Competition-Introduction Clinic

COMPETITION-INTRODUCTION, SOFTBALL – 40 HOURS TOTAL

The National Coaching Certification Program for Competition – Introduction, Softball Clinic includes*:

Softball Coaches who are coaching the following age categories should attend this clinic according to Softball Long Term Player Development Plan:

• U14 – Competitive- participating in a Provincial or Canadian Championships
• U16 – Competitive- participating in a Provincial or Canadian Championships
• U19 – Competitive- participating in a Provincial or Canadian Championships
• U23- Competitive- participating in a Provincial or Canadian Championships
• Intermediate – Competitive- participating in a Provincial or Canadian Championships
• Senior – Competitive- participating in a Provincial or Canadian Championships
• Masters – Competitive- participating in a Provincial or Canadian Championships

Please be sure to contact your Member Association to determine what the requirements are needed as a Coach to participant in Provincial and Canadian Championships.

The goals of this course are to promote fun, fitness, fundamentals and performance among the beginning and intermediate coaches who are either coaching youths and/or adults.

Stages of Progress in the National Coaches Certification Program include:

Trained– this is when a Coach has attended the clinic portion (Weekend #1 and Weekend #2) and completed the Make Ethical Decisions Online Test/Evaluation of the requirements of the NCCP

Certified– this is when a Coach has attended the clinic portion (Weekend #1 and Weekend #2); completed the Make Ethical Decisions Online Test/Evaluation and participated in an On Field Evaluation and has met the requirements of the National Coaching Certification Program

Note: It is strongly recommended that the coach attend the Make Ethical Decision Module session at the Introduction to Competition Multi-Sport workshop (usually Part A) or Softball Competition-Introduction Clinic (usually the What to Coach Clinic) before completing the On-Line test. The information and training obtained at the Make Ethical Decision Module training session is very specific and increase the coaches chance of being successful in passing.

For a Softball Coach to be “Trained” in this context they need to complete the following steps:

1. Check the Softball Ontario website at the following link to see where and when clinics are being offered https://softballontario.ca/coach/

2. Register and submit payment for the Clinic that meets their needs. $225.00 per participant plus HST.

3. Complete Foundations of coaching Softball Part 1 and Part 2 which can be accessed at visit The Locker by clicking here! You will need your NCCP number and your password to log in to The Locker. If you have taken an NCCP clinic or workshop in any sport, you will already have an NCCP number. You should only ever have one NCCP number!! Use the “lookup my NCCP#” or “Forgot password” functions on the login page to retrieve this information. If you have never taken an NCCP clinic or workshop, use the “Don’t have an NCCP #? Create one now” function on the login page to get one after providing the required information. Once you are logged in to the Locker, your NCCP dashboard will appear. Select the eLearning tab. Then use the pull-down menu to select “Softball” (the default is showing “Multi-Sport”) and under the “Available” menu on the left hand side, you will see all the Softball eLearning modules available to complete.

4. Attend the 1st Weekend clinic in its entirety

5. Attend the 2^nd Weekend clinic in its entirety

For a Softball Coach to be “Certified” in this context they need to complete steps 1 to 5 as listed above in becoming “Trained” and then complete the following steps:

6. The coach will confirm attendance at the OFE and make the appropriate payment to Softball Ontario Clinic Host for the evaluation. For a copy of the application, please click here: Competition-Introduction, Softball On Field Evaluation Application Form

A Coach will select the option of how they would like to complete their Competition-Introduction, Softball On Field Evaluation:

Competition-Introduction, Softball On Field Evaluation Options

7. Coach completes the following requirements (estimated time to complete everything is about 6 hours) and submits a soft copy (scan/email; Dropbox) to the Softball Ontario office (attention Program Coordinator, Troy Moffitt: tmoffitt@softballontario.ca ) (Hard copies will not be accepted and will be returned to the Coach for re-submission):

• Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the Coach’s home field
• Softball Canada Competition – Introduction Coach Portfolio – Coaches are asked to refer to the resources materials received from Weekend #1/What to Coach and Weekend #2/How to Coach specifically the Coach Portfolio (purple)
• Practice Plan: the coach will complete a written practice plan that will be submitted to the evaluator at least 2 weeks prior to the date of the evaluation. The practice plan will outline a practice for 2 hours and will capture the activities based on a skill selected from the lists below:

• The actual on-field evaluation practice will be a minimum of 45 minutes in length teaching the selected skill(s):
• The coach will select at least one basic skill from the list provided and include at least one drill or activity to teach this basic skill in their practice. Click Here for the list
• The coach will select at least one tactic from the list provided that uses the skill selected and include at least one drill or activity to teach this tactic in their practice. Click Here for the list
• The coach will complete and submit Regional Coach Observation Package that will be submitted to the Evaluator at the actual date of the On Field Evaluation
• For a copy of the Softball Canada Competition-Introduction, Softball Coach Portfolio please email tmoffitt@softballontario.ca

8. Softball Ontario will contact the Coach and confirm the date, location and Coach’s assigned time for their Evaluation once the Emergency Action Plan, Softball Canada Competition-Introduction, Softball Portfolio and Practice Plan have met the minimum NCCP requirements.

9. The coach completes the On Field Evaluation by running a practice that is supplied with 9 softball athletes (U14 and above) and must the Analyze Performance evaluation (which is watching video and pointing out how to redirect the softball athletes with their softball skills).

10. The NCCP Coach Developer conducts the evaluation by conducting a 20-minute welcome interview, by observing a 45-minute practice, 15-30 minute Skill Analysis (watching video and identifying what skills need to be corrected) and 20 minute debrief. Here is a copy of the Softball Observation Kit that is used during the On Field Evaluation to evaluate softball Coaches:

Softball Canada Observation Toolkit

11. The NCCP Coach Developer provides the Coach a copy of On-Field Evaluation form and a Competition-Introduction, Softball On Field Evaluation completion certificate, submits the evaluation report to Softball Ontario. The NCCP Coach Developer keeps a copy for their records.