Revamped 2024 Coach Education: US Ski & Snowboard’s New Approach
The new education platform, the US Ski & Snowboard Sport Education Academy (“The Academy”), will launch on September 1, 2024. David McCann, Director of Sport Education, and his team have tirelessly worked to add new value to their department at USSS. They are excited to tell you all about the platform and its benefits.
Responding to the community:
In 2023, US Ski and Snowboard decided to revamp its coaches’ education program to make it more efficient, effective and economical for its coaches. Staff discussions with US Ski and Snowboard sport committees and clubs, as well as a survey sent out to over 7,500 member coaches and club directors, revealed that there was a need to make the coach education and certification process less time-consuming, more relevant, easier to navigate, more consistent, less costly and more credible.
There was also a desire to expand the scope of the content on the US Ski and Snowboard Coach Education site to cover all the non-sport-specific areas in the Training System Domains. A review of the certification numbers showed that the buy-in from coaches to the existing program was limited and was not having an impact on retaining the quantity and enhancing the quality of coaches throughout the athlete development pipeline. A new approach was needed.
Based on the several decades of experience in coaches and sport development of the US Ski and Snowboard sport education staff, surveys of US Ski and Snowboard coaches/club directors and other NGBs, discussions with many of the top club directors and US Ski and Snowboard coach developers, the US Ski and Snowboard staff are developing a program that will have a new focus, strategy, components and process. The critical elements of this new approach are:
- Increase engagement of coaches, clubs, athletes, parents and US Ski & Snowboard to achieve the vision and mission of US Ski & Snowboard, its clubs and members.
- Make the process economical, efficient, convenient, relevant, and effective.
- Develop holistic and comprehensive content and curriculum for all stakeholders.
- Make it financially sustainable.
- Be flexible and innovative.
The new approach and program have received the brand name:
“The US Ski & Snowboard Sport Education Academy” (“The Academy”)
The Academy will have five main areas of focus:
- Structure of programming
- Content of curriculum
- Delivery of educational content
- Credible certification process
- Equitable and affordable costs
The program will reflect these five areas of focus through the creation of learning modules, delivery of on-snow sessions, development of resources, earning of recognitions, generation of revenue, service to stakeholders and establishment of an engagement platform. We will measure success by the number of coaches, athletes, parents and club directors participating in the program. We will also track their progress through the system and their use of the provided resources. Ultimately, we will assess the quality of the clubs and athletes that develop.
The following briefly describes the significant changes that will begin rolling out this season.
New Learning Management System (LMS):
We will replace our existing LMS with a New Start Mobile (NSM) system https://www.newstartmobile.com.
NSM is a “sports organization-specific” program used by dozens of national and international organizations, including the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, USA Hockey, USA Baseball, US Tennis Association, USA Weightlifting, USA Lacrosse, USA Ultimate and USA Water Polo. Several sports organizations in Canada and Australia also use this program. The platform has many features that allow us to create and deliver educational modules and resources and certify and communicate with our coaches better.
US Ski & Snowboard Sport Education Academy (SEA):
The US Ski and Snowboard Sport Education Academy will be the platform for all the online, in-person and on-snow modules, events and resources. After registering with US Ski and Snowboard, a coach will register with the Sport Education Academy, create a profile, and subscribe to the “tier” of their choice.
Bronze – Free – Non-Certified Status
- Access to Safety modules (Avalanche, First Aid/CPR, Concussion, DEI
- Forms and resources for download (season plans, practice plans, athlete journals, Skills Quest)
Silver – $50 annually ($40 for 2024-25 Season) – Pending Certification Status
- Bronze elements
- Certification also requires access to Sport Fundamentals modules (online sport-agnostic topics)..
- Access to Sport-Specific Training modules (to be delivered online and on-snow by coach developers)
- Access to register for online webinars (Speaker Series, Club Excellence, Fall Summit)
- Access to register for in-person conferences (Club Excellence Conference)
Gold – $100 annually ($80 for 2024-25 Season) – Active Certification Status
- Bronze and Silver elements
- Access to Assessment Sessions to attain Certification Levels
- Professional Development elements (required to maintain Certification Status), including online and on-snow modules, webinars, conferences, events and experiential recognition.
- Complete library of all US Ski and Snowboard Sport Education Academy videos and modules
- Free access to all webinars
- 50% off conference fees
- Virtual and Actual Certification-Level Badges for Jackets and online profiles (LinkedIn)
The rationale for this subscription approach was the responses we received from the survey we sent out in November 2023 to over 7,500 coaches and club leaders. We meticulously pored over hundreds of responses to form key takeaways that ultimately shaped the development of the Sport Education Academy and its subscription model. Most notably, 65% of respondents indicated that they were willing to pay $100/year (or more) for access to coach education and resources.
We understand that paying for an annual Sports Education Academy subscription might feel jarring compared to the current system. However, coaches have always needed to invest annually in their education.
The long-standing requirement is that coaches earn eight Continuing Education (CE) credits every two years to maintain a current coaching certification. Our standard CE cost has been $20/credit, which means that coaches have been spending, on average, $80 annually on continuing education.
Club Discounts Available:
As a result of feedback from several club directors during the US Ski and Snowboard Congress meetings in May, we have developed a discount plan program where ski clubs can acquire bundles of discount coupons for their coaches for both the silver and gold subscription tiers. Clubs can save up to 25% off the annual subscription fees.
Streamlined Certification Process:
Coaches will go through a series of educational modules, both online and on-snow, at their local clubs and regions. They will be able to learn and master the information and skills they need to do their job more effectively. We will set up “assessment” sessions nationwide where our new national faculty will determine the coaches’ certification. This latest certification process will be significantly shorter than the previous process by focusing on what coaches need to know and be able to do on-snow with their athletes and then supporting them with an extensive array of professional development opportunities they can pursue to improve their coaching.
Coach Developers and National Faculty:
We will create two groups of instructors and assessors to deliver content to better train and certify coaches. Coach developers will receive training materials to directly provide the content covered in the Fundamental and Sport Training modules to coaches in their clubs and regions. This approach allows coaches to understand the material and master the skills more effectively. The select group of national faculty will then be holding “assessment sessions” on the topics covered in the Sport Training modules to determine certification status. We hope this approach will allow coaches to gain a thorough understanding of the content and feel confident about being assessed on it. We believe this will raise the quality and credibility of the certification levels and status.
Rollout:
Because we got a late start on the revisions to the program, and it turns out the revisions are more extensive than we first thought, there will be a delay in the complete implementation of the US Ski and Snowboard Sport Education Academy in 2024. We will launch the program in September 2024. Because of this delay, we will reduce the price of the silver and gold tier subscriptions to $40 and $80 for the 2024 – 25 season.
Your Support and Feedback:
The key to successfully implementing a new program is the feedback and interaction from all organization members involved. We know that we aren’t going to get this perfect out of the start gate. That is why we need your feedback, thoughts and ideas. We ask for your understanding and help in coming up with solutions and fixing problems to improve the program continually. Several of you have already provided us with ideas on how we should go forward, and we will be rolling those into the next wave of revisions. We appreciate your passion, commitment, and honesty as we build the new US Ski and Snowboard Sport Education program together.
For more information on the changes in the Sport Education Department, please review the documents below or contact our team directly.
- Sport Education Membership, Certification, Cost, and Requirements Slide Deck
- Sport Education Rolling FAQ Document
- Coach Education & Certification Anonymous Feedback Form
- Sport Education E-Mail sporteducation@usskiandsnowboard.org
David McCann, Director Sport Education
About the Author: David McCann
