CanoeKayak Canada – Whitewater
Education and Certification Committee

NCCP Status (xls document)
Leadership Development Model 4 (pdf document)
Instructor Levels 2010 (ms word document)

Education Overview

The AWA has had a well designed instructional/coaching program since 1978. It has included competency based instructional levels and curriculum skills courses taught by instructors at all levels of whitewater kayaking. Leadership and Safety/Rescue courses address the all important issue of risk management within the AWA.

In 1985 the Alberta Whitewater Association Program involving Basic Instructor 1 and River Instructor II was merged with the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP). The NCCP program had a focus on instruction at the lower levels NCCP WW Kayak 1 and NCCP WW Kayak II and coaching at the advanced levels, NCCP III and IV. The AWA still maintained the Trip Leader, River Leader and Whitewater Instructor III programs separately. .

History of Kayak Instructor & Leader Certification in Canada

Originally BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec developed their own kayak instructor certification in the late 1970’s. This was followed by the development of the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) in 1984. This brought the 4 provincial programs together under the NCCP banner. NCCP Level I and Level II coaches were dually certified as Lake and River Instructors. NCCP Level III and IV coaches were recognized as Intermediate and Advanced Slalom coaches. One of the challenges with the NCCP was the requirement of instructors to be trained in non-essential theory topics such as nutrition and energy systems.

At the same time Canada developed these programs, the American Canoe Association, the British Canoe Union and other national kayaking federations also began certifying leaders, instructors and coaches.
In 1998, Paddle Canada began certifying recreational kayak instructors as an adjunct of its recreational canoe instructors and sea kayak tripping programs. This program was broadly resisted in those provinces that had strong provincial ties to CKC-W but the lack of CKC-W representation in the Maritimes, Territories and Prairies led to the adoption of this program in those regions.

Recent Status of Kayaking Instruction in Canada

Kayaking in Canada has continued to be fragmented and struggled to have a National Kayak instructor certification program that is broadly recognized. This has weakened the ability to service the needs of Canada’s paddlers.

We have also not kept abreast of the changes to the nature of our sport over the past 25 years and this was reflected in the past system of coach - instructor certification. Recently the broader availability of sea kayaks, touring kayaks, Costco car toppers and other low end recreational kayaks has led to a greater interest from Canadians to try river kayaking. We need to be ready to meet this need with quality kayak instruction that can teach young and old to properly paddle the boat of their choice.

New National Strategy – Why NCCP ?

The Education and Certification Committee of CanoeKayak Canada – Whitewater (CKC-W ), formerly Whitewater Canada, evaluated the certification standards and paddler development models in whitewater kayaking in Canada. This has included the Coaching, Instruction and Trip Leading activities that are being run across Canada.

The NCCP program is the gold standard for leadership certifications programs in Canada for all sports organizations. It is broadly recognized by National and Provincial sport governing organizations, school boards, municipal recreation departments and other organizations involved in sport and recreation. By bringing kayak leadership, instruction and coaching under the NCCP umbrella, the sport will be widely recognized across Canada.

The NCCP’s new Competency Based Education and Training format provides a broad new platform with a different approach to community leadership, instruction and competitive coaching. It also allows for individuals to challenge the certification process and opens the way for Paddle Canada, BCU or ACA certified instructors to cross over easily to the new CKC-W // NCCP program. This recertification can be done in a relatively simple manner through the regular re-certification process at a weekend workshop or special teaching evaluations.

CKC-W has come to an agreement with Paddle Canada to amalgamate the Paddle Canada river kayaking program into a new NCCP program.

The new NCCP program for recreational paddling includes the following certification programs:

• Community Kayak Instructor 1 – Pool
  
• Community Kayak Instructor 1 – Lake
  
• River Leader II
  
• River Instructor II
  
• Whitewater Leader III
  
• Whitewater Instructor III
  

Please refer to the attached CKC-WW Leadership and Instructor certification program.

Of significance is the interest and support of non-kayaking pool staff in the CKI1-P certification. This is new and has great potential to expand our sport into non-traditional markets and to assist us in transitioning to the Long Term Athlete Development model where younger children (ages 8 - 11) would be exposed to paddle sports. Community swimming pools and their staff are an untapped resource for our sport. Pools generally set aside $5,000 per year for the addition of pool toys to their facilities. They also provide training and upgrading for their staff to implement new aquatic programs.

By offering a certification to non-kayaking pool instructors and lifeguards, kayaking could be one of those programs that communities offer on a regular ongoing basis with or without the support of a local paddling club. Schools, youth groups, swim clubs could build the numbers of people that begin to paddle. This will lead to the formation of local clubs and programs as people are able to get qualified assistance.

Rollout and Implementation

CKC-W has approved the Certification program as attached for the Community Kayak and Instructional streams. All programs are now operational under the Instruction and Leadership framework and can be accessed by contacting local PSO’s .

One new level of the CKC-W program, Kayak River Leader 2 and Kayak River Instructor 2 has been approved by the NCCP committee and is being implemented under the new format this spring. When NCCP is ready to approve the other levels of the CKC-W program, the existing CKC-W leaders and instructors will be rolled into the appropriate NCCP levels with a minimum of problems.

Coaching Certification

The new NCCP framework for certification of coaches has 3 levels, instead of the 5 that were originally developed by NCCP. The new levels are:

1. Introduction
   
2. Development
   
3. High Performance
   

In the new NCCP program separate coaching streams are envisaged for Slalom, Wildwater, Freestyle, Surfing and Canoe Polo.
The existing NCCP Kayak Coach III is equivalent to the NCCP Slalom Development Coach. The NCCP III certification continues to be offered and recognized by CAC and CKC-WW.

The existing NCCP Kayak Coach IV is equivalent to the NCCP Slalom High Performance Coach. The NCCP IV certification continues to be offered and recognized by CAC and CKC-WW.

Rewriting and approving the existing slalom coaching certifications is a lower priority at this time because of the existence of the approved NCCP levels. There is also not a strong demand for this program at this time.

Given the funding resources available from CAC and CKC the following is a timeframe for the development of the coaching modules of the NCCP program that we have outlined. Components of this timeframe may be accelerated if a discipline committee wishes to undertake it using their internal resources (ie Canoe Polo or Freestyle). As well the successful implementation of the Instructional program may create enough additional financial resources to allow for fulltime staff to be employed to accelerate this timeframe.
Resources will be directed to the development of the NCCP Kayak Intro Coach which includes all disciplines. 2010-11 will see the writing, piloting and testing of the Level I Coach Introduction which is the basis for coaching in all disciplines.

2012 will see the writing, piloting and testing of the Level II Slalom Development Coach and the Level II Freestyle Development Coach.

2013 will see the writing, piloting and testing of the Level II Canoe Polo Development Coach and the Level II Wildwater Development Coach.

2014 we will be in a position to underwrite and develop the Level III High Performance Coaches for Slalom, Wildwater, Freestyle and Canoe Polo.