Barry Bartlett has been working as a coach developer for over 30 years and in that time has helped develop coaches across Canada and the world. His background as a Master Learning Facilitator (MLF) with Skate Canada, where he has had the opportunity to work with coaches from 55 different countries, and his experience as an MLF in the multi-sport context, made him the ideal candidate to introduce the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) to countries around the world.

Since his introduction to the Coaching Association of Canada’s International Programs initiative, Bartlett has helped a number of countries including Qatar, Jordan, and Bahrain, to implement the NCCP and develop a foundation of coach education.

At the 2013 Petro-Canada Sport Leadership sportif conference, we had the opportunity to sit down with Bartlett for a Q&A session.

Q: What is the most important aspect of the NCCP that you deliver as part of your work internationally?

A: One of the important messages is that the program we deliver is really for kids and athletes. As a Learning Facilitator we are ‘tricking’ coaches a little bit by giving them the certification because what we are really doing is giving the kids of this country and any other country, a better opportunity and a better experience. The program isn’t about you, me, or any other coach, it is about the people in the country.

Q: What are the strengths of the NCCP that have created demand for the program internationally?

A: One thing I have learned through my experience with the implementation of the NCCP internationally is how proud we can be as Canadians. Countries have lots of choices; they can buy coaching programs from many different places. We write well, we share well, we are friendly and open, and we welcome people. We also welcome different points of view and those are all things people value in a coaching program.

Q: How would you describe your coaching style as a facilitator who coaches coaches? Do you think this style is different than coaching athletes?

A: The coaching philosophy we use in the NCCP is, ‘we don’t coach basketball we coach people who play basketball’. As a Master Learning Facilitator, the same is true – I don’t coach facilitation, I coach people who are becoming Learning Facilitators (LFs).

Another one of the philosophies in training LFs must be, by treating you all differently, I am treating you all the same. I think coaches should approach coaching athletes exactly the same way.

Q: How would an LF who took a course you facilitated or was mentored by you, describe your coaching style in three words?

A: Passion. Enthusiasm. Commitment.

I was a college and university professor for forty years and have been evaluated by hundreds of people – they do care what you know, but at the end of the day, they care more about whether you have a passion for what you do. Coaches, LFs, and MLFs need to understand that and embrace it.

Q: If you could give words of advice to aspiring Canadian coaches what would they be?

A: The advice I would give, especially in the high performance context, is that coaches need to develop the skill to give more of the responsibility of development to the athlete and their parents. Often, coaches have the sense that they have to do all of the heavy lifting, and every time they do, they don’t realize they are letting the athlete off the hook. If they spend more time working on developing goals and objectives and values, the kids will take on more of the responsibility of development, and so will their parents.

Q: In your view, what is the importance of coach education?

A: Coaches should have the opportunity, in a friendly forum, to share their thoughts on how they’re going to take content and allow their athletes to be better because of how they use the content. In order to do that they need a practice run in an informal, relaxed setting where they can say ‘I think next time I train my athletes I am going to do A, B, and C’ and be provided with alternative ways to see how they could accomplish the same goals by doing X, Y, and Z, instead. This will force the coach to reflect on how they are applying content in a given situation.

Q: Any final words?

A: When people leave my courses, either as LFs or as coaches, there is only one thing I want to look at – as a result of having taken this course, what are you going to change? For me, the only reason to come to a course is to change. Change can be starting things I’m not normally doing as a coach, perhaps stopping one or two things I am doing when I coach, or thirdly being committed to continuing to do things that are working and are effective.