The Ottawa Sport Council, in partnership with Ottawa Public Health, is launching an innovative project called Ottawa Quality Sport Pilot Initiative to support coaching standards across community sport. Through this project, two selected community sport organizations (CSOs) will each receive five (5) fully funded registrations for the Quality Sport Leader – Level 1 (QSL1) certification through Sport for Life and each organization will receive a 1-year subscription to PLAYBuilder by Sport for Life. PLAYBuilder is the go-to online platform that allows coaches to easily design, implement, and manage physical literacy-enriched sport programs so participants can thrive in an environment that fosters growth, learning, and fun.
Quality Sport Leader – Level 1 through Sport for Life
Grounded in the Long-Term Development (LTD) framework, this certification gives you practical tools to design inclusive, developmentally appropriate programs – whether you’re new to program delivery or building on prior training.
Pilot Initiative Overview
This pilot builds administrative and technical capacity within Ottawa’s grassroots, community sport sector by equipping 10 local coaches/instructors (5 per selected organization) with national-standard certifications at no cost and a 1-year subscription to PLAYBuilder to advance organization capacity and strengthen physical literacy-enriched sport program delivery.
Importance of Strengthening the Sport Sector
Research in sports science and coaching education demonstrates that structured, credentialed training yields significant returns for leaders and participants through:
- Higher Participation Retention: Coaches trained in the Long-Term Development (LTD) framework design developmentally appropriate programs. Children, youth, and adults need to do the right things at the right time to develop in their sport or activity – whether they want to be hockey players, dancers, figure skaters, or gymnasts. Long-Term Development (LTD) describes what athletes need to be doing at specific ages and stages.
- Safer, Inclusive Sport Environments: Formal training in safe sport practices, bias reduction, and equity helps coaches and organizations build environments where underrepresented and diverse groups feel a true sense of belonging. This is vital to ensure that all participants continue their sport participation long-term.
- Increased Coaching Confidence: Certified instructors report higher confidence in managing group dynamics, adapting instruction for diverse skill levels, and delivering positive behavioural outcomes. Confident coaches make for quality sport.
- Integrity and Trust: Earning recognized credentials such as QSL1, which provides National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) Professional Development points, signals organizational credibility to parents, funders, and community partners.
QSL1 Curriculum Highlights
The Sport for Life QSL1 program is a 7-hour, self-paced online certification, offered in both French and English, that covers:
- Practical application of the Long-Term Development framework.
- Foundational Safe Sport principles and participant safety.
- Strategies to foster belonging and address bias in sport environments.
Selection and Priority Criteria
Applications are open to Ottawa-based, not-for-profit community sport organizations looking to invest in advancing their coaches’ and instructor’s education and knowledge and strengthening the overall organization impact.
- Grant Allocation: 2 selected organizations will each receive 5 free QSL1 certification access codes and a 1-year subscription to PLAYBuilder.
- Eligibility:
- Not-for-profit community sport organizations operating within Ottawa.
- Offering programs that are inclusive, accessible and welcoming.
- Demonstrated commitment to inclusive programming, long-term coach development.
- Ability to complete QSL1 trainings by February 2027
Selection for this initiative is based on the overall readiness and collective commitment of the community sport organization as a whole, prioritizing groups that demonstrate a unified drive to advance coaching standards across their programs as per below:
- Organizational Readiness: Evaluated on the strength of the Expression of Interest (EOI), prioritizing organizations whose leadership and coaching teams show a joint commitment to embedding Quality Sport principles across their entire club structure.
- Strategic Plan: Clear vision outlining how receiving all 5 QSL1 credentials will be leveraged over the next year to improve program quality, foster inclusion, and expand overall instructional capacity.
- Group Commitment: Demonstrated capacity to ensure all 5 designated coaches complete the 7-hour online certification within the required pilot timeframe – February 2027.
Organizational Commitments
Selected community sport organizations and their participating coaches must agree to:
- Pre-Initiative Survey: Completion of a baseline survey prior to starting QSL1 training, helping Ottawa Sport Council and Ottawa Public Health understand existing knowledge levels of key concepts and organizational training needs,
- Post-Initiative Survey: Completion of a survey upon QSL1 course completion to measure changes in knowledge levels of key concepts, coaching confidence, course satisfaction, and practical application within local programs.
- Media Participation: Participation in post-pilot media stories, case studies, and Ottawa Sport Council promotional campaigns. Selected organizations will share testimonials advocating for the importance of coach education and demonstrating why community sport must continually invest in its leaders.
Interested community sport organizations are invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) by October 16, 2026 with a word count of less than 2,500, explaining:
- Why the community sport organization wishes to participate in this pilot project and how it aligns with the organization’s core goals and values.
- Outline the organization’s vision over the next year, specifically highlighting why this training is essential for your organization now and how the training will be used to expand coaching and instructional capacity and how it may advance other organization core goals and values (e.g., equity, diversity, and inclusion; accessibility; physical literacy, etc.).
- How receiving these Quality Sport Leader credentials will empower their leaders and strengthen the culture of quality sport across Ottawa.
- Include short bios on the coaches/instructors who would be receiving the training and a personal quote as to their interest in advancing their coaching certifications.
Please send the Expressions of Interest to [email protected] in PDF format. If you have any questions in advance please reach out to Frances Mercer, Ottawa Sport Council Executive Director [email protected].