10 Coaches Who Made a Difference

bby Sheila Robertson

To celebrate 10 years of Coaches Report, the distinguished panel of Dr. Roger Jackson, professor and director of the University of Calgary Sport Medicine Centre and former director of Sport Canada, former president Dr. Geoff Gowan, and CAC president John Bales have chosen 10 coaches who have contributed greatly to the coaching profession in Canada. The criteria focused on the impact made by each coach on the sport, the Canadian sport system, and those around them; the coach's adherence to the highest standards of behaviour and practice; the coach's professionalism; and the coach's international success with athletes.

Jack Donohue - Basketball

Jack Donahue began his coaching career in 1950 as an assistant basketball coach while attending university in New York. In 1952, after obtaining a bachlor's degree in economics from Fordham University in New York and a master's in health education from New York University, the native of Woodlawn section of the Bronx joined the U.S. Army and served in Korea for tow years.

In 1954, Jack began his teaching career in American high schools and, in 1955, resumed coaching basketball.

During his tenure at New York's Power Memorial High School (1959-1965), the boys' basketball team, which included a player named Lew Alcindor, later Kareem Abdul Jabbar, compiled an impressive 163-30 record. At one point, the team won 71 consecutive games from 1959 to 1965. USA Today honoured the team as High School Team of the 20th Century in 1999. Jack went on to coach at Holy Cross College in Massachusetts, where he was twice voted NCAA Division 1 coach of the year for his conference.

In 1972, Jack moved his outstanding coaching skills across the border, becoming the head coach of Canada's men's team. Over the next 17 years, he became a legend in Canadian sport.

In Jack's first four years as head coach, Canada moved from an eighth-place finish at the 1974 world championships to sixth at the 1975 Pan American Games and fourth at the 1976 Olympic Games. Flourishing under his guidance, the team continued to excel on the international stage with fourth-place finishes at the 1977 World University Games, the 1979 Pan American Games, and the 1979 World University Games. At the 1983 World University Games, Canada defeated the United States in the semifinals and Yugoslavia in the final to capture the gold medal.

The team continued to break new ground by finishing fourth at the 1984 Olympic Games and capturing the bronze medal at the 1985 World University Games. At the 1988 Olympic Games, in Jack's final competition, Canada finished sixth. Among the great players he coached were Bill Wennington and Mike Smrek, who went on to play in the NBA; Leo Rautins, an NBA first-round draft pick in 1983; Eli Pasquale; and Jay Triano, now the national team coach and an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors.

Jack, whom most people called "Coach Donohue" or simply "Coach", not only established himself as the longest-serving head coach in amateur or professional sport in Canada, he became the most successful team sport coach at the amateur level. For his efforts, he was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2000 he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame and the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame. He is also a member of New York City's Coach's Hall of Fame and was awarded a Canada 125 medal.

Jack's contribution to coaching and sport in Canada was not limited to the basketball court. He was a marketing and public relations consultant for Canada Basketball since 1972, and in 1989 he was a spokesperson for CAC's Year of the Coach. From 1995 to 1997 he served as director of international relations and director of Canadian player development for the Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA. He was a CAC board member, a vice president of marketing for the Sport Federation of Canada, and a founder and president of the Canadian Association of National Coaches (CANC), the forerunner of CPCA, a key development in coaching in Canada.

"Jack was the coach who, concerned for colleagues losing their jobs after the 1984 Olympics, began a conversation with a group of us about the need to change this situation," recalled Andy Higgins, today the director of the National Coaching Institute-Ontario (NCI-0), and also a CANC founder. "Jack was not concerned abut his own situation; he was, however, deeply concerned that once again career coaches with great records were being summarily dismissed by volunteer boards, most of whom had not been there a couple of years prior and would not be there a year or two hence.

`Jack convinced us that it was critical we form an association of national coaches to become a voice for coaches, to protect their rights, and to give them an organization that would act for them. Jack was our leader for the first few years and a key part of CANC for many more. I am certain that he was also the first coach who ever sat in a minister of sport's office to address issues of coaching and the life of a coach in Canada. He was our voice on radio and television and in the newspapers.

