Thirty people have graduated from the United States Olympic Committee’s (USOC) International Coaching Enrichment Certification Program (ICECP).
The group represented five continents, 30 countries and 15 sports with the program now in its ninth edition.
As well as the USOC, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the University of Delaware have also worked to develop the ICECP.
It aims to assist national-level coaches in developing countries in the areas of sport science, talent identification, athlete development, safe sport, coaching education, coaching management and grass-roots development.
Graduates can then return to their countries to put their new skills into action.
The ICECP is conducted in partnership with Olympic Solidarity, the IOC program which provides financial support to National Olympic Committees across the world.
Nearly 300 people from 104 countries and 23 sports have been reached so far in the program’s nine-year history.
“Congratulations to the most recent ICECP graduates,” said USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun.
“The USOC is proud to be included in a program that has significant, positive impacts on the development of sport worldwide.
“The ICECP places a priority on quality coaching, and we appreciate the work each coach does to advance the Olympic and Paralympic movements around the world.”
Graduates this year came from Albania, Aruba, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji, Guatemala, Israel, Latvia, Macedonia, Madagascar, Maldives, Moldova, Mongolia, Palestine, Peru, Romania, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Africa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Participants began their learning at the University of Delaware and then traveled to various places including the USOC Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
They graduated at the Association of National Olympic Committees headquarters in Lausanne in Switzerland, the Olympic capital.
“We are very proud of the work of all of the participants in the course, as well as the impact they have had on the sport infrastructures in their countries,” said Dr. Matthew Robinson, an ICECP director and professor of sport management at the University of Delaware.
“The ICECP is a great example of cooperation and sharing, and I am proud of the efforts of the United States sport community in regards to its contribution.”
By Dan Palmer
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.Â