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ITU Coaching Education Review 2019

12 February, 2020 11:02 AM Espanol

2019 was another busy year in terms of coach education at ITU. A total of 16 courses were delivered across four continents (ASTC: 9, ATU: 2, ETU: 3, PATCO: 2), with ten on Level 1 and another six on Level 2.

Olympic Solidarity granted funding for five seminars (four Level 1 and one Level 2), while ITU Development also provided two special online revalidation courses (a Level 1 and a Level 2) for those coaches certified before 2014, when the new ITU Coach Education Pathway and e-learning platform, the ITU Education Hub, were launched.

For the second year, another key element of our e-learning portfolio saw those coaches who passed courses taken 2014 and onwards were able to revalidate their status using the Education HUB. In total, 292 coaches took this opportunity last year, a significant increase on 2018. ITU Development is continuously working on the improvement of this revalidation process and look forward to have all coaches onboard.

The total number of coaches certified in 2019 was 256 (ASTC: 98, ATU: 55, ETU: 51, OTU: 2, PATCO: 50). Level 1 certifications reached 152 and we have 104 new Level 2 coaches. For reference, at present the total number of ITU Certified Coaches is 948 (ASTC: 346, ATU: 139, ETU: 223, OTU: 10, PATCO: 230), meaning that nearly a third were certified last year.

2019 certified coaches

In line with the above pathway and incorporating the results of the last two years of certificate revalidation, ITU Development has published a first list of those ITU Level 1 Certified Coaches now eligible to proceed to Level 2.

With the progress of our redesigned coach education since its introduction in September 2014, and the number of ITU Certified Coaches growing worldwide, we are now able to see the activity and dedication of individuals and provide better structure to coach development as a result. We hope that this eligible list - that will be published annually - will help NFs and Continental Confederations in their orientation of coach education.

The 2020 List of ITU Level 2 Eligible Triathlon Coaches can be accessed under the Level 2 section of Coach Education Documents in full and in continental breakdowns here: https://triathlon.org/development/coach/coach_education_documents.

The most important coach development project of 2019 was our collaboration with the Korea Triathlon Federation that built on the previous two years’ editions. The interest towards this unique education opportunity granted by the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee and organised by the Korea Triathlon Federation is building every year among eligible developing (ODA recipient) countries.

ITU Development received 144 applications, roughly double the available spots, for the course and, after the selection process, 35 coach candidates (14 women representing 40%) participated on Level 1 and another 38 (13 women representing 34%) on Level 2. Female participation therefore superseded ITU policy targets of 25% on any Level 1 and 20% on any Level 2 coaches’ course, and the project proved a good example of our efforts at improvements in gender equity. We look forward to continuing this joint venture in 2020.

To summarise our 2019 coach education statistics, 42 Level 1 female coaches (27.63%) and 29 Level 2 female coaches (28.15%) were certified. Currently ITU has now certified coaches in 100 NF territories, of which 94 NFs have Level 1, 61 NFs both Level 1 and Level 2 and 5 NFs only Level 2 coaches.

All National Federations will receive their annual coaching education report in the coming days.