In General:

NCCP Training = 5 points
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Non-NCCP Events = 1 point/ hour (up to 3 points)
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Active Coaching = 1 point/ year

The PD Points System

Coaches will need to maintain their certification on 4-year cycles after becoming certified. Therefore, if the coach does not reach the required PD point threshold in the 4-year period, they will lose their certified status.

Required Points

Please refer to the below table for the number of points required for each context.

Context

Required Points

Learn to Train

16 Train to Train

20 Train to Compete

24

Multi-Sport Professional Development Modules

Below are various multi-sport modules that can be taken to gain PD points and maintain your certification. For more information and a course description, please click each title.

CB PD Opportunities

Check back soon for coach education events!

Game Plan

Game Plan is Canada Basketball’s comprehensive coach education website used for any coach at every stage in their career, and is used to track your coaching pathway. With a variety of tools and resources, coaches can plan practices, create yearly training plans, and watch videos of past professional development events. Game Plan houses many of the upcoming coach education workshop registrations and is your one-stop-shop for all things coaching!

Join Game Plan today to unlock access to different coaching tools and resources!

Click here to login

FIBA Licence

Why get a FIBA Licence?

As a coach holding a FIBA license, you are a member of the World Association of Basketball Coaches (WABC). The overall objective of the FIBA Licence is to create a productive interaction between FIBA and the TOP coaches in all countries around the world that will in turn contribute to global basketball coach development. As a Canada Basketball Train to Compete certified coach, get your FIBA Licence as a top coach in the National Coaching Certification Program Competition Development stream.

Other benefits of the FIBA Licence?

Worldwide recognized licence that will be issued from Canada. The Canadian FIBA licence is recognized with Canada Basketball’s level of coach education by FIBA and all other countries
All coaches need their FIBA licence to work with national team programs or coach at FIBA competitions
As a member of the World Association of Basketball Coaches (WABC), you may become involved with:
- The worldwide basketball coaches community
- Contributing to different decision in multiple areas (e.g. Basketball Rules...), through future consultations (e.g. survey...)
- Further information/tools from WABC/FIBA, which will help your development
Opportunities to connect with coaches in the community, to share your knowledge and to learn from others.

Who can get their FIBA Licence?

To be eligible for this certification a coach must be Train to Compete Certified or Level 3 Certified plus have completed and passed the Making Ethical Decisions (MED) evaluation.
Please note that while completing the MED course and online exam this will also automatically give a Level 3 Certified coach a Train to Compete certified status in the new NCCP context.

How do I get my FIBA Licence?

To apply for your FIBA license, please complete the application form here. Send your completed application form, along with your Headshot and Passport copy to demmons@basketball.ca.

The Headshot

The headshot must be in the JPEG, GIF or BMP format that is no larger than 5 MB
If provided with a headshot that fits the requirements Canada Basketball can crop the headshot to fit the format requirements listed before uploading your application to FIBA
Headshot requirements listed by FIBA that will prompt errors
- The headshot is cut
- The headshot is not centered
- The headshot is not in colour
- The headshot is not zoomed in enough
- The headshot is not in colour

The Passport

A digital copy of your passport will be required as part of the registration. The file must be no larger than 5 MB. The Passport Number may be blocked out however all of the other information must be visible. This information will be cross referenced with the registration form and entered into the database. Your passport will only be seen by Canada Basketball and FIBA as the information is uploaded into the database.

The passport is required because you cannot be a FIBA Coach and a player agent at the same time. This document helps prevent people from entering both systems. A passport is also necessary to verify your nationality and citizenship.

Your passport will only be needed for the initial registration so as you renew your passport you will not have to provide it to Canada Basketball or FIBA.

What is Game Plan?

Game Plan is Canada Basketball’s comprehensive coach education website used for any coach at every stage in their career, and it can be used to track your coaching pathway. It includes a variety of tools such as practice planners, video library, and drill bank. Register for Game Plan here.

What is an NCCP number and how can I get one?

A National Coaching Certification Program Number (NCCP#) is your coach education profile. All NCCP coach training and education you take is recorded through an online database called The Locker. Your training from every sport and at every context is recorded here. As well, professional development (PD) training can also be recorded here. In order to take an NCCP module you will need an NCCP#.

Follow these steps to get your NCCP#:

Go to www.coach.ca
Click on the tab called The Locker
Click on “Don’t have an account? Create one now!”
Check the box “I agree”
Check the box “I want to create a Locker account for access to my transcript, eLearning opportunities, to sign up for coaching events, and more!” – Fill in your info – Click Register
Login to your email account and open the verification email that was sent to you
Click on the “click here” at the very end of the email
Create a password
Click submit
Click on the Icon “Profile”
In the left hand corner of your screen under your name is your NCCP#

Where can I find my NCCP number?

First go to coach.ca. On the right-hand side of the website, it will read "My Locker", hover over that tab, then press the Profile button. This will then bring you to the log-in screen. From here you can press the "lookup my NCCP#" button. You will then follow the steps on the screen to retrieve your NCCP#.

How does old NCCP transfer? NCCP transfer guide

The NCCP Transfer guide helps coaches who may have taken coach education in the old system (the Levels system) transfer their credentials into the new system. The chart below outlines how these credentials are currently recognized:

What Coach Has:

FUNdamentals In Training (Transferred)

Possible Situtation:

Took Steve Nash Youth Basketball Module