High Performance Coaching Program

Program Overview 

This comprehensive program is designed to provide high potential coaches who aspire to coach at the national level with our Team Canada U18, U23, or Senior Men’s level, or with Team Ontario for future Canada Summer Games.

This program is designed to provide high potential coaches with the opportunity to develop and improve their skills. We have identified a gap that Ontario coaches are under-represented within our MNTs and for athletes who make our JMNT but do not make it onto our SMN.

Program Goals

  1. Create a coaches pathway from the local grass roots level to Team Ontario and our National team
  2. Identify and increase the number of coaches who would be considered in a development pool of high potential coaches.
  3. Develop a comprehensive program to assist coaches along the pathway to high performance coaching.
  4. Expose coaches to the skills and expectations of a provincial and national level coach
  5. Increase the number of athletes from Ontario on the SMNT by developing a bigger pool of high performance coaches in the province.

Criteria

  • Be actively coaching in the OASA or ISC within the last five years
  • Aspire to coaching positions on Team Ontario, Softball Canada U18, U23, or Senior Men’s National Team
  • Have had success as a coach at the provincial and national level
  • Shown a commitment to professional development in coaching
  • NCCP Competition, Introduction Certified or Competition, Development In-Training (or equivalent)

Structure

  • Coaches will first submit a self-reflection on their own coaching (SWOT) once selected, which will be combined with a coaching audit completed by a program advisor
  • 10 virtual sessions (90 minutes) with a combination of guest speakers and cohort discussions and information sharing
  • Two in person coach camps will be held for the coaches for areas of content that cannot be replicated in a virtual world (i.e. technical skills)
  • Each coach will be sent resources, articles, connection to experts, and more based off their individual needs
  • A digital platform will house the opportunity for the coaches in this cohort to discuss, share, connect, in between meetings. Coaches are expected to engage weekly in this platform to get the most out of this HP Coaching Program
  • Coaches will be provided with a senior level coach from the OASA with one-on-one coaching support at 1-2 practices and one competition
  • Coaches will identify an area of their own personal growth that they will focus on and complete a project which will be peer reviewed by fellow coaches in the cohort as well as from the OASA pool of coaches
  • Project outline available here

Requirements

  • Coaches will be required to pay $500 for the length of the program. This does not include any travel costs, accomodations, food, etc. during the in-person coach camps.
  • Coaches are expected to attend all virtual sessions and in person camps. Best efforts will be made to select dates well in advance so coaches can plan accordingly
  • Coaches will be expected to complete pre-reads, watch game footage, watch videos/podcasts and come to virtual monthly sessions prepared to present to the group at large
  • Coaches will complete a project that they will select at the start of the 2022 season and will submit at the completion of that softball season. The intent of this project is for the coach to focus on a specific skill or area of potential weakness within their coaching abilities and is aimed at supporting the coach to improve a particular area (s) of their coaching abilities.
  • Coaches should be available to act as guest coaches for any JMNT, U23, or SMNT national team camps that may be done in Ontario
  • Interested coaches can identify their interest with an official application. A scoring schematic has been developed internally by the OASA.

Topics

The following (not exclusive) topics will be covered through various mediums as part of this program:

  • Offensive and defensive tactics and strategies
  • Preparing your team for major competition
  • Communication as a leader
  • Technical aspects of the elite swing
  • Creating a culture
  • Other topics as determined by the cohort of coaches

Guest Speakers
Learn more about the exciting guest speakers who will be part of this program – click here to learn more.

How to apply
To apply for this exciting program, please use the online form to indicate your interest (OASA High Performance Coaching Application (jotform.com) )

**as part of the launch and welcome of the program, coaches will be surveyed on particular topics they are interested in.