ICECP program in the USA
The International Coaching Enrichment Certificate Program (ICECP) is a high quality program that has been offered by the United States Olympic Committee in partnership with University of Delaware to various countries in the world.
The ICECP program provides national level coaches from various sport disciplines and those responsible for the development of the sport national coaching structures in their countries with a practical program orientated towards developing proficiency in the areas of sport sciences, talent identification, athlete development, coaching education, coaching management, grass roots sport development and ethical aspects of coaching at all levels of competition and across multiple sports.
Within the 5 years of this program it has been the first time that a tennis coach has attended this course. Coach Carolina Vera Vera, from Suriname, has been grateful to get the opportunity to be part of a positive, stimulating learning environment.
In her opinion the program is organized very well, has a very clear mission/ purpose and is also structured in a very professional way. The program is structured on a modular basis. Most of the theory was done in module 1 and 3, but during module 2 the practical aspect came into play.
The coaches were privileged to have a total of 43 speakers sharing their knowledge for more than 100 hours around a diverse variety of topics. Beside the quality information shared within this program, the extracurricular activities were also given a high importance. The main objective of this program is to share the power of the Olympic Spirit, by focusing on the total wellbeing of the individuals. The inspiration and the energy has been transferred though lectures, social bonding time and the love of sports.
During the apprenticeship week in module 2, Coach Vera Vera gained some experience from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) center in New York. Mr. Paul Lubbers, Mr. Joe Ceriello, and Ms. Jessica Battaglia were the people whom were able to accept and coordinate the week’s activity for coach Vera Vera in New York.
At the beginning of the week training sessions led by the national coach Jorge Todero and his team were observed. For the last 4 days coach Vera Vera had the opportunity to attend the USTA high performance coaching program, where she was able to share information with 18 other national high performance coaches.
An unforgettable moment for coach Vera Vera was that she was able to meet fitness legend Pet Etcheberry. For 4 days she was able to observe his work and also able to talk, share and learn a lot of valuable information related to tennis fitness.
Coach Vera Vera was very enthusiastic and pleased with the program .Since it has been the first time that a tennis coach has participated with the ICECP program, she would recommend any tennis coach in the world to look into this educational opportunity.
After those 5 weeks in the USA each coach gets the opportunity to implement a project for 6 months in their home country and if the coaches are successful they get the opportunity to present their project to the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland.
Coach Vera Vera would like to thank the United States Tennis Association (USTA), The United States Olympic committee (USOC), University of Delaware, the Suriname Olympic Committee (SOC), the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Suriname Tennis Federation (STB) for this valuable learning experience.