SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, March 1, 2017 - The U.S. Olympic Committee in association with Olympic Solidarity and the University of Delaware is announcing the tenth edition of the International Coaching Enrichment Certificate Program at the United States Olympic Training Center.

The ICECP is an English-speaking intensive educational program to attract coaches who have not had the benefit from educational programs. It is focused on 17 core sports in order to have a higher concentration of participants from the same traditional disciplines.

The candidate for an Olympic Solidarity scholarship will be a coach with the following characteristics. He or she must: belong to a federation of a sport on the Olympic program; hold the rank of official national coach recognized in his/her country of origin and/or by the respective International Federation; be active and able to prove that he/she has practical experience as a coach at national/international level; and be fluent in English. The deadline for applying is May 8, 2017.

The course is targeted to national coaches wishing to enhance their knowledge from experts on the field and through the exchange with other elite international coaches participating in the program. More than 260 coaches representing 108 countries from all five continents and 24 sports have participated in previous courses.

It provides coaches with world class training opportunities to improve their knowledge and expertise. This is of particular importance given the demands placed on coaches today.

Coaches are expected to be able to stay abreast of the latest technical methods of their sport, as well as incorporate within the training of their athletes the use physiology, nutrition, psychology, strength and conditioning, video technology (among others). The value of a coach educated in sport science, ethics and technical knowledge for their sport is of the greatest value to the development of athletes.

The program will consist of four modules scheduled over an academic year, during which time the candidate will work with an international tutor to develop a personal project that will be implemented for the benefit of the respective sport or sport in general in his or her country. The ICECP is open to coaches from all sports; however, preference will be given to coaches in the following sports:

Archery, athletics, basketball, boxing, canoe/kayak, cycling, fencing, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball (women), weightlifting and wrestlin