ASRA’s Coaching & Athlete Development
The coach must have a dedication to the sport and the athlete whether the athlete be a junior or an adult. The coach will become the “go-to” person for a local and regional programs.
Coaching courses are held throughout the province as necessary and when possible ASRA provides financial support. If you are interested or maybe know of a club who would like to have a youth program, please let us know and we will help you achieve the goal!
If you are interested in NCCP target shooting coach training, contact Alberta Federation of Shooting Sports afss@absgooters.org and you will be connected with their Coaching Coordinator.
Shooting program can be part of a local outdoors association like the Alberta Fish and Game Association, the Royal Canadian Legion, a local Church, Cadets, 4-H Club or it could be an offshoot of the local independant shooting club. Being associated with an established organization can help with program funding, facility, and insurance. To apply for government grants a club must be a registered not-for-profit.
A prospective coach is encouraged to attend coach education sessions developed by the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC), and the Shooting Federation of Canada (SFC).
These sessions lead a beginning coach throught the theory and technical demands of being a coach. There are sessions that are generic to all sports and there are sessions specific to rifle shooting. The Alberta Federation of Shooting Sports partners with member Associations such as ASRA to host sport specific sessions. The non-sport specific sessions are available through local colleges, universities and local multi-sport organizations such as sport councils. As the coach progresses through the training sessions they will learn topics like ethics, safety, stages of athlete development, how to plan a practice, how to plan an annual program, and how to create and work with an annual training plan. As the coach progresses, so will their opportunity to coach athletes at higher levels of competitivness; local, regional, provincial, national, and international competitions are possible.
ASRA has air rifles and other equipment that can be loaned to clubs who are starting up. ASRA volunteers support new shooters and new clubs with information sessions through Skype or in-person, and we have a mobile air rifle range that can be used to host shoooting outreach clinics in prospective communities.
Reimbursement of expenses incurred by the local coach may be available through the local club. If the coach becomes active in the ASRA administration and lends his/her ability to provincial athlete development goals, there will be opportunity for futher reimbursment of expenses.
Often a coach does not even visualize themselves as a coach, simply a volunteer, it is their dedication to the sport that eventually leads them down the coaching path, and one day they find that the rewards of their labour are in the smiles of the athletes.
National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP)
All ASRA shooting coaches are required to be NCCP certified.
What is the NCCP?
Being a coach takes passion and dedication. Being a great coach, however, requires additional guidance and support. The National Coaching Certification Program was developed by CAC and its partners to give coaches that extra advantage. The program targets 67 different sports, in both official languages, and is the recognized standard for coach training and certification in Canada.
NCCP workshops are designed to meet the needs of all types of coaches, from the first-time community coach to the head coach of a national team. Each year, more than 50,000 coaches take an NCCP workshop. Since the program began, more than 1 million coaches have participated, making it one of the largest adult education programs in Canada.
The NCCP is comprised of three streams and a total of eight “contexts. Each sport is responsible for identifying how many of the eight contexts are relevant to their sport. As part of the program, all coaches (regardless of sport or context) are trained in ethical decision-making and sport safety.
To view a narrated presentation about the new NCCP model, click here.
To download a PDF illustrating the new NCCP model, click here.
ASRA’s overall philosophy on coaching in shooting and long term goals:
Canada Sport For Life (CS4L)
Canada Sport for Life (CS4L) is an initiative, started at the national level that is directed towards improving Canadians physical and mental health through life long sport involvement. What better a life long sport than target shooting! The structure of the CS4L program is based upon well developed sport opportunities and well laid out sport theory from youth to senior levels. The program DOES NOT FOCUS ON AGE so much as opportunity and maturity. This is most important since physical and mental maturation vary from person to person. The goal is to produce a physically literate individual well based in sport theory.
For more information on CS4L follow the link to the website: Canadian Sport For Life
Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD)
The sport structure philosophy identified to carry out the CS4L program is Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD). The LTAD structure identifies a series of sport benchmarks around which a sport can start to focus and develop sport participation from youth to adulthood. One of the ultimate goals is podium performance. LTAD theory presents a blue print which identifies the key benchmarks for sport involvement and activity for sport administrators and coaches. The following is a short summary of the LTAD blue print as it relates to target shooting.
NOTE:
Except for the first two stages, all time periods are noted as TIME IN THE SPORT, rather than chronological age. This is important when considering the application of LTAD principles to shooting since target shooting is a late entry sport.
ACTIVE START:
This time period is generally age 1 through 5. General physical activity skill development takes place. Running, jumping, twisting, ball throwing… all the types of physical skills that our youth develop in PE programs in schools and play patterns.
FUNDAMENTALS:
The movement of basic skills into games of individual or team nature. The individual is exposed to all sorts of different activities and skill building. These first two stages reflect age groupings of 1 through 10 and generally are accepted processes for all sports.
INTRODUCTION TO SHOOTING:
1 – 3 years in shooting sports. This stage is meant to expose the new shooter to the spectrum of different types of shooting. Specialization begins to move the individual towards their favourite type of shooting. General firearms safety, range safety, types of firearms and types of shooting are the focus here. This is not a training time… it is introductory.
Key terms: safe… positive… fun
TRAINING TO TRAIN:
2 – 5 years in shooting sports. First introduction to competition. Main focus is still on fun in the sport, while beginning to focus on developing excellence.
Training time: 2 – 4 times a week … 1 – 1.5 hours
Key terms: fun … practice … excellence
TRAINING TO COMPETE:
4 – 9 years in shooting sports. The target shooter is introduced to training standards: technical skills for specific shooting discipline, specialized physical activities, and scheduled practices.
Training time: 3 – 5 times a week… one full practice match per session
Key terms: focus… specialization … performance
TRAINING TO WIN:
8 – 10 years in shooting sports. This stage is the focus on the podium stage. The focus is to maximize performance at multiple peaks.
Training time: 6 days a week, one full match per day
Key terms: performance … performance … excellence
SPORT FOR LIFE:
This level reflects either the recreational shooter or the high performance athlete that has moved past peak performance but remains involved in the sport. We can observe these target shooters on all of our ranges as they remain active in our sport… for life.
This LTAD program was developed at the national level at the direction of Sport Canada. The Shooting Federation of Canada has specific LTAD coaching program for ISSF shooting disciplines.
