Assistant Coach's Guide to Football Canada Tackle Football All Ages 2026-27

Yes, if you coach contact football. Safe Contact is Football Canada's safe tackling and blocking program, part of its National Coaching Certification Program.

Football Ontario: Safe Contact is a 1-day course, mandatory for all contact coaches, listed at $50 for members and $150 for non-members. Certification expires every 5 years. Coaches renew with the Safe Contact 2.0 Refresher Course, available through The Locker, every 5 years after initial certification. New coaches get a one-year window to complete it.

Football Alberta: Safe Contact is listed for Novice to Bantam coaches and for high school coaches at $50, expires after 5 years and is renewed with the Safe Contact 2.0 Refresher.

Sources: Football Ontario: https://footballontario.net/coaches/ ; Football Alberta: https://footballalberta.ab.ca/content/span-stylecolor-0000ffcoaching-requirements-amp-nccp-span ; Football Ontario Concussion Protocol/Policy (one-year window for first-year coaches).

Football Ontario: Community Sport Coach Training is required for anyone coaching athletes under 14 (athletes aged 6-13, contact or non-contact football) and is described as mandatory for all coaches of U14 athletes. It is a 1-day course listed at $50 for members and $130 for non-members, and the online e-learning must be finished before the in-person training.

Football Alberta: coaches instructing athletes under 14 must be Community Sport trained. For each Atom, Peewee and Bantam team, the head coach and four assistants must complete it. The listed cost is a $50 workshop plus $14.99 e-learning. New coaches other than head coaches get a one-year grace period, and Competition Introduction Position Coaches or higher are exempt.

Sources: Football Ontario: https://footballontario.net/coaches/ and Football Alberta: https://footballalberta.ab.ca/content/span-stylecolor-0000ffcoaching-requirements-amp-nccp-span

Football Ontario lists these workshops for coaches of athletes aged 14-18 (Competition Introduction):

• Position Workshop (1.5 days, contact): the entry workshop for position coaches. The 2026 listing shows March 7-8, 2026 at $125 for members and $300 for non-members.
• Positional Academy Clinics (2 hours): position-specific clinics, listed at $25 for members and $50 for non-members, running January to April 2026.
• Non-Contact Workshop (1.5 days): for flag or touch football.
• Coordinator Workshop (2 days, contact): requires the Position Workshop plus two Positional Academy Clinics on the same side of the ball.
• Head Coach Workshop (2 days): requires the Coordinator Workshop, four Positional Academy Clinics and two Coordinator Academy Clinics, one of which must be special teams.

Football Alberta lists Competition Introduction prices of $110 for Position Coach, $150 for Coordinator and $150 for Head Coach, and says certified Competition Introduction Position Coaches or higher are exempt from the Community Sport training requirement for Novice to Bantam teams.

Sources: Football Ontario: https://footballontario.net/coaches/ and Football Alberta: https://footballalberta.ab.ca/content/span-stylecolor-0000ffcoaching-requirements-amp-nccp-span

Football Alberta:

• Make Ethical Decisions (MED): all coaches must complete the MED online evaluation within 3 years to remain active in the NCCP. It is free for coaches who received their NCCP number through the Competition Introduction Position course; otherwise the listed fee is $85.
• NCCP Safe Sport e-learning: a free module listed for Novice, Atom, Peewee and Bantam coaches and for high school coaches, alongside Making Headway and Safe Contact.

Football Ontario: the coaching page lists Making Headway in Football as required for all coaches and links to Safe Sport resources, Coaching Safely and Rowan's Law. It does not list a separate Safe Sport course or a screening requirement.

Requirements differ by province and league, so the module list above is what these two provincial bodies publish, not a national requirement.

Sources: Football Alberta, Coaching Requirements & NCCP: https://footballalberta.ab.ca/content/span-stylecolor-0000ffcoaching-requirements-amp-nccp-span and Football Ontario, Football Coaching Courses & NCCP: https://footballontario.net/coaches/

Anyone, including coaches, is responsible for recognizing and reporting an athlete who shows visual signs of a head injury or reports concussion symptoms. A concussion should be suspected in any athlete who takes a significant impact to the head, face, neck or body and shows ANY visual sign or reports ANY symptom listed in the Concussion Recognition Tool 5, or if a player reports any symptom to a peer, parent or coach.

Red flags (for example convulsions, worsening headaches, vomiting or neck pain): suspect a more severe head or spine injury and call an ambulance immediately. Coaches, parents, trainers and officials should not try to remove equipment or move the athlete until the ambulance arrives, and the athlete should not be left alone. For athletes under 18, the parents are contacted immediately.

No red flags: remove the player from the field of play immediately.

• If a licensed healthcare professional is present, they assess the athlete with the SCAT5 or Child SCAT5. Any youth athlete suspected of a concussion must not return to the game or practice and must be referred for medical assessment.
• If no licensed healthcare professional is present, the athlete must be referred immediately to a medical doctor or nurse practitioner and must not return to play until medically cleared.