"As with so many great ideas, they become self-evident and we forget that at one time one person had to care enough to think this and then have the energy and commitment to make the idea a reality. Jack did that for all of us who coach in this country, and all who will. He truly was the coach's coach."

Warm and humorous, Jack established a solid reputation as a superb speaker, communicator, entertainer, and motivator, regularly addressing the employees of top organizations, translating his sports acumen to the business world. His weekly television series, Donohue's Legends, was nominated for many Gemini Awards. He won the ACTRA Sportscaster Award in 1993 and two Can-Pro Medals, and was nominated for another Gemini as Sportscaster of the Year. He also was awarded the King Clancy Award for his work with the disabled.

Jack won the 2003 Coach Mac Award, given by the Toronto Raptors and presented to the Donohue family at a halftime ceremony just days before his death on April 16. The award, named after the late John B. McLendon, is given to an individual who has made a major contribution to the sport while upholding Coach Mac's principles - honesty, integrity, competitiveness, and love of the game - and no one was more deserving than Coach Donohue.

Fred Foot - Athletics

Fred Foot began to build his reputation as one of Canada's top track coaches in the late 1940s. During his illustrious career he coached at the East York Track Club for 25 years and the University of Toronto for 15 years, grooming such running greats as 1964 Olympic 800m silver medallist Bill Crothers and Bruce Kidd, Canada's bestknown middle distance runner throughout the 1960s He was head track coach of Canada's 1956 Olympic and 1962 British Empire Games teams and won three CIAU cross country coach of the year awards. Fred Foot died in September 2002 at the ag of 85. Bruce Kidd remembers his famous coach:

"I first met Fred at the East York Track Club. I was just 15, a bored, unfocused, am occasionally irresponsible teenager. During the next seven years, with his inspiration, encouragement, unflinching generosity, and boundless love, I became a purposeful, disciplined, and socially conscious adult, with the opportunity to travel and experience the world."

Fred had the ability to excite your imagination and the knowledge and strength of character to enable you to achieve your ambition in a way that was well ahead of his time. During the 1950s, when the schools I attended seemed to stifle ambition in the interests of conformity, and even the best sport teams set their sights no farther than the city or provincial championship, Fred talked about racing against - and beating - the world. In the 1940s, he had sent a steady stream of athletes to the Olympics and other major events, and the stories of their accomplishments and escapades infused our workouts and set high standards for our races. It was a heady atmosphere.

Fred had the insight and experience to see and bring out strengths that you never realized you had, and the quiet self-assurance to infuse you with the confidence to exert them. You knew that Fred never entered you in a race where you didn't have a chance to run well. So even when you stood on the starting line against runners you had admired from afar, you knew you were ready. It was a tremendous feeling.

Fred was a master strategist and tactician. Long before visualization became a standard technique of sport psychology, Fred would take you through your race, testing you against the different paces and tactics you might encounter. Although he knew little about the biophysical mechanics of exercise, he knew as much as anyone about training methods and human performance. Most of all, he knew his athletes - when we needed to work hard and when we needed to rest and recover. It gave us complete trust in him.

We will never see the likes of Fred again. Consider:
He coached almost 60 years, always as a volunteer. He had at least one athlete on every Olympic Team from 1948 to 1984 inclusive, and countless Commonwealth, Pan American, and World University Games teams. He coached the Canadian Track and Field Team at the 1956 Olympics and 1962 Commonwealth Games, a time when only a single coach was selected for a Games team. His athletes won medals at every one of these events, and many at other places, including the annual Canadian and American relay championships. His teams at the University of Toronto were just as successful. While perhaps best known for his middle-distance runners in the 1960s, he was an extraordinary sprint and hurdles coach, producing many of Canada's best, decade after decade. During his heyday, athletes from all over North America flocked to East York to train with Fred. He recruited and mentored other coaches, including Andy Higgins, Carl Georgevski, and Molly Killingbeck.

