Competitive Development

Coaching Program:

The National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) was developed by and is administered by the Canadian Orienteering Federation. (www.orienteering.ca)

Coaching Levels 1-3 certify coaches as competent coaching leaders of schools, community and club sports programs and are described in further detail below. (Coaching Levels 4 and 5 prepare candidates for leadership roles in national and international sport, please see the COF website for further details).

Coaching Levels 1-3 cover three components of coaching: Theory, Technical and Practical. Theory teaches important principles of coaching such as planning, sport safety, skill analysis and growth and development. Technical presents the skills and drills of each sport as well as sport-specific information on rules of play, equipment and skill development. Practical provides coaches with feed-back on their ability to apply coaching knowledge through self, peer or examiner evaluations. After completing all three components at each level, coaches receive certification as official recognition of their accomplishments.

Level 1: helps coaches understand why athletes participate in sport, and prepares them to teach skills and to design a safe, enjoyable and challenging practice.

The Level 1 Orienteering Coaching Certification Course is designed for anyone with little or no experience in orienteering or in coaching orienteering. The course presents the information necessary to develop a coaching program for novice orienteers. The course covers basic orienteering, meet organization, rules, map preparation and map interpretation. It also introduces practice organization and methods for coaching map and compass techniques, orienteering techniques and race analysis.

After completing the classroom phase of NCCP Level One Technical the orienteering coach is prepared to take athletes inexperienced in orienteering and provide them with educational training sessions. The groundwork laid by the coach will help the novice to feel comfortable at his/her first orienteering competitions.

The novice orienteer who has a coach is more likely to enjoy the sport and meet with a greater degree of success than the beginner who has no one to guide him/her.

Level 2: introduces coaches to the needs of developing athletes preparing for competition. Goal setting, physical training and skill analysis techniques are emphasized as coaches plan a season of competition.

The Level 2 Orienteering Coaching Certification Course is designed for coaches of novice to intermediate level orienteers. The course presents the coach with information on the physical, technical and mental requirements of orienteering and how to train for these respective components. The course describes how to instruct and practice the orienteering methods necessary for success at this level.

Upon completion of this course, the orienteering coach will be prepared to provide novice competitors or others who have limited exposure to orienteering with the basic skills necessary for successful orienteering competition.

Level 3: completes the training required for coaches working with developing athletes. Key concepts are integrated into the psychological and physical training programs as they relate to yearly planning

The Level 3 Orienteering Coaching Certification Course is designed to prepare orienteering coaches of elite level athletes. These are athletes competing at a national and international level.

The Level 3 course will better prepare the coach to set long-term goals and to teach race strategy. The coach will be able to help the athlete determine optimum speed, optimum training intensities and improve forest running technique. A major component of Level 3 is long-term planning or periodization of training as well as aspects of psychological preparation, nutrition and injury prevention.

Training:

Winter Training in Calgary: see the 2003 Winter Training Schedule at the FWOC website.

Links to Training Sites: 

• The Irish Seniors Orienteering Squad have assembled some excellent training resources.

• Check out the training articles on The Bay Area Orienteering Club's website

• High Performance Tips

• Hydration
  Training in heat can easily lead to dehydration.
  Read on how you can prevent loss of performance and how to:

  • recognize the warning signs of dehydration
  • rehydrate during and after the exercise
  • facilitate recovery through proper nutrition
    
    Extracted from 'Olympic Coach', 'NCAA News' and 'Texas Coach', 
    Get free article dowload

O-Squad:  

Link to the training page of the Canadian National Orienteering Team