The ISA’s International Surf Coaching Accreditation Program is designed to develop the skills, knowledge and abilities of these individuals who wish to obtain a scientific approach to the coaching of surfing.

The objectives of the coaching scheme:

• To establish an international system of Coaches Accreditation courses, graduating from beginner to expert levels.
• To further develop, through educational programs including courses and resources, a body of knowledge on which surf coaches may draw.
• To provide coaches with opportunities, encouragement and support for further self-improvement in knowledge, safety and expertise.
• To contribute to the development of the coaching of surfing as a viable professional activity.

Background:

The official recognition acknowledging the relevance and appropriateness of the content of the ISA courses, comes from the Australian Coaching Council accredited Surfing Australia courses, from which the ISA programs are customized for international use.  Twenty-five years of very successful development is contained in these programs and approaches.

After endorsing the Australian programs for many years the ISA is now releasing its own international surf coaching education program and sees this as the establishment of an “international standard for accreditation of coaches in the surfschool industry”.  This program is beginning from 2007.

The Scheme:

The ISA Level 1 Surf Coach Accreditation is the current industry standard for coaching and instructing in surfschools.  See attached Level 1 Surf Coach Course content document.  This is the main course that the ISA is concentrating on delivering.

An ISA Level 2 Surf Coach Accreditation for elite contest preparation is also available.

Over time this program will expand to many other areas of professional development education for our great sport of surfing.

Currently, ISA Level 1 courses are available in Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Brasil, Jamaica, Barbados, Costa Rica and Trinidad& Tobago.

Courses:

The ISA has begun a process of appointing “official presenters” around the world for its coaching (surfing instructors) accreditation courses.  Further appointments will be made in the future.  Currently official presenters are Surfing NZ [lee.ryan@surfingnz.co.nz], Surfing Australia [markl@surfingaustralia.com], Hiro Takahashi & Matt Sato-Coombe at International Surfing Japan [info@surfingjapan.org], Marcos Conde [marcosconde@highway.com.br] at CBS Brasil, Johnny Nesslinger [office@austriansurfing.at] at Austrian Surfing and Alessandro Dini [aledini@ultramail.it] at Viareggio Surf school, Italy and enquiries can be made to these people / organisations for specific course details.

There is a standard cost for the ISA Level 1 Coach Accreditation course of usd$250 and an annual re-registration of USD$100. 

Each ISA Level 1 course has a two [2] day duration.

Your name, on successful accreditation, will be placed on an Accredited Surfing Coach International Register for the remainder of the calendar year in which you did the course. This will appear on this site, www.isasurf.org.  To remain on the register, you will be required to pay an annual fee of usd$100 per year to the ISA.   This can be used as a reference for your credentials at any time. 

For more information on how to obtain the ISA Surf Coach Accreditation, please email ISA Vice-President, Alan Atkins at alanatkins@surfingaustralia.com.
Make sure your surfschool is part of the International Surfschools Register and establish your credentials.