Aboriginal Coaching Modules
The professional development of Aboriginal coaches through NCCP certification has been identified by the Aboriginal Sport Circle (ASC) as a national priority. In order to educate and promote the value of the NCCP and to establish meaningful participation of Aboriginal peoples in this national program, the ASC embarked on a multi-year process to develop supplemental training material for Aboriginal coaches taking NCCP workshops. The result of this process is the Aboriginal Coaching Modules (ACM), which responds to the need for a national training curriculum with content that reflects the uniqueness of Aboriginal cultures, values, and lifestyles.
The ACM is a professional development training tool for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal coaches who coach Aboriginal athletes, as they become certified through the NCCP. The material in the ACM has been developed to meet the following learning objectives:
- Understanding the role of sport in Aboriginal communities;
- Understanding and positively influencing the community in which you coach;
- Coaching the whole person; coaching beyond the physical to include the mental (intellectual and emotional), spiritual and cultural;
- Responding to racism in sport;
- Establishing a code of behaviour for your team that respects differences and addresses racism;
- Helping those you coach make healthy lifestlye choices.
The long term objectives in delivering the ACM material include:
- Make the wisdom of Aboriginal culture available to both Aboriginal and mainstream sport;
- Increasing awareness of and support for the ACM among Aboriginal communities and the mainstream sport community in Canada;
- Allowing coaches and communities the opportunity to embrace culturally sensitive practices so they can better meet the diverse needs of Aboriginal athletes in Canada;
- Having coaches at all levels of sport utilize the material from the ACM in their day-to-day interaction with Aboriginal athletes;
- Creating opportunities for positive dialogue between administrators, facilitators, coaches, and athletes about how the ACM should evolve to meet the constantly changing needs of young Aboriginal athletes;
- Increase the number of NCCP certified Aboriginal coaches.
Coaching young people offers an opportunity to make a difference in this world. Sport can be about developing a sense of community and common purpose. Sport can foster better health conditions, social skills, and community healing.
Coaching Aboriginal youth in and outside of Aboriginal communities provides a coach with opportunities for personal growth and development; as well it can foster personal and community development in our Aboriginal youth.
Module 1
Holistic Approach to Coaching encompasses a holistic approach to coaching which includes topics such as creating a positive environment, the Medicine Wheel, a coaching perspective: physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, cultural, and spiritual aspects, values (the Four Pillars), coach-to-community relationships.
Module 2
Dealing with Racism in Sport encompasses issues on dealing with racism in sport including definitions that may be useful in the discussion of racism and knowing when to use the right word to describe what is happening in a certain situation, i.e. discrimination, racism, prejudice, stereotype, systemic discrimination. It also discusses how to respond to racism and the three choices of response, examples of coaches’ responses, organizational responses to racism, creating a positive environment, and coach-to-family relationships.
Module 3
Individual and Community Health and Wellness encompasses topics on lifestyle, health, and nutrition, and how to be familiar with the unique lifestyle, health situations, and challenges that Aboriginal youth may face. Topics in this chapter include: understanding the community where you coach, mental health, personal and community health practices, diet and nutrition, health conditions and diseases, and influencing change.
For more information on the ACM, please contact Anthony Sauvé, Manager, Aboriginal Coach Development: asauve@coach.ca.
To enrol in this multi-sport coaching module today, please click here and then click on your Province or Territory for more information, or contact your Provincial or Territorial Aboriginal Sport Body.