Squash Canada’s Coach Certification Program aligns with the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) and with the Long Term Player Development model. This program is designed to ensure that coaches are properly trained and certified to develop our athletes in the best way possible.

There are five coaching ‘streams’ included in the Squash Canada Coaching Certification Program:

1. Community Sport (Trained as a Community Instructor)

2. Instruction - Beginners (certified as a Squash Assistant and Squash Instructor)

3. Instruction - Intermediate (certified as an Intermediate Squash Instructor)

4. Competition - Introduction (Certified as a Club Coach)

5. Competition - Development (Certified as a Provincial Coach)

Certification involves a squash specific clinic, NCCP multi-sport courses, additional prerequisites where applicable, and a final evaluation. The Community Instructor does not require certification. Coaches are deemed “In Training” when they have completed some of the required training, “Trained” when they have completed all required training, and finally “Certified” when they have completed all training and evaluation components. 

Coaches are not required to take all five coaching streams in consecutive order, nor are previous streams a pre-requisite for a later stream (for example, to take the Intermediate Instruction stream you are not required to have already completed the Community Sport and Introduction to Instruction streams). However, we strongly encourage those with limited coaching experience not to jump to a more advanced stream.

Once certified, coaches will have five years to collect professional development points which are tracked in your Locker profile to keep your certification from expiring. 10 PD points are required for Squash Instructors, 20 for Intermediate Instructor and Club Coaches, and 30 for Provincial Coaches. PD points are collected through:

• NCCP training events are worth 5 points;
• Non-NCCP events are worth 1 point for each hour they last, up to a maximum of 3 points; (PD conference)
• “Active coaching” will give you 1 point per year; (up to 5 years)
• Through “Self-directed learning” you can earn a maximum of 3 points per five-year PD cycle. (Mentorship, etc.)

See the Coaches Association of Canada’s FAQs for more information about PD points.

Coaches looking to transfer coaching accreditation from other countries or to accelerate through the coaching system should refer to the Coach Challenge Process through the button below.

COMMUNITY SQUASH INSTRUCTOR

This new pathway will allow people to become a ‘Trained’ Community Squash Instructor by attending a 1-day in-person Community Squash Instructor course as well as complete the NCCP Make Ethical Decisions course and NCCP Coach Initiation in Sport eLearning module.

Coaching Foundations Course

This course will introduce the fundamentals of coaching and train coaches to teach beginner squash players in the Active Start, FUNdamentals, Learning to Train and Active for Life stages of athlete development. Coaches will learn the roles of the Squash Assistant and Squash Instructor, Basic Coaching Skills, Stroke Fundamentals and Sequencing of Technical Skills, Lesson Formatting, the Basic Strokes, Basic Tactics and Individual Concepts, and Group and Individual Lessons. Prior coaching experience is not required.

Intermediate Instructor Course

This course will train coaches to teach intermediate squash players in the Learning to Train and Training to Train stages of athlete development. This course covers both the Intermediate Instruction and Introduction to Competition stream. In the Intermediate Instruction stream, coaches will learn to refine basic squash skills and introduce intermediate strokes and related performance skills to intermediate, recreational players. In addition, coaches will be able to schedule, plan and promote programs and activities, including fun tournaments. In the Introduction to Competition stream, coaches will also be trained to work with juniors and young adults who are more competitive and train to refine their intermediate squash skills and train on a seasonal basis to improve their general fitness and prepare for competitive play and regional tournaments. This course will cover roles and responsibilities of the Intermediate Coach, intermediate coaching skills, intermediate strokes, court movement, strategies and tactics, and match performance. Prior coaching experience is strongly recommended.

Provincial Coach Course

The Provincial Coach Course will train coaches to work with athletes in the Training to Train and Training to Compete athlete development stages. These coaches work high caliber athletes over an extended period of time. The course covers the requirements of a Provincial Coach, program management, coaching methodology, general assessments, annual training plans, support of athletes in competition, training sessions (shots, disguise and deception, tactics, modifying drills), biomechanics, and performance analysis.

*this course is administered by Squash Canada. Please visit their website at www.squash.ca to find a course or you can find it under e-learning in the coaches locker.

After all prerequisites are completed for each coaching level, coaches should contact Squash Ontario to schedule an evaluation. Coaches will be evaluated in-person with an Evaluator.

If the evaluation takes place outside the Evaluator’s jurisdiction, coaches will be responsible for the Evaluator’s travel costs (mileage at $0.54/km, accommodation, food, etc.) where Squash Ontario deems necessary to complete the evaluation.

Evaluations will cost $60 per hour. Squash Instructor evaluations are covered by the course fee for anyone who registered for a course after April 1, 2012. Intermediate Instructor, Club Coach, and Provincial Coach evaluations are not covered by the course fee and may take several hours to complete depending on the level.

Do you know your current certification level? To check your status, visit https://thelocker.coach.ca. Click on “Certification” and login using the CC# which is issued to you when you complete your first NCCP training workshop.

Are you interested in making an impact on the squash coaching community? Coach Developers are directly responsible for the development of coaches and need to be experts in learning as well as experts in coaching. They include: Learning Facilitators (facilitate coach courses), Coach Evaluators (facilitate coach evaluations), and Master Coach Developers (train the coach developers).

The NCCP now has a simple and universal 4-step process for becoming a Coach Developer (separate pathway for each type of Coach Developer):

Core Training - Core Training for Coach Developers is offered through the Coaches Association of Ontario. These are one day courses (6 hours for Learning Facilitators and 5 hours for Coach Evaluators). 

Find Core Training opportunities here: Click Here.

Content-Specific Training - Spend between 1-2 hours with Master Coach Developer Barb Cooper prior to your co-delivery of a coaching course or co-facilitation of an evaluation. 

Co-Delivery - Co-deliver a course/evaluation with a certified Learning Facilitator or Coach Evaluator.

Evaluation - Facilitate a coaching course or evaluation.