But Fred was not just a coach. He promoted the sport wherever he could, taking his athletes not only to the big city fights of Los Angeles and London, England, but to small Ontario towns to give exhibitions and help start new clubs, believing strongly that the best athletes should give something back to the sport in Canada. Believing equally strongly that Canadian athletes should be able to race against the best in their own country, he staged invitational races and meets with such success that eventually he and others were able to establish the indoor meet at Maple Leaf Gardens. He put in many terms as voluntary president of the Ontario track and field committee and of the Ontario Amateur Athletic Union. It was duringi one of these terms, at the instigation of Bill Crothers, that the Amateur Athletic Union took Canada's first stand against performance-enhancing drugs.

By "teaching us to win" and by showing all Canadians that they could create the conditions for success right here at home, that they could do so without breaking the rules, and that other Canadians would support them for their efforts, Fred helped revive the Olympic sports in Canada during the 1960s and 1970s. He was a father to the entire amateur sport scene.

Fred was always a talker, about track and field, politics, and the philosophy of life. He could be brutally frank if you ran a bad race, and bitingly sarcastic if he didn't like what you were up to. He didn't stand on ceremony, he believed that pride goes before a fall, and he didn't believe in mollycoddling. "I'm not interested in providing motivation," he would say. "This is such a crazy country that unless the athlete brings his own determination, there will always be something to discourage him," he argued. But he was a powerful motivator, and with his insight, humour, and affection, entertaining everyone before the workouts started, breaking the tension in a hotel lobby, shouting encouragement during the race - "Don't leave these prizes behind in the United States," he would shout at me - he created strong, cohesive communities and focused athletes.

He was a remarkable exemplar of humane values. Despite his own strong views, he was always tolerant of others and left room for their own intellectual and social development. He encouraged everyone, regardless of ability. A deeply religious man, he happily helped atheists rum their personal bests.

For young men and women, searching for values in a troubled world, Fred provided a powerful example of Canadianism - modest, principled, caring, and with the confidence that he could leave his mark upon anything he chose. He was fiercely Canadian and linked his love of country with the other values he imparted. When we started racing regularly at the big meets in the United States, he added a maple leaf to the uniform. He never wanted to live anywhere else than East York, Toronto, Canada, but he made opportunities in those places that were on a par with the very best anywhere - he made us world class.

 

Dave King - Ice Hockey

Dave King, one of Canada's most accomplished ice hockey coaches, began his coaching career at his alumnus, the University of Saskatchewan, coaching the Huskies in 1972-73 after graduating with a physical education degree in 1971 and an education degree in 1972. From 1973 until 1979, the Saskatoon native taught high school and coached junior hockey in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and the Western Major Junior Hockey League. He coached the Saskatoon Junior B Quakers to a pair championships from 1974 to 1976. After splitting the 1976-77 season between the Tier II Saskatoon Olympiques and the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League (WHL), he joined the Billings Bighorns in 1977 and captured WHL Coach of the Year honours after leading the club to the 1978 WHL final.

In 1979, Dave was appointed head coach of the Huskies and immediately turned the fortunes of the team around. He instilled a strong work ethic and built a tradition of "dog hockey" that became a hallmark of the team. The Huskies had been shut out of the national championships in the previous 10 years, but made the cut in 1981, 1982, and 1983 with Coach King at the helm. Under his guidance, the team captured Canada West championships in 1981, 1982, and 1983, and won silver medals at the CIAU championships in 1981 and 1982. In March 1983, after dominating the Canada West conference through the season, the Huskies finally brought home their first CIAU championship, an accomplishment that was recognized with induction into the Saskatchewan Hall of Fame in 2000.

Dave was selected Canada West Coach of the Year three times and CIAU Coach of the Year in 1980. He was awarded the Colb McEown Trophy as the university's coach of the year on three occasions.

