The United States Olympic Committee, the University of Delaware and the International Olympic Committee have partnered for the ninth edition of the International Coaching Enrichment Certification Program (ICECP), featuring coaches representing five continents, 33 countries and 15 sports.

The opening ceremony for the ICECP program was held on Sept. 19 at Marriott’s Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware campus hotel.

The 2016-17 program will be conducted in four modules from September-April at UD, the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, apprenticeship sites around the U.S., and the Association of National Olympic Committees headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

The ICECP is conducted in partnership with Olympic Solidarity, an IOC program that provides financial assistance to National Olympic Committees around the world. Thus far, the ICECP has reached 231 participants from 23 sports and 97 countries over the eight-year history of the program. 

“The ICECP is an important way to positively impact the advancement of sport and athlete development worldwide through coaching,” said Alan Ashley, USOC chief of sport performance. “We’re thrilled to once again be partnering with the IOC and University of Delaware in this important global effort and excited to see so many ICECP participants contributing to their teams at the Rio Olympic Games.”

The program aims at assisting national-level coaches in developing proficiency in the areas of sport sciences, talent identification, athlete development, safe sport, coaching education, coaching management and grass roots sport development. The intended outcome is for ICECP participants to return to their countries and serve as coaches within their respective sports, while becoming foundation builders for future coaches and athletes and spreading the Olympic spirit.

“Through the relationship and support of the USOC we have had the privilege of working with more than 230 coaches impacting sport in nearly 100 countries since the program’s inception in 2008,” said ICECP Director Matthew Robinson, a professor at UD. “Graduates from the program have risen to positions of leadership in their National Olympic Committees and sport federations, and have made significant contributions to the well-being of athletes in their country. This year’s class will be challenged to meet similar goals. It takes a team of professionals in the sports community to make this program so successful, and UD could not be more excited about working with the new class of participants this year.”

The following 33 countries will be represented in the ninth edition of the ICECP: Albania, Aruba, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji, Guatemala, Israel, Latvia, Macedonia, Madagascar, Maldives, Moldova, Mongolia, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Romania, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Africa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

The keynote speaker at the ICECP opening ceremony was Caitlin Van Sickle, a Delaware native and a member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic field hockey team that placed fifth in the Summer Olympic Games in Rio. In her address, Van Sickle emphasized the importance of the coaches she has had through her career who enabled her to achieve her dream of being a part of the U.S. National team and competing in the Olympic Games.

“It was a dream come true to be a part of the Olympic Games. The event seems so large but to the athletes it felt like a small community,” Van Sickle added in regards to her Olympic experience.

UD Provost Domenico Grasso welcomed the coaches to campus and challenged them to make a difference in the world through sport.  

The second module takes place from Oct. 3-9 and is a sport-specific apprenticeship which allows participants to observe and interact with coaches from National Governing Bodies (NGBs), university athletic teams or elite sport clubs in each of their respective sports.

Apprenticeship sites include archery at U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) Chula Vista; track and field and basketball at Penn State University; fencing, rowing and tennis at Princeton University; volleyball at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; swimming at North Baltimore Aquatic Club; taekwondo at Power Kix Martial Arts in Virginia; judo at Pedro Judo Center in Wakefield, Massachusetts; Table Tennis at Lily Yip Table Tennis Center in Dunellen, New Jersey; cycling at CT Cycling Advancement Program in Middletown, Connecticut; and modern pentathlon at U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

The third module will take place from Oct. 10-21 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, and consists of a continuation of lectures and group work activities during a two-week period led by USOC sport performance and coaching experts.

In the final module, participants will present their projects they completed over the course of the program to the ICECP Academic Board, and again to their peers, from April 21-26 at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.  

The UD module is led by Robinson, UD sport management program director, and the director of strength and conditioning at the High Performance Figure Skating Center, Jeff Schneider.

“We could not do the ICECP without our colleagues here at UD and in the sport community around the U.S. So many committed professionals contribute to the success of ICECP. It is a true team effort on the part of the U.S. sport community and it is great honor for the University to be partnered with USOC and IOC to offer the program,” Robinson said.  

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

About ICECP

A program of the United States Olympic Committee, the University of Delaware and the International Olympic Committee, the International Coaching Enrichment Certification Program aims at assisting national-level coaches in developing proficiency in the areas of sport sciences, talent identification, athlete development, safe sport, coaching education, coaching management and grass roots sport development.

The intended outcome is for ICECP participants to return to their countries and serve as coaches within their respective sports, while becoming foundation builders for future coaches and athletes and spreading Olympic spirit.