Great Success Of The ITU Accreditation Coach Education Program In Portugal

by Olalla Cernuda on 21 Aug, 2019 12:15 • Español
Great Success Of The ITU Accreditation Coach Education Program In Portugal

Since March 2019, ITU Development and the Portugal Triathlon Federation have worked closely to complete the ITU accreditation process of the National Coaching Education System of Portugal. As a result of various and numerous submissions, reviews, questionnaires, conference calls over the past months, the Portugal Triathlon Federation has now become the 10th National Federation with accredited coaching education programme recognised by the International Triathlon Union.

The objective of the ITU Accreditation Coaches Education Programme (ACEP) is to share and collaborate on best practice in coach education and for the ITU to be the supporting organisation that helps National Federations to improve and enhance their coach education programmes. The accreditation process itself seeks to ask questions of the National Federation so that it can identify areas to work on and enhance its current provision.  Whilst there is a degree of needing to meet certain requirements, the key focus in on shared continual development.

Vasco Rodrigues, President, Portugal Triathlon Federation

“As President of the Portuguese Triathlon Federation, and even before, I always thought that the success of our high-performance project was based on the quality and effort of our coaches, regardless if they worked directly for the federation or for the clubs. With this in mind, and also knowing the Portuguese coaching program standards set by our government, I was sure we could aim for this accreditation and that it could be the best way to acknowledge the work done 24/7 by our coaches and clubs trying to keep the standards and goals as high as they can be! I must also say that this Accreditation Process and other standards set by ITU are vital for National Federations to keep driving for excellence.”

Manuel Alves, Coaching Education Director, Portugal Triathlon Federation
“The Portuguese Triathlon Federation has more than 20 years of coach education background, our high performance and medal achievements are based on the shared knowledge of our coaches, and their ability to develop and motivate triathletes. The ITU Coach Education Accreditation is very important for our NF, as it confirmed that we are working in the right direction. We will continue to do our best, as we believe that coach education is one of the pillars for the development of triathlon in Portugal.“

Tony Jolly, managing the coaching accreditation process on behalf of ITU Development
“Portugal has a very mature system in place for their coach education system which places a lot of demands on their coaches, but with the aim of developing high-quality coaches.  Accrediting the system was a relatively easy process. It is impressive to see their openness to sharing and accepting ideas for their coaches, and the fact that they have brought in coaches from other countries to share ideas and concepts as part of a CPD process stood out as a particularly positive initiative.  I look forward to working with them further over coming years, especially as we try to form working groups with different NFs to further develop coach education as a cooperative exercise to help the overall development of triathlon worldwide. “

List of the officially ITU Accredited Coach Education Programmes as of August 2019


Country Code               National Federation Accreditation Year Webpage
AUS               Triathlon Australia                 2017             http://www.triathlon.org.au/
BEL               Belgian Triathlon                       2017             http://www.triathlon.be/
ESP               F. Española de Triatlón               2017             http://triatlon.org/triweb/index.ph…
FRA               Fédération Française de Triathlon 2017             http://www.fftri.com/
GBR         British Triathlon                       2017             https://www.britishtriathlon.org/c…
IRL               Triathlon Ireland                       2017             https://www.triathlonireland.com/Ge…
MEX         Federatión Mexicana de Triatlón       2017             http://www.triatlonmexico.com/sie…
POR         Federação de Triatlo de Portugal 2019             https://www.federacao-triatlo.pt/ftp2015/
SUI               Swiss Triathlon                       2018             https://swisstriathlon.ch/
USA               USA Triathlon                       2017             https://www.teamusa.org/usa-tria…

The ITU Development Team is pleased to update the member National Federations and coaches on a range of coach education projects that have been recently undertaken on Saturday 31st August from 8:30 to 10:00 AM at the ITU National Federation Services & Development Meeting in conjunction with the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Switzerland.

For more details about the ITU Accredited Coach Education Programme (ACEP) please visit
https://www.triathlon.org/development/coach/accredited_coach_education_program
or/and download the ITU Accredited Coach Education Programme Guide
https://www.triathlon.org/uploads/docs/2019_ITU_ACEP_guide_v1.0a.pdf

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