Dave first made his mark as an international coach in the early 1980s as head coach of Team Canada when it won the 1982 world junior championship, Canada's first international gold medal in hockey for two decades. The victory was described as returning to Canadian hockey "some of the dignity that had been missing for years." He also served as an assistant coach at the 1982 world championships.

From 1982 to 1993, Dave worked with the Canadian National Hockey program as head coach, vice president, and general manager. Highlights of his tenure include a fourth-place finish at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics and the silver medal at the prestigious Izvestia tournament in 1986, topped by gold in 1987. He returned to the Olympic Games in 1988, guiding Team Canada to another fourthplace finish. He coached Team Canada at the world championships from 1989 to 1992, capturing silver medals in 1989 and 1991, and was named Hockey News International Sportsman of '91. He enjoyed his greatest Olympic success at the 1992 Games at Albertville, where the team won the silver medal. For this performance he was named a CAC Coach in 1992 and was awarded the Order of Canada. In 1995 he was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.

Dave made his NHL debut with the Calgary Flames, where he coached from 1992 to 1995, enjoying a very successful run with a 109-76-31 record. In his first season behind the bench, Calgary posted a 43-30-11 record and finished second in the Smythe Division. The Flames captured two straight Pacific Division titles after forging a 42-29-13 record in 1993-94 and a 24-17-7 slate in the abbreviated 1994-95 campaign. Dave lost his job after Calgary was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.

Dave moved on to serve as a consultant to the Japanese Ice Hockey Federation and the Nagano Olympic Games, and he coached the Japanese Olympic team in 1998. Overlapping with this appointment was his work as an assistant coach and director of European scouting with the Montreal Canadiens from 1997 to 1999.

Dave is considered one of the game's most astute students and has built a remarkable reputation as an educator. Drew Remenda, a former assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks, who also worked with Canada's national team, says that Dave was one reason he became a coach himself. "He was the man who taught me how to break down a game. He taught me to recognize the tactical parts of hockey and how they fit into a team system. ... He's mentored and developed players and coaches worldwide. ... He has coined many of the coaching phrases we all use, like `head on a swivel'. Dave King is a coach's coach."

Together with coaches George Kingston and Clare Drake, Dave spearheaded the Canadian Hockey Association's coaching certification programs. The threesome did most of the writing, a formidable task, and taught most of the coaching seminars. On teaching, Dave had this to say: "It's nice to have the information, but it isn't the secret. It's how you teach and explain it, what drills and teaching cues you use with the athletes. I could even give the teaching cues away. It's how you sell them, how you're empathetic, and how you look the guy in the eye."

From 2000 to 2003, Dave was the head coach of the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL. He painstakingly struggled to bring the team up to standard, only to be sacked in mid-season. It was, many said, a thankless task that did nothing to blemish his sterling reputation. Interestingly, it was the players who took the blame for Dave's departure. "He taught us everything," said forward Jody Shelley. "We just didn't get the job done for him. It's a business, and we've got to win to keep people's jobs. We didn't do that.

The hockey world acknowledged Dave's formidable hockey know-how when, in 2001, he was elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame as a builder.

Doug Leigh - Figure Skating

Doug Leigh has enjoyed remarkable success throughout his 34-year coaching career. The junior men's silver medallist at the 1966 national championships, he started coaching in Orillia, Ont., as soon as he finished high school at the age of 19. He had been working with his building contractor father whose sudden death led to a career change. "He didn't want me in the building business, and one of his wishes, I was told, was that I coach skating."

