New IPC Athletics Technical Officials Course Launched

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics and its education partner, the IPC Academy, has today (28 October) launched an online course designed to be the first step on a pathway for anyone considering becoming a Technical Official in the sport.

The course, which is a 15 to 24 hour online learning programme, aims to provide a point of entry to those looking to get involved in officiating IPC Athletics. It ensures those who the complete the course have a greater knowledge, skill-set and competence of what is expected as a Technical Official.

Developed in an easy to follow learning format, the course includes the most up-to-date description of the rules and uses footage from recent Paralympic Games to demonstrate and highlight learning outcomes together with interactive quizzes, animations, images and other features

In addition, the IPC Academy is developing a complete series of programmes to complete the pathway through competency assessed initiatives which will be delivered by experienced and certified educators.

Chris Solly, Director of the IPC Academy, said: “It is a very important area for both sport performance and development to ensure that athletes are provided the best competition opportunities.

“To do this we have established a holistic training pathway for Technical Officials which ensures they are empowered to make correct decisions at events and be able to effectively communicate these decisions to athletes, coaches and the many other people involved in the sport.”

IPC Chief Executive Officer, Xavier Gonzalez added: “We have been working on structuring this pathway for some time now in order to ensure that we get it right.

“Like athletes, technical officials only get one chance to get things right however, the impact of their decisions and projects can be long lasting.

“This pathway will be seen in future years as one of the beacons of success throughout the Paralympic Movement as it will improve Technical Officials at all levels.”

To access the programme follow the link to the IPC Academy website at www.ipc-Academy.org.