Olympic Solidarity, USOC, UD partner to offer world-class coaching education

3:01 p.m., May 13, 2011--The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Olympic Solidarity department and the University of Delaware graduated 19 international coaches from the third edition of the International Coaching Enrichment Certification Program (ICECP) May 3 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The coaches began the program in September, 2010, and represent 19 countries, five continents and eight sports.

The ICECP is offered to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) worldwide, and consists of lectures, guest speakers, participant presentations, group work and field trips spread among four modules, including an apprenticeship with a U.S. national team or college team. As a part of the fourth and final module, all 19 participants presented their final projects to the ICECP Academic Board at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne last week. 

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The keynote speaker for the event was Cornel Marculescu, executive director of FINA, the international governing body for swimming and other aquatic sports.

The objective of the program is to provide national-level coaches with a program that develops proficiency in sport sciences, talent identification, athlete development, coaching education, coaching management, grassroots sport development and ethical aspects of coaching at all levels of competition and across multiple sports, with the aim of improving national coaching infrastructures around the world.

“This collaborative coaching education program gives the U.S. Olympic Committee the opportunity to expand our international partnerships by sharing our resources and assisting the development of sports worldwide,” said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun. “The USOC is honored to be involved with this important coaching initiative.”

Among the participants to graduate from the program with honors included Mehran Hatami from Iran and Nargis Anny from Bangladesh. Hatami, an engineer by trade, developed a program based on an analytical hierarchy process that utilizes five quantitative and qualitative parameters to evaluate basketball players based on positions. For the first time in Bangladesh history, Anny conducted a coaching certification course for women swimmers in Bengali. This program was in addition to Anny’s men’s swimming course. 

“This year’s candidates demonstrated the potential and ability to impact sport in their country and to promote the Olympic vision of making the world a better place through sport,” said Matthew J. Robinson, director of the ICECP and professor of sport management at UD. “It was an honor to work with the participants, and we greatly appreciate the support of Olympic Solidarity, the National Olympic Committees of the candidates’ countries and the International Federations.”

Other activities undertaken by the ICECP coaches during the last module in Lausanne included visiting the Olympic Museum; meeting with their respective International Federations and participating in an animated international coaching panel led by Randoald Dessarzin, former coach of the Boncourt BC Swiss basketball league and of the Ivory Coast National Basketball Team; Dragomir Cioroslan, three-time Olympic weightlifter and head coach for the U.S. National Weightlifting Team; and Barbara Daniels, the first female senior executive of the England and Wales Cricket board, former national cricket player and current coach educator and trainer for Sports Coach UK.

ICECP graduates, projects

Below is a list of 2011 ICECP graduates as well as their respective sports, project titles and home nations.

• Nargis Anny; swimming; Development of National Coaching Education for Swimming in Bangladesh (Bangladesh)
• Julian Benjamin; archery; Development of the sport of Archery in Dominica (Dominica)
• Peter Cuffy; athletics; Establishing Program to attract Youth to Track and Field in Barbuda (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Alfusainey Fatty; weightlifting; Grassroots Development Program for Weightlifting in The Gambia (Gambia)
• Quentin Hall; basketball; Development of Basketball at all levels of competition for both athletes and coaches in the Bahamas (Bahamas)
• Mehran Hatami; basketball;  Developing a  program for player identification to improve Iran basketball  team at all levels (Iran)
• Estony Hattingh; judo; Judo Coaching Curriculum for Physical Ed Teachers in Botswana (Botswana)
• Uros Hercek; basketball and strength & conditioning; Develop a Long Term Strength and Conditioning Program to Reduce Typical Chronic and Acute Basketball Injuries (Slovenia)
• Bob Hunter; basketball; STARBASKET – Grassroots Basketball Development Program (El Salvador)
• Tien Ying Liaw; judo; Enhancing the Development of Physical Ability in Teenage Judo Athletes (Chinese Taipei)
• Inguna Minusa; beach volleyball; Beach Volleyball Development Program in Latvia (Latvia)
• Zoran Mirkovikj; taekwondo; Development of LTAD Taekwondo Training Plan in Macedonia (Macedonia)
• Dean Pejinovic; swimming; Development and Implementation of LTAD in Serbian Swimming Program (Serbia)
• Laisiasa Puamau; basketball; Establishing a LTAD Plan for Basketball from Grassroots to the Elite Level in Fiji (Fiji)
• Boedi Darma Sidi; athletics; Basic Fitness for Competitive Sport - Training Sessions for Pre-Youth Children (Indonesia)
• Arilson Silva; swimming; A Model for Advancement of Brazilian Breaststroke Swimmers (Brazil)
• Size Vardhan; volleyball; Development of a Long Term Volleyball Participant Development Plan in South Africa (South Africa)
• Ratnatilaka Wickramasinghe; weightlifting; Development of Talent Identification Program for Developing High Performance Weightlifters in Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka)
• Denise Williams; athletics; Development of a Grassroots Program to Identify and Prepare Junior Athletes to Compete in Regional Championships (Grenada)

The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to organize assistance to NOCs, particularly for those who have the greatest need. This assistance takes the form of programs elaborated jointly by the IOC and NOCs, with the technical assistance of the International Federations, if necessary.

For more information about ICECP, visit the program website.