September saw the beginning of the rollout of World Skate’s (WSK) Skateboarding Coach Education and Accreditation System (CEAS) with our first official Level 1 course taking place over four days at the behest of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee.
Eighteen participants- including guests from neighbouring Estonia- convened at Vilnius’ awesome LTRF indoor facility, where educators Sean Hayes (Canada) and Amber Edmondson (UK) helped them start their coaching journey through theoretical and practical sessions, aimed at providing them with the opportunity to create an engaging environment for first-time skateboarders to develop and share their love of the activity in a safe, enjoyable and positive way.
As part of the course, a free ‘learn to skate’ clinic was hosted for the local community, which allowed the CEAS enrollees to put some of their new learnings into action as part of their ongoing assessment.
The CEAS has been established to implement minimum standards and develop best practice in skateboard coaching at four distinct levels. Lithuania has become the first country to host a CEAS program, but WSK would hereby like to invite any National Federation (NF) interested in hosting a Level 1 course in 2025 and beyond to get in touch at your first convenience. 
Federations are free to invite other countries to join their program or indeed to organise at a continental level should they so desire- programs can be run in a range of languages.
World Skate CEAS will also provide international validation to NGB certifications obtained through courses which align with the CEAS framework and have been actively certified by WSK. 
Lithuania’s successful completion of the CEAS Level 1 coaching course represents the first step of the soon to be released WSK Development Strategy, which will aim to champion the growth and development of skateboarding, through the inclusive availability of a vast array of education and support opportunities across the three key areas of: Community, Pathways and Governance.
Get involved!