Since the inception of the International Coaching Enrichment Certificate Program (ICECP) in 2008, numerous graduates of this University of Delaware collaboration with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and Olympic Solidarity have made their marks around the globe.

In just the last two Olympics, five of the coaches were products of the ICECP. German Medina, whose athletes earned silver and bronze medals in BMX cycling for Colombia at the Tokyo Games, was joined at the Summer Olympics by three other program alumni, including rowing coach Gibreel Elamin of Sudan, fencing coach Eyyad Maghayreh of Jordan, and track and field coach Nigatu Worku Angasu of Ethiopia. A few months later, another ICECP graduate, skiing coach Milos Tomic of Serbia, led competitors at the Beijing Games.

Featuring courses taught by University of Delaware experts and Team USA’s Sport Performance Group, along with guest lectures from leading international sport professionals in their respective fields, the ICECP has hosted 363 coaches from 116 countries across 33 sports. The intended outcome for ICECP participants is to serve as coaches within their respective sports as well as become foundation builders for future coaches and athletes while spreading the Olympic spirit in their home countries. The graduates have paid it forward by impacting over 8,000 coaches and 200,000 athletes. 

Along with coaching athletes on the world stage at the Olympics, ICECP graduates have produced noteworthy achievements in numerous ways, such as increasing the number of certified coaches and developing archery at the grassroots level in Bhutan, developing a national coaching education program for swimming in Bangladesh, addressing female empowerment through boxing in Trinidad and Tobago, introducing wrestling to primary schools in Austria, and developing a grassroots program to attract females to track and field in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

When COVID-19 prohibited in-person learning, a virtual ICECP program was introduced in 2021 that allowed the program to keep running and reach more coaches. In recognition of the program’s many accomplishments and impact it has had on the world, the ICECP has been awarded the 2022 University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) International Program of Excellence Award, which recognizes a program engaged in activities that promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas of global significance.

“We are honored to receive this award from UPCEA,” said Matthew Robinson, ICECP co-director, professor of sport management in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, and deputy director of UD’s Community Engagement Initiative. “By embracing the online technology, we enhanced ICECP by strengthening our connection with the participants and shortening the residency requirement for the program. We were prepared for COVID and have adjusted well in that we are now offering a full virtual program along with the hybrid program. The full virtual program enables us to provide more access to the amazing content and speakers that are the ICECP.”