12:22 p.m., May 5, 2010----The U.S. Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Solidarity department and the University of Delaware congratulated 20 international coaches on Monday, May 3, at their graduation from the second edition of the International Coaching Enrichment Certification Program (ICECP).

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The coaches come from 20 different countries on five continents, representing 12 sports, and began their coursework in September 2009, when they spent two weeks at UD.

The ICECP is offered to National Olympic Committees worldwide, and consists of lectures, guest speakers, participant presentations, group work and field trips spread over four modules, including an apprenticeship with a U.S. college or national team. As a part of their fourth and final module, the participants presented their final projects to the ICECP Academic Board at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday.

The objective of the program is to provide national-level coaches with a program orientated towards developing proficiency in the areas of sport sciences, talent identification, athlete development, coaching education, coaching management, grass roots sport development and ethical aspects of coaching at all levels of competition and across multiple sports, with the aim of improving national coaching infrastructures around the world.

“This collaborative coaching education program is extremely important to the USOC, as it gives us the opportunity to expand our partnerships and share our resources to assist the development of sport worldwide,” said USOC Chief Executive Officer Scott Blackmun. “It has been incredibly rewarding to see the growth of these talented and passionate coaches through their time spent at the University of Delaware, the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and the IOC headquarters in Lausanne. The USOC is honored to be involved with a program that so truly resonates the Olympic spirit.”

Coaches from the following countries graduated from ICECP on Monday: Barbados, Chinese Taipei, Dominica, Egypt, El Salvador, Greece, Guam, Indonesia, Libya, Macedonia, Malta, Mongolia, Netherlands Antilles, Pakistan, Peru, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe.

“This year's candidates demonstrated the potential and ability to impact sport in their country and to promote the Olympic vision of making the world a better place through sport,” said Matthew J. Robinson, director of the ICECP and associate professor of sport management at the University of Delaware. “It was an honor to work with them, and we greatly appreciate the support of Olympic Solidarity, the National Olympic Committees of the candidates' countries and the International Federations.”

The public presentations of the projects undertaken by each of the participants took place at the IOC Headquarters on Monday and were followed by the graduation ceremony at the Maison du Sport in Lausanne. The keynote speaker was IOC Executive Board Member Denis Oswald, president of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations and of the International Rowing Federation. All 20 graduates were on hand to receive their diplomas.

“The success that I gained when I went back from the USA to Pakistan was extraordinary,” said Pakistani national swimming coach Majid Waseem. “Besides working on my project to establish a swimming coaching education program, my NOC reached out to me for advice which resulted in meetings with the government and the building of two pools in Lahore and a third to be built in Karachi. Before the ICECP we only had one international standard pool in the country, in Islamabad. This is all as a result of the ICECP.”

Other activities undertaken by the ICECP coaches during the final module in Lausanne included visiting the Olympic Museum and Olympic Studies Center, meeting with their respective International Federations, and participating in an international coaching panel. The panel consisted of Sir Clive Woodward, director of elite performance for the British Olympic Association; Andy Sparks, head coach for the International Cycling Union; and Juan Carlos Holgado, Olympic archery champion (1992) and events director for the Archery International Federation.

The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to organize assistance to NOCs, in particular those that have the greatest need of it. This assistance takes the form of programs elaborated jointly by the IOC and the NOCs, with the technical assistance of the International Federations, if necessary.

Robinson said, "It is important to recognize all of those at the University of Delaware who contributed to the success of the program -- the faculty in the Department of Health, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences and Dean Kathy Matt of the College of Health Sciences, the Athletic Department staff and coaches and Director of Athletics Bernard Muir, and the staff of the Institute for Global Studies and Associate Provost Lesa Griffiths all contributed to the success of the program. It truly was a team effort on the part of the UD community."