Official Education Programme

The ISSF Academy is the official training arm of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF). The ISSF Academy was established in 1992, with the specific purpose of developing and delivering coach education and sport development courses for the Olympic shooting sports. Since that time, the ISSF Academy has grown and adapted to meet the needs of the modern Olympic shooting coach. A comprehensive range of courses has been established to provide Olympic shooting coaches with the skills and knowledge to take their coaching career through from club level to Olympic level.

The Olympic Shooting Coach carries the responsibility for developing and improving the shooting sport in their country of work. Having access to the latest knowledge and understanding in shooting sport education and sport science will give our sport the best opportunity to succeed in the Olympic world.

Each course within the ISSF Academy builds upon the previous course to create a structured and progressive learning experience for the coach. The course structures are carefully designed to give the coach a detailed understanding of the coaching needs for athletes at all stages of their development from Club, National, International to Olympic Games. The courses are constantly revised to ensure that the content delivered matches current best practices in sport education and coaching principles.

When a coach receives the ISSF Academy license they can be sure that their license is internationally recognised and is a mark of their knowledge and experience within the Olympic shooting community.

The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the sole governing body of the international shooting sport in international competitions. The ISSF Academy’s purpose is to develop and operate training courses for the development of the shooting sports and the licensing of accredited coaches within the Olympic shooting sport.

Having an ISSF Coach license is considered an essential requirement for many coaches in order to be recognised by national and international bodies as a mark of competency and professionalism within the sport of shooting.

The ISSF takes seriously the needs of our sport and its athletes to have access to a wide base of coaches at every level from club to the Olympic games. ISSF Coach licenses are available to match the level of experience and competence of each coach to ensure that an athlete and federation can have confidence in their coaches and their ability.

A coach who holds an ISSF Coaches license has been through a comprehensive set of examinations and extensive course work to prepare them as competent and professional coaches to work with our member federations. ISSF licensed coaches have passed through a structured course that in turn teaches the coach to operate and conduct their coaching work in a structured and athlete centred way. This philosophy is central to being a licensed coach and leads to a better experience for both the coach and the athlete.

Since 2014, the ISSF Academy coach licenses are valid for a four-year period before they must be renewed. The purpose of this is to ensure that those coaches who are recognised as being licensed by the ISSF are in fact working and active in coaching.

This move to a four-year license ensures that we can implement a continuous professional development programme (CPD) that ensures licensed coaches maintain their knowledge through further education and that they have a current active role in coaching. It allows the member federations to see the level of activity that their coaches are engaged in as the federation is required to sign off on their renewal applications. With the introduction of this change, coaches are issued a four-year license and a unique coach ID to indicate their current active status and license level. Coaches in return are allowed to use the ISSF Coaches logo on their own personal and federation promotional material.

Such a licensed and properly accredited coach qualification is a requirement for many national federations for their coaches to be recognised by government authorities.

Coach ID

ISSF licensed coaches are issued with a coach ID number that remains their unique and individual coach ID. The code is included on the coach license card and is also recorded in the ISSF Coaches Database. This database is a searchable list of all currently licensed coaches and is open to view via the ISSF website.

Many governmental sport federations require their coaches to have an internationally recognised coach license number. The Coach ID fulfils that requirement and can be used by federations to check the current status of a coach’s license.

Use of the ISSF licensed Coach Logo

ISSF licensed coaches can make personal use of the official ISSF Coach Logo on their personal marketing material. The use of the logo is restricted to those coaches only with a current valid license. There is a specific logotype for each license and the strap line ISSF licensed Coach can be used together with the logo. ISSF Headquarters issues the logotype for the license at the same time as the license id card.

It is permitted to use the logo on personal stationary such as notepaper, business cards, leaflets etc. The logo can only be used to identify the coach as having an ISSF license. The logo cannot be used to endorse or imply any accreditation to the business or courses that the coach might offer.

The key function of the ISSF Academy is to train coaches to teach in a structured way and to provide them with the technical details of shooting technique, planning, team management along with sport science and sports psychology. We achieve this using a graduated system of learning where the different courses build upon each other as the coach progresses from D to C through to B and ultimately to A-license level.

Frequency of Courses

Each year, the ISSF Academy conducts a C-Course with B-Courses every two years and A-Courses only at a time when there is sufficient demand from qualified B-license holders. The D-Course is run on request for national federations and is open to other member federations within the region to send coaches to participate.

Detailed course material

Each course has a course book for the specific shooting discipline and the sports science modules. The course books are sent well in advance and students are expected to have studied these in advance of the course as they set out the contents of the lectures held during the course.

Preparation continues with a requirement for students to complete a homework assignment specific to their shooting discipline. This assignment is in turn, the subject of discussion and an evaluation during the course and counts significantly towards the award of the coaches license.

The ISSF Academy has created courses for every level of coaching ability and for each stage in the coaches career.

Starting with the D-Course, we introduce trainee coaches to the basics of club level coaching and most importantly the course is organised so that it is conducted locally in the language of the coaches.

For the D-Course, these books are supplied in English by the ISSF for the organiser to translate into the local language of the course. They are accompanied by matching PowerPoint presentations. The translation of the course books and the PowerPoint presentation material is the sole responsibility of the host federation. The course is then given by a suitably qualified instructor in the local language or by an ISSF Academy tutor with the assistance of a local translator supplied by the host federation.

For the international courses (C, B & A), these courses are conducted only in English and the course books are provided in English.

The courses are designed to be intensive in their use of the available time and study of the course books ahead of attendance is essential to the successful completion of the courses.

Evaluation and Examinations

To successfully complete the course, students are required to achieve a minimum score of 50% in the examination to reach the pass rate in all modules of the course. For attendance on the A course, a B-license is required with a minimum examination score of 75%, in addition to several years of documented coaching work at an international level.

Applying for the Coach License

Successfully completing an ISSF Academy coaches course entitles the student to apply for the appropriate ISSF license for the course.

The issuing of ISSF Academy Coach Licenses is handled separately from the courses and no licenses are issued at the end of the course. A certification of attendance is awarded to all participants while application forms are given to successful candidates so that they can make their application direct to ISSF Headquarters with the enclosed license fee. All ISSF coaching licenses have a period of validity of four-years after which they must be renewed to remain valid. The license fee is currently set at €50.