Doug had himself been exposed to great coaching by world champion Hans Gerschwiler, world champion and Olympic silver medallist Karl Divin, and the great Canadian coach Sheldon Galbraith. "What I remember about Hans and Karl and Sheldon is how frank, precise, and definite they were in their approach. I have nothing but the highest regard for all of them for what they gave me as a person." From his father he had learned about running a business, so forming his own company seemed inevitable. First, though, he agreed to work with the Orillia Figure Skating Club for a couple of years to see how he liked coaching and to find out if he could get his point across. He did whatever was required to get that job done, and that included driving 1,500 miles a week coaching all over the area - Bracebridge, Huntsville (his hometown), Bradford, Collingwood. By 1973, knowing he wanted to stay in the area and work for himself and armed with the necessary skills and confidence, he formed his own company in Orillia and called it the Mariposa School of Skating (moving to Barrie, Ont., in 1988). "That's when it became clear I was really in business. I knew what I wanted and I knew what I could do and I knew what it was going to take to get there." From the beginning, Mariposa's hallmarks have been a team approach to coaching and a co-op education program.

Today, acknowledged as Canada's premier skating coach and internationally acclaimed, Doug's coaching success is driven by the motto, "It can be done." He has now coached at 23 world championships, 17 consecutively, and six Olympic Winter Games. Over a 17-year relationship, he coached Brian Orser to national title's from 1981 to 1988, Olympic silver medals in 1984 and 1988, and the 1987 world title. He coached Elvis Stojko to five national and three world titles and Olympic silver medals in 1994 and 1998. He has coached 26 other Canadian champions, including Jennifer Robinson, who has won six national titles, and 17 international champions, including Britain's Steven Cousins and rising star Takeshi Honda of Japan, bronze medallist at the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships. He has coached 40 Canadian national medallists, and his skaters have won 17 world and Olympic medals. He has established Barrie as one of the major skating centres in Canada and the world and Mariposa as a Skate Canada designated national training centre.

Doug's positive outlook, no-nonsense, goal-setting approach and analytical ability are legendary. A great motivator, he demands 100 per cent effort from his skaters every minute on the ice. Because he believes in the balanced, wellrounded athlete, he has gone to great lengths to ensure that his skaters have everything they need to succeed. He convinced the local board of education to establish a secondary school on the property, and there are two public schools within a block. Because classes are staggered, the skaters can train all day long. "Sure it was difficult to get it going. We had to sell a lot of people. Our argument was, be flexible and help being an athlete and getting an education go hand in hand. Other kids go to school here so it's great because it's real. And if they want to participate in other things within the school, be my guest. We're here to help anybody do anything."

Doug describes his approach as providing his athletes with a guide, helping them to make choices, and figuring out how to achieve their goals. He stresses that his is not a club, but a school, because people come there to learn. "Everybody, if they're willing, can make great choices in life and get ahead, or they can choose not to. At Mariposa you can learn to be anything you want to be - a doctor, a physiotherapist, an office guy, a lawyer, an accountant. It's no surprise that most of them end up being successful in something."

As well as the school, the 16-acre campus boasts an Olympic-sized ice rink, a North American-sized ice rink, a swimming pool, an indoor track, an outside track, a 3,000-square-foot aerobic studio in glass overlooking the Olympic rink, and administration offices. Doctors and the school's own physiotherapist visit weekly. Also available are massage therapy, a music library, and a department responsible for boots and equipment.

Close personal connections are Mariposa's hallmarks. "At Mariposa, we work together like a family, sharing common goals. My wife, Michelle, and my aunt are involved, and we all treat each other with the utmost respect. I taught most of the people who work here, and I know how hard they work, what they put into something. We have similar visions. We know what is most important.

Family. Period. We know that number two is education. And we know that number three is pursuit of a goal. We are a resource to help people reach that goal. Giving up family and an education means you are out of balance."

Doug relishes sharing his considerable knowledge. He operates numerous coach and skater seminars throughout the world and is a frequent speaker at schools, clubs, and charities. "I'm not afraid to tell anybody what I know; I haven't got any secrets. I tell other coaches, `This is where I am and this is what got me here. This is what I'm doing right now, and I'm not afraid to talk about it.' My style is to shoot from the hip; you never catch me on the fence." As well, he is involved in local fund-raising events for hospitals, cancer research, and recreational facilities.

