[Kingston, Jamaica – Oct 30th, 2024]

Starting Jan 1-2025 Track and Field coaches in Jamaica will be issued with 2 year licenses to practice as a coach. The licenses will be issued under the joint authority of the Jamaica Track and Field Coaches Association (JATAFCA) and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA). This move is to further conform to the changes implemented by World Athletics where coaches’ certification expire every 2 years and are renewed only with evidence of Continued Education. The changes were announced at a recent meeting hosted by JATAFCA at which Ralph Mouchbahani of World Athletics Coaching Education Department outlined the new structure of the Coaches Education and Certification System and the rationale behind the move. “All certifications of World Athletics are not valid for a lifetime anymore. That means they will need to be renewed after 2 years in order to maintain their validity.”

President of the JAAA, Garth Gayle, also spoke at the meeting and he welcomed the new format and indicated that the JAAA had entered an agreement with JATAFCA to give the Association administrative responsibility for the Coaches Education Program. He also remarked that “the new program is all about making you better individuals to produce top class athletes as we are well known in the world” for. He also remarked that the move to further “professionalize coaching in Jamaica. Individuals who are serious about this profession therefore will have to invest in themselves and ensure that they become better more certified as they continue in the craft of coaching.”

Coaches with previous IAAF or World Athletics certification will have to do the World Athletics Safeguarding course then pay their license fee to bring them under the new system. New coaches will have to do one of the various level World Athletics Course to be certified and then apply for a license through the Jamaica Track and Field Coaches Association. Under the licensing system, the coaches will have to be engaged in Continuous Education to earn CE credits and submit evidence of completion. These CE credits can be earned by attending workshops, seminars and courses hosted by World Athletics, JAAA, JATAFCA, Jamaica Association of Sports Medicine, JADCO, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Sports, INSPORTS, or programs hosted by other Member Federations. Beginning in Jan 2026 a police record will be required to renew a license.

The details of the program were outlined by David Riley the president of the Coaches Association who recently completed the World Athletics Level 2 Lecturers Course along with veteran instructor Roy Thomas. Both will spearhead the roll out of the new Coaching Education Content for Jumps, Throws and Sprints and Hurdles. All coaches can become Level 1 certified by taking an online self-driven course and use that evidence of completion to apply for their initial license and be compliant for January 1, 2025 providing that they also complete the in-person Assessment conducted by JATAFCA.

There next assessment is scheduled for November 15th in Kingston. The World Athletics Coaches Education Certification System has 3 levels. Level 1 is for Youth Coach (U16), Level 2 for Junior Coach (U20) and Level 3 for Senior Coach (20+).