OAFA - Coaching

Building leadership. Building communities.

By learning how to become a coach, you can provide a positive experience for others and for yourself. Coaches represent many different roles to many different people. Coaches are viewed as teachers, mentors, role models, friends, and as leaders in the community in which they become involved. Coaches contribute to the community, have an enormous effect on the development of our youth, and participate in a great learning experience.

Those people that are willing to become a coach and those that try to become a good coach are fundamental to community sport. By becoming a valued member of the community, coaches can share the positive aspects of an active lifestyle. The role of a coach allows you to teach things such as teamwork, character building, and the fundamental skills of the sport to participants who are eager to learn.

Coaches can help to train any type of participant, from beginners to Olympians (playground to podium), and everyone in between.

The National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) has a vision for children that take part in community sport - be it recreational or competitive. There are 3 streams of coaching and coaching clinics that takes place in Canada which are directly related to these levels of play.

Each clinic is intended to assist and support your efforts to learn and improve as a coach. Each workshop or clinic that you attend also helps develop the sport of softball for children.

Regardless of which level of softball a child is at, he/she wants to have fun and to be with friends. Every child involved should have a positive experience. Therefore, you, as a coach will have the opportunity to have an impact on a child.

The “Learn to Play Softball Program” (LtoP) fits into the Community Sport stream of coaching. This stream is most often the initial point of contact that a child has in the sport at the ages of 5-10. Therefore, the program needs to be physically and emotionally safe for the child and it needs to encourage ongoing participation. It does this by recognizing children’s capabilities to learn, and the program allows them to learn the fundamentals of softball in that very manner.

Just as the children learn by doing, so do the coaches “learn by doing”. The Learn to Coach / Community Coach Clinic is hands on and is designed so that coaches have the opportunity to learn and practice good effective coaching behaviours. Coaches will gain a better understanding of the L to P program and will see that it can be fundamentally pro-active with the diverse skill levels and ages of the participants. The OAFA provides this clinic to our coaches free of charge.

The next house league levels & ages are for boys and girls11-16. At this age the skill and achievement scale can also be diverse. Therefore, coaches that are involved with these older children would benefit with the technical cues and the softball skills and strategies that are taught in the On-Going Participation or Keep Coaching Clinic. The OAFA provides this clinics to our coaches free of charge.

The Introduction to Competition replaces what used to be the NCCP level 1 & level 2 coaching clinics. This 4 day course combines training in both the technical and the theoretical components of coaching. It is designed to introduce coaches to the skills required to teach basic sport skills and athletic abilities in a fun safe environment and is typically preparing athletes for local and/or regional level competitions. Following the completion of this course a coach is considered “trained”. Following this training phase a coach will have to pass an evaluation in order to obtain their “certification” as a coach. A list of available clinics can be found on the Softball Ontario web site. The OAFA will reimburse a coach 50% of the cost of these clinics provided they coach in our association.

Each coaching clinic is a stand alone course. Therefore, a coach does not need to take the "Learn to Coach" Community Coach clinic to be eligible to take the "On-Going/Keep Coaching" clinic or the "Introduction to Competition" clinic.

There will be a Rules Clinic for Coaches on Wed April 30. It will be given by the OAFA Umpire 'n Chief Dick Coleman. It is meant to be a refresher or an information session for new and returning coaches. No pre-reg'n is required. Come to Divine Infant Catholic School at 7pm.

Learn to Coach Clinic (OPEN) ON-GOING Paticipation/KEEP COACHING Clinic (Women only)

2 Part Clinic (2 evenings) – FREE for OAFA & women 12 hour course (1 weekend) - FREE to women from any association

$55.00 for others.

APRIL 21 & 22: 6:30 - 9:30pm MARCH 29 & 30: 9am - 4pm

Forest Valley ES Terry Fox ES

1570 Forest Valley Dr, Orleans 6400 Jeann d'Arc Blvd N, Orleans

ON-GOING Participation/KEEP COACHING Clinic (OAFA coaches)

12 hour course (2 Saturdays) - FREE

APRIL 19 & 26: 9am - 4pm

Terry Fox ES

6400 Jeanne d'Arc Blvd N, Orleans

Wear comfortable clothes and bring glove, running shoes, paper & pen

Click here for a reg’n form. Click here for a reg’n form.

Contact Pam Naylor for more details. Contact Rob Douthwright for more details

Police Record Checks

In compliance with Ontario's laws we require that all coaches and assistant coaches provide us with a validated police record check that has been issued after July of the previous year. If you need to obtain a new one, please follow the procedure below:

1) Download, print and complete the Police Record Check form.

2) Obtain a OAFA Police Check cover letter from your convenor or by contacting Penny Watson at mjwatson@sympatico.ca or Rob Douthwright at ltp@oafa.org

3) Go to the Police station with the completed form, the cover letter and the relevant identification OR bring the completed form and relevant identification (and a copy of such) to the FIRST registration day in MARCH.

4) Show the validated forms, as returned by the Police, to you convenor or to Penny Watson.