Doug is a seven-time recipient of the Longines-Wittnauer Coaching Award and also holds a Government of Ontario World Achievement Award, Ontario Coach of the Year awards, and a Rotary Club Paul Harris Fellowship Award. In 1996, he was Canadian Coach of the Year, and in 1997 he was inducted into the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

Don Lyon - Alpine Skiing

Don Lyon's name is synonymous with many of the most illustrious athletes in Canadian women's ski racing - people like 1974 world championship silver medallist Betsy Clifford, 1976 Olympic champion Kathy Kreiner, 1982 world champion Gerry Sorensen, five-time World Cup gold medallist and world championship bronze medallist Laurie Graham, 1986 World Cup winner at Furano Liisa Savijarvi, double Olympic medallist and world silver medallist Karen Percy, Olympic champion and 1992 Female Athlete of the Year Kerrin Lee-Gartner, and 1993 world champion Kate Pace. In all, "Lyon's lions" have won 17 World Cup golds, four Olympic medals, and two world championships.

It all began in the late 1960s, when the Ottawa native took a job teaching skiing at Mont Tremblant, Que. During the hours spent on the slopes, he honed his own skiing skills sufficiently well to compete for three years on the professional ski tour, building on the athletic prowess that enabled him to excel at football, basketball, soccer, track and field, and strung as a high school student. He later played football with the Ottawa Sooners Football Club and paddled to a gold medal at the national championships.

In 1968 Don joined the National Capital Division as a ski coach. Within a year he was coaching Les Espoirs, a program for developing skiers. In 1970-71, he joined the Canadian women's team, which included such stars as Judy Crawford, Betsy Clifford, and Kathy and Laurie Kreiner, and after the 1972 Olympic Winter Games, he became head coach. It was a swift ascent for the talented young coach, but the weeks spent away from home eventually cost him his first marriage. He left the team in 1974 and spent three years at a ski club in Washington, followed by another three years as technical director of the Canadian Ski Association. Next came a move to France to five with his second wife, Jacqueline Bouvier, a 10-year veteran of the French national team. He rejoined the national women's team in 1981 and remained at the helm until 1994. During that time he built one of the most successful coaching careers in all of Canadian sport, with six Olympic and seven world championship appearances to his credit.

Undoubtedly the highlight of a career studded with great moments was Kerrin Lee-Gartner's gold medal downhill at Albertville. Speaking after her victory, Lee-Gartner said, "Don allowed me to grow into an athlete of worldclass stature and taught me what it takes to get to the Olympics. Don keeps our motivation strong. He makes sure there is a good rivalry between team-mates. . . . Because of this we produce results even in training. Don continually looks ahead. He figures out why things didn't go well and learns from these mistakes to ensure success for the next race. He always finds ways to build our confidence and make us believe in ourselves. ... We know Don will give us positive feedback and turn something negative into a positive.

"Every athlete on the Canadian Ski Team has 100 per cent confidence in Don. We never hesitate to try what he asks from us. And that confidence is extremely important. In fact, I think that's the difference between a good coach and a fantastic coach. Winning athletes have total confidence in their coaches."

Olympic champion Kreiner said in 1999 that she believes it was Don's nurturing style of coaching that allowed her potential to unfold. "He would take me aside and instill a belief in me that I was capable of that level of result. He had a keen eye to detect when things were really working and flowing and was able to build on that by giving me the extra confidence I needed to achieve our mutual goals. This is an ability that not every coach has. This goes beyond his ability to detect and correct errors, which was also very good. He is also very personable, making him easy to relate to as well as easy to approach."

In 1994, disenchanted with the direction Canadian skiing was taking, concerned about the lack of a decent development system, more than a little burned out, and determined to spend quality time with Jacqueline and their sons, Pascal and Olivier, Don resigned from the national team and began work as a travel agent specializing in organizing summer and fall training camps for development-age athletes. He was never far away from coaching, however. Working with Quebec's Outaouais Zone program for three years, he placed talented youngsters on the Quebec ski team. Then, finding he missed high performance coaching, he spent the past two years working with the Quebec team; again, several athletes made the move to the national team.

