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National Coaching Certification Program

The National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) is a coach training and certification program offered in over 66 sports across Canada. The Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) is the National governing body of the program and each province has a representative coaching organization to aid in the delivery of the NCCP and to support the development of coaches in their province. More than 1,000,000 coaches and sport leaders have taken part in training, education, and certification activities offered by the NCCP since its inception in 1974. The National Coaching Certification Program is a collaborative program of the government of Canada, provincial/territorial governments, national/provincial/territorial sport organizations, and the Coaching Association of Canada.

Each sport provides the sport specific components of the NCCP and Coaches BC offers the multi-sport components within the Competition coach stream to the coaches. 

Certification - Update records or check certificationNCCP Database: Check your NCCP Certification (CC#'s)

Check your coach certification in the NCCP Database on the Coaches Association of Canada website. A Coach Certification number (CC#) is assigned once you have taken a coaching course. If you do not have a CC#, please contact coach@coach.ca and provide your full name, email and mailing address, and date of birth. As it can take time for the NCCP Database to receive the Course Registration Form (CRF) from your course, please give at least 6 weeks before you send a request. 

Making Ethical Decisions (MED) Online Evaluation

All coaches must complete this evaluation after taking the Make Ethical Decisions module. Once you have received your CC# (see above) you can complete the MED Evaluation located on the Coaching Association of Canada's (CAC) website. When you go to complete the evaluation, you will be prompted for your CC# and NCCP Database password.  If you do not have a CC#, or do not remember it or your password, please contact CAC coach services.

Sport-Specific Certification

Do you know which course you need to take for your sport? Some sports have integrated the multi-sport modules with the sport-specific components. Check with your BC Provincial Sport Organization confirm the training you require. You can also go to the Sport Tracking section on the CAC website and view the Sport Development Models and Sport Integration Chart. 

Minimum Age Requirement

The minimum age to take a multi-sport NCCP course is 16 years old. Credit will not be given to those below this minimum age requirement.

The Old vs. New NCCP

Did you know the NCCP has changed? In the original NCCP program, often known as the "Levels NCCP", coach education was divided into Levels (1, 2, 3, etc). Each level had three components - theory, technical, and practical. When a coach completed all three components (such as Theory 1, Technical 1, and Practical 1) they were considered "Full Level 1 Certified". The theory courses were offered in a multi-sport setting, and the technical and practical courses were sport-specific. The new NCCP model is made up of three streams, Community Sport, Competition and Instruction streams, each with its own coaching requirements.

There were two significant downfalls of the original NCCP that outline the new NCCP: 

  1. Original NCCP: A coach had to start at Level 1 and work their way up, regardless of coaching experience and background. This was time consuming and expensive  especially for someone with significant background in a sport who was coaching higher level athletes. 
    New NCCP: The new NCCP model is made up of three athlete-centered streams: 'Community Sport', 'Competition' and 'Instruction', each with its own coaching requirements depending on the stage of the athletes someone is coaching. This allows coaches to take a course based on the athletes they are coaching, without various entry points into the NCCP. 

  2. Original NCCP: All a coach had to do to be considered a great coach was to show up and take a course, and they were considered certified for life (which does not necessarily make someone a great coach).
    New NCCP: There is a difference between a coach being Trained and Certified. A coach is considered 'In Training' until they have completed all required training components, at which point they are considered 'Trained'. In some streams a coach can then go on to become 'Certified', meaning that all training and evaluation requirements have been met. Once a coach has become 'Certified' they also have the option to take Professional Development to maintain their certification.

Each sport still provides the sport specific (technical/practical) components of the NCCP, and Coaches BC offers the multi-sport (theory) components within the Competition stream. These are taken in the classroom and many are also offered through the NCCP Home Study program. As sports are integrating into the new system, some sports have integrated the multi-sport modules with the sport-specific components (therefore requiring their coaches to only take the sport-specific training). Check with your BC Provincial Sport Organization first to confirm the training you require. 

To view a narrated presentation about the new NCCP model, click here.
To download a PDF illustrating the new NCCP model, click here.

More Information

The CAC has developed many resources to help coaches better understand the NCCP. Check out their website at www.coach.ca for more information. The list below has been developed to outline some of the key points shown on the CAC website and also to aid as a quick reference for this information. (Note that the CAC website contains significantly more information)