Source: Football Ontario Concussion Protocol/Policy, sections 2 and 3 (based on the Football Canada Concussion Pathway): https://footballontario.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2023/01/Football-Ontario-Concussion-Protocol_Policy.docx.pdf

An athlete diagnosed with a concussion is managed under a Return-to-School and football-specific Return-to-Sport strategy, supervised by a medical doctor or nurse practitioner. An initial 24-48 hours of rest is recommended first, and the athlete spends a minimum of 24 hours without symptom increases at each stage before moving on. If new or worse symptoms appear, the athlete goes back to the previous stage. Athletes must return to full-time school activities before stages 5 and 6.

1. Symptom-limiting activity: daily activities that do not provoke symptoms.
2. Light aerobic activity: walking or stationary cycling at slow to medium pace, no resistance training.
3. Sport-specific exercise: low to moderate individual running, agility, kicking, passing and receiving drills; no team drills or head impact activities.
4. Non-contact training drills: high-intensity drills, non-contact individual and team drills; progressive resistance training may start; no head impact activities.
5. Full contact practice: only after medical clearance.
6. Return to sport: normal game play.

Medical Clearance Letter: before returning to full-contact practice and games, the athlete must give their coach a standardized Medical Clearance Letter stating that a medical doctor or nurse practitioner has personally evaluated them and cleared them to return to sport. Because the Medical Assessment Letter contains personal health information, the athlete or their parent or guardian is responsible for giving it to the coaches.

Source: Football Ontario Concussion Protocol/Policy, sections 5 and 7 (based on the Football Canada Concussion Pathway): https://footballontario.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2023/01/Football-Ontario-Concussion-Protocol_Policy.docx.pdf

Under the Football Ontario Concussion Protocol (adapted from the Football Canada Concussion Pathway and Parachute's Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport):

• All parents and athletes must review and submit a signed copy of the Pre-season Concussion Education Sheet to their coach before the first practice of the season.
• All coaches, officials and administrators must complete the online Making Headway in Football module before taking part in any coaching activities.
• All coaches must complete the Football Canada Safe Contact workshop. First-year coaches get a one-year window, and coaches complete the Safe Contact professional development module within 5 years of the workshop.
• In Ontario, athletes and parents must also review Rowan's Law concussion awareness resources before completing registration and taking part in any team activities.

The protocol says concussion education should cover the definition of concussion, mechanisms of injury, common signs and symptoms, prevention, what to do with a suspected concussion, medical assessment, return-to-school and return-to-sport strategies, and medical clearance requirements.

Source: Football Ontario Concussion Protocol/Policy, section 1 (Pre-Season Education): https://footballontario.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2023/01/Football-Ontario-Concussion-Protocol_Policy.docx.pdf

Time outs: each team gets two time outs per half, each 1 minute. A player, the head coach or the designated head coach may request one from when the ball becomes dead until it is put into play. Time outs do not carry over from one half to the next. After a time out and any conference with the coaches, offensive (Team A) players must return to their huddle or move clearly away from the team bench area, or be penalized for illegal procedure.

Equipment certification: the head coach, or the designated representative, must certify to the umpire before the game that all players:

• have been informed of the mandatory equipment and what equipment is illegal;
• have been provided with the mandatory equipment;
• have been instructed to wear it, and how to wear it, during the game; and
• have been instructed to tell the coaching staff when equipment becomes illegal during the game.

Helmets: only helmets and facemasks approved by NOCSAE may be worn, visors must be clear (no medical exceptions), and a player whose helmet comes off involuntarily during a play, other than from a foul, must leave the game for 3 plays.

Source: Canadian Amateur Rule Book for Tackle Football 2026-2027, Rule 1 Section 5 Article 4 (time outs) and the equipment articles on helmets and coach's certification.

The Canadian Amateur Rule Book for Tackle Football 2026-2027 includes a Code of Ethics for coaches. Points that apply to every coach on the staff:

• A coach is responsible for making sure players do not feign injuries to gain an advantage, and shall not permit faking of injuries to stop the clock. An injured player must be given full protection under the rules.
• A coach is responsible for flagrant roughing tactics and illegal substitutions, and shall not permit motion intended to draw an opponent offside.
• Each coach should know the rules thoroughly and is responsible for having them taught and interpreted for the players.
• It is not the purpose of football to hurt or injure an opponent by legal or illegal methods.
• Habits are formed on the practice field, so coaches who permit, encourage or condone dangerous, disrespectful or degrading play are failing to teach fair play.
• Criticism of officials to players or the public is unethical. Addressing uncomplimentary remarks to an official during a game, or permitting anyone on the bench to do so, is a violation of the rules of the game. Criticism of officiating should be made in writing to the office that assigned the official.

Source: Canadian Amateur Rule Book for Tackle Football 2026-2027, Code of Ethics, Articles Three and Four.