Whatever level he coaches, Don is a great believer in athlete independence, which he considers essential to high performance success. He encourages his athletes to think for themselves and to analyse their own situations. Planning and organization are key elements of his programs as is confidence building, which he does through proper progression in training, without exception, every day. "The athletes must create trust in themselves and in their abilities. ... To achieve this, practice sequencing must be deliberate and planned. I've found a methodical approach most effective when attempting to build confidence. This is a very basic element of coaching."

Don stresses being positive, honest, trustworthy, and a good communicator as critical to developing successful people, adding that a coach must be very careful to be positive and straightforward. That applies to the coaching staff as much as to the athletes, because, to have a good team, everyone must get along. "A coach must completely trust the staff he hires or there will be problems ... you must delegate and not undermine. Give direction as it is needed, but give some leeway to enable people to show they can handle responsibilities."

Don believes that Canadian athletes need Canadian coaches. "We are different in the way we communicate and understand each other. If you go back to the days of the Crazy Canucks and look at the last 20 years when our men and women have won medals, you will see who the coaches were. They were all Canadian. I am not saying that Europeans are not good coaches, but they may not be as effective in our system."

The good news for Canada's next generation of women skiers is that Don Lyon is back, this time as speed head coach of Canada's Europa Cup team. One factor in his return is his belief that Canadian skiing appears to be getting back on track since Ken Read assumed the presidency of Alpine Canada Alpin in 2002. Another is the recent promotion of his Quebec skiers to the Europa Cup circuit. He is attracted by the opportunity to help them make the difficult transition to ski racing at the international level.

Don is a past president of the Canadian Ski Coaches Association, past chair of the Ski Canada Technical Committee, and a technical delegate with the International Ski Federation. He was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. He is a recipient of the Canadian Ski Coaches Federation - Dave Murray Memorial Coach of the Year Award. He is a three-time winner of the CAC's Coaching Excellence Award.

Gerard Mach - Athletics

Gerard Mach came to Canada from Poland in January 1973 to be head coach of sprints and hurdles, determined to transform sprinting and hurdling in this country. He brought with him a formidable reputation, honed over years of competing and coaching at the highest levels of his sport. Born in Gdansk in 1926, he was a national team sprinter from 1945 to 1958, winning more than 30 championships in individual and relay events and holding the national 400m record. In 1951, he won the 400m at the World University Games, and in 1952 he sprinted for Poland at the Olympic Games.

While still an athlete, he set his sights on a coaching career and earned a master's degree in physical education from the Sports Academy in Warsaw. He got his start as head coach of the Legia Club, which grew into the strongest club in Poland and defeated most European national teams. From 1952 to 1972, he was Poland's national sprint and hurdles coach. Under his guidance, Poland emerged as the most powerful track and field team in Europe in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Perhaps the greatest of Gerard's many Olympic medallists was the legendary Irena Szewinska, who made four Olympic appearances between 1964 and 1976, winning three gold, three silver, and one bronze medal.

Gerard is a passionate student of the science of coaching and, in 1964, he was awarded the Specialist Coach degree, the highest level in Poland. At the same time, his revolutionary training methods were attracting worldwide attention as he generously shared his knowledge with many other countries.

In 1972, Gerard approached CAC executive director John Hudson during the Munich Games, explaining that he wanted to coach in Canada because of the coming Montreal Olympics. Although impressed by Gerard's knowledge and intelligence, Hudson couldn't promise anything because the country had no professional track coaches, and although he expected that to change, he couldn't say when. Characteristically, Gerard persisted, traveling to Ottawa at his own expense to detail his plans for Hudson. Eventually, Adidas, which worked with many Eastern European coaches, including Gerard, agreed to pay his salary until other arrangements could be made. Within a year, the newly established O'Keefe Sports Foundation, which Hudson chaired, assumed responsibility for his salary. "He got to Canada by his own strong desire, and before you knew it, he was making a contribution and everybody was lining up to take advantage of his expertise. Remember, there were no other professional coaches," said Hudson.

