SINGAPORE: With the theme ‘Coaching for a Better Tomorrow’, coaches, coach educators, researchers, sports scientists, technical directors, and sports administrators from around the world will come together to address current and emerging issues during the 14th International Council for Coaching Excellence Global Coach Conference (ICCE GCC) 2023 from 29 Nov to 3 Dec 2023, at the Marina Bay Sands and Singapore Sports Hub.
Singapore became the first city in Southeast Asia and the third in Asia, after Beijing and Tokyo, to host the ICCE GCC after it won the bid to host the biennial conference in 2021. This year, the organisers have lined up several keynote speakers, with the main conference beginning on Thursday, Nov 30. One of the aims and focus of the conference is to prepare coaches better for a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous, and technologically advanced future.
“We are honoured that Singapore was selected to be the first city in Southeast Asia to host the world’s most prestigious coach conference. In the short time since its founding in 2017, CoachSG has made huge strides in coaching education and development, and has been invited to present at various international seminars and conferences, including those by ICCE and the International Olympic Council (IOC),” said Mohammed Azhar Yusof, Head of CoachSG, Singapore Sport Institute, Sport Singapore.
“Through this Global Coach Conference, we hope to underscore the important role that coaches play in developing better people and athletes through sport and inspire them to continuously learn and upskill themselves. Eventually, we hope to elevate the coaching profession and let people realise the true value proposition of coaching in Singapore.”
Social learning theorists and consultants Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner will share the importance of cross-boundary learning for coaches during the opening session. In keynote session two, 2016 Paralympic bronze medallist Theresa Goh will be joined by Dr Ross Pinder from Paralympic Australia, who will highlight how solution-focused mindsets and innovations can enhance coaching practice in high-performance paralympic sports.
On the second day of the conference, in his presentation titled ‘We over me: Leadership as a shared relationship between coach and athlete’, American professional basketball coach Michael Dunlap will share the importance of leading with an inclusive mindset and the value of cooperative learning. Dunlap is currently an assistant coach with NBA team Milwaukee Bucks. He won his first championship when his team defeated the Phoenix Suns in the best-of-six series (4-2) in the 2011 NBA Finals.
Other keynote speakers include Michelle de Highden, a senior coach development lead from the Australian Institute of Sport, and Claire Lamb, a coach development lead at the Victorian Institute of Sport, Australian Institute of Sport. They will highlight strategies, interventions, and potential within the international landscape that impact women’s high-performance coaches’ representation and experiences. The keynote will also be joined by local women coaches in Singapore, such as Louis Khng, coaching development from Sport Singapore, Wang Shao-Ing, a team lead from Safe Sport, and Dr Nicole LaVoi, a director at The Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport.
The full programme and speakers may be viewed here – https://www.gcc2023-sg.com/agenda