The ITF is new member of the International Council for Coaching Excellence

As of 1st March 2021 the International Taekwon-Do Federation is a member organisation of the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE).

Through our Coaches Committee chaired by Mr Adrian Byrne, the ITF will be engaging with the ICCE and a wide range of partners in the areas of Coach Education and Development.

We see this partnership as an enormous step forward in the recognition of the critical role Taekwon-Do instructors/coaches play in the lifespan of the Taekwon-Do practitioner and towards equipping them with the necessary skills, supports and resources to fulfil their potential and through them enhance the wider Taekwon-Do community.

About the ICCE

The ICCE is a not-for-profit, global organization with the mission of leading and developing sport coaching globally.

The vision of the ICCE encompasses building a global community of coaching, where coaching is recognized as a profession and where skilled, qualified coaches are available to athletes and participants regardless of gender, age and physical and mental ability.

The ICCE aims:

• To promote sport coaching as a profession.
• To promote international relationships, social and cultural, with those who are engaged in coaching education.
• To promote sport and sport-values.
• To promote and utilize research in the field of training and competition.
• To exchange knowledge in the field of coaching.
• To disseminate information about curricula, qualifying standards etc. amongst members.
• To co-ordinate coach education courses and resources across member countries.
• To promote a moral code in coaching.
• To improve relationships among Coach – Management – Athlete.
• To publish a professional publication in the field of coaching education.
• To encourage and to assist countries, in the field of coach education

The expected outcomes of the ICCE initiative are:

• A network of national and international organizations responsible for the development of coaches in their respective nations and/or sport.
• International accords on coaching issues such as ethics, safety, and knowledge/competency.
• An international coaching culture that supports the values of Olympism: integrity, honesty, fairness, inclusion, tolerance, and commitment to excellence.

The ICCE is uniquely qualified to address its mission because its members comprise the world’s leaders in coaching development. There exists no other international sports body that focuses on programs for the individuals who introduce, teach, and deliver sport daily-coaches.

ITF and ICCE

Through the ITF Coaches Committee, we have begun taking steps to integrate and implement the learning and resources already present in ICCE. 

ICCE Coach Developer Framework

We will deliver the first Coach Developer (coach educators and trainers) training in 2022, led by Hayley Harrison, with the aim of qualifying a cohort of leaders in coach education. This will be in line with the International Coach Developer Framework (ICDF) and enable us to begin delivery of Coach Education Programmes in countries worldwide. 

ICCE Sports Coach 

These Coach Education programmes will be aligned with the principles of the International Sports Coaching Framework and we hope to enable mutual recognition of coaching qualifications with National Awarding Bodies in certain countries. 

Ethics

For our work on an ITF Coaches Code of Ethics we have drawn upon the work of Dr. Frauke Kubischta, who as part of her coaching studies at the HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences in Vierumäki, Finland, compiled an extensive review of Codes of Ethics/Conduct from sports organisations worldwide.

Mr Brendan Doogan has compiled an ITF implementation of a Coaches Code of Conduct and this is with the Do and Ethics Committee for their review. 

iCoachKids

Just like ITF, ICCE are committed to improving the health, wellbeing and participation of young people. iCoachKids is an initiative aimed at doing just that by improving the quality of coaching. We are working to integrate quality resources and learning activities from the iCoachKids programmes within our ITF specific coach education. 

In the interim, our members can complete three Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in which videos are delivered in English with subtitles available in Spanish, French, Dutch, Arabic, German, Lithuanian and Hungarian. The supporting written resources are also available in an increasing number of languages. 

Score

“Strengthening Coaching with the Objective to Raise Equality” – SCORE is an European project supported by the Erasmus+ Sport Programme, lead by by the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation (ENGSO), which  promotes equal opportunities, namely gender equality in coaching, and focuses on increasing the number of employed and volunteer female coaches at all levels of sport as well as enhancing knowledge on gender equality in coach education. The project is targeted at sports and coaching organizations at all levels, more specifically coaches, trainers, former athletes, volunteers and decision-makers in the field of coaching. 

The ITF Coaches Committee aim to work with the ITF Women’s Committee to:

• To promote the representation of employed and volunteer female coaches
• To increase the number of female coaches by creating the appropriate physical and human resources to support female coaches in their development
• To include evidence-based information about gender and gender equality in coach education appropriate to all levels

Work has begun on a Toolkit for organisations/associations which status checks the current level of female representation in coaching, the supports available, the environment and culture, real and perceived barriers and then proposes action steps to begin organisational change. 

Conclusion

We are very excited to begin this journey with the ICCE and its’ partner organisations and to fulfil our potential within the ICCE by bringing our depth of experience and novel perspectives to the organization, knowing that we all get stronger when we work towards our common goals.