8:48 a.m., Oct. 8, 2010----The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), the University of Delaware (UD) and the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Olympic Solidarity department have announced that they will partner once again for the third edition of the International Coaching Enrichment Certification Program (ICECP), welcoming 21 national coaches representing five continents, 21 countries and 10 sports.

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“As part of our commitment to international outreach, and following the success of the first two editions of the ICECP, the U.S. Olympic Committee is pleased to partner with the IOC and the University of Delaware to offer coaches from around the globe a world-class coaching education program,” said Scott Blackmun, USOC chief executive officer. “ICECP is aimed at helping coaches develop proficiency in a wide variety of coaching skills and at all levels of competition in order to help them further develop the coaching infrastructure in their home countries.”

The program consists of lectures, guest speakers, participant presentations, group work and field trips. In addition, each coach will undergo an apprenticeship with a U.S. national team or college team as well as develop a project aimed at improving their national coaching infrastructure with the support of an international coaching expert.

Topics include sport nutrition, sport medicine, injury management and prevention, sport psychology and physiology, sport administration, and coaching methods.

The program has four modules. In the first module, participants will spend two weeks at UD and attend lectures and presentations from experts on a variety of coaching education and sports science topics.

The second module is a sport-specific apprenticeship that allows participants to observe and interact with coaches from national governing bodies, university athletic teams or elite sport clubs in each of their respective sports.

Apprenticeship sites include Penn State; North Baltimore Aquatic Club, home of Bob Bowman and Michael Phelps; Germantown Academy; Villanova University; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; La Salle University; Drexel University; Temple University; St Joseph's University; University of California Irvine; USA Volleyball Men's and Women's Training Center in Anaheim, Calif.; USA Judo National Training Site North Miami/Ki-Itsu-Sai; Remarck Sport Taekwondo Club, Alexandria, Va.; ICC Table Tennis Center, Milpitas, Calif.; and the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs.

The third module will take place at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, and consist of a continuation of lectures and group work activities during a two-week period taught by USOC sport performance and coaching experts.

In the final module, participants will present the projects they completed over the course of the program to the ICECP Academic Board and thereafter undergo a public presentation of their projects at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“The University of Delaware supports the high ideals of the Olympic Movement and is pleased to offer a well-structured, comprehensive and in-depth course of study,” said UD Deputy Provost Havidán Rodríguez.

Hank Steinbrecher, who served as CEO and secretary general of U.S. Soccer during the sports' rise to prominence in America in the 1990s and a distinguished sports statesman, served as the keynote speaker during the ICECP opening ceremony held recently on the UD campus in Newark, focusing his speech on the power of sport.

“You can change lives,” Steinbrecher told the participant coaches during his speech. “Through sport coaches have the ability to transcend life values, cultural boundaries and make the world a better place.“

The program is headed at Delaware by Matthew Robinson, professor of business administration and director of the UD sport management program, and Jeff Schneider, director of strength and conditioning at the University's High Performance Figure Skating Center.

“We are looking to build on our last two years of success,” Robinson said. “The faculty, the coaches and staff in Intercollegiate Athletics and the staff and leadership of the Institute for Global Studies have been incredible, and we have a committed and passionate group of participants who will return to their native countries to impact the grassroots levels all the way up to the highest levels of competition in their respective sports. We cannot be prouder or more excited about working with the new ICECP group.”

Robinson and Schneider both possess a wealth of international sport management experience. Robinson worked for the U.S. Department of State in the area of sport diplomacy in 2008, while Schneider has worked with numerous national, world, and Olympic-level figure skaters.

The following countries are represented by ICECP participating coaches: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Dominica, El Salvador, Fiji, Gambia, Indonesia, Iran, Latvia, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Oman, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

For more information about ICECP, to view program photos or to read blog entries from the 2008-2010 program, visit the program website.

The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to organize assistance to National Olympic Committees (NOCs), in particular those that have the greatest need of it. This assistance takes the form of programs elaborated jointly by the IOC and the NOCs, with the technical assistance of the International Federations, if necessary.

About the USOC

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the sole entity in the United States whose mission involves training, entering and underwriting the full expenses for the U.S. teams in the Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games. In addition to being the steward of the U.S. Olympic Movement, the USOC is the moving force for support of sports in the United States that are on the program of the Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games. Learn more about the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams and the USOC at the website.

About the University of Delaware

The University of Delaware has a great tradition of excellence, from our founding as a small private academy in 1743, to the research-intensive, technologically advanced institution of today. The University received its charter from the state of Delaware in 1833 and was designated one of the nation's historic Land Grant colleges in 1867. Today, UD is a Land Grant, Sea Grant and Space Grant institution. UD also is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a research university with very high research activity -- a designation accorded to less than three percent of U.S. colleges and universities.

Photos by Ambre Alexander