Harry Kerrison, executive director of the Canadian Track and Field Association at the time, recalled the impact of Gerard's system. "The Mach exercises consist of a lot of high knee lifting and high knee kicking and striding that developed and refined the movement of the muscles required in running. It sounds so simple, but they were different, and our athletes had never done anything like them. It was also his personality that helped to bring along athletes and encourage them. The athletes not only developed a rapport, but also admiration. He was just very, very effective."

Just how effective was quickly evident. It is agreed that, leading up to 1976, Canadian track and field was badly organized, with very few people sprinting at the highest levels. Trained by Gerard's methods, all four of Canada's relay teams made the finals in Montreal, with the men's 4x400m and the women's 4xI00m both racing to fourth place. "His system of relay development, relay passing, and relay training was exceptional, and they ran exceptionally," said Andy Higgins. In 1984, at Los Angeles, the women's 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m won silver and the men's 4 x I00m won bronze.

During his years as CTFAs director of national teams and head sprint coach - he stepped down in 1989, but has continued to serve as a consultant - Gerard transformed sprinting in Canada and brought tremendous recognition to Canada's sprinters. He was head coach at the 1976, 1980, and 1984 Olympic Games, the 1978 and 1982 Commonwealth Games, and the 1979 Pan American Games. His athletes captured five Olympic medals and set five Canadian records. He produced 20 Olympic finalists and 52 top carded, or "A", athletes. Atlee Mahorn, Hugh Fraser, Brian Saunders, Tony Sharpe, Marjorie Bailey, Patty Loverock, Desai Williams, Molly Killingbeck, Angela Issajenko, Marita Payne, Jillian Richardson, Yvonne Saunders, Joyce Yakubowich, and Marvin Nash are some of the athletes who attained the top international standard in their event. Later successes are also attributable to Gerard, since all the members on the 1996 men's Olympic champion 4x100m were products of his relay program.

According to Higgins, most importantly, Gerard "changed our belief system to seeing ourselves as able to compete with the world. He was totally committed to this idea; it was his obsession. He had the clearest understanding of anybody I've met anywhere in the Canadian sport system that the top athletes deserve everything we can give them to perform well. He knew that really good coaches should be treasured and kept around for as long as possible because they influence other coaches and touch generation after generation of athletes. He would travel anywhere, put in any amount of time, do whatever was necessary to help a coach do a better job."

These days, Gerard continues to contribute to the development of Canada's sprinters and hurdlers, working with Higgins as a master coach at the National Coaching Institute-Ontario. "I brought him in because he's a genius and I believe that coaches need the master's interpretation of the information, and his eye to look at their athletes and show them what is really happening. He is a terrifically knowledgeable and valuable asset." Gerard is also a highly respected author, writing extensively about his system. He has led many clinics and coaching seminars and has produced technical videotapes and films. He is a frequent guest speaker for the IAAF at prestigious coaching clinics and symposia around the world.

Gerard continues to be acknowledged by his peers as one of the world's outstanding sprint/speed coaches. In 1996, he was recognized at the national championships for his outstanding contribution to Athletics Canada's development and programs. It was noted that his knowledge of the sport and technical expertise, hard work, and dedication are second to none. In 2002, he was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal as a tribute to his hard work and achievements toward the growth of Canadian track and field and in recognition of the continued dedication of time, energy, and passion given selflessly. "Gerard's influence is as substantial today and perhaps even more far reaching," said Alex Gardiner, national coach of Athletics Canada. "His systems are still in place today and have been adopted around the world."

"From the moment he landed in Canada, Gerard's mission was simple: to make Canada an athletics nation, recognized as a leader throughout the world," wrote Cecil Smith, editor of Athletics magazine. "This he accomplished, and many of today's coaches are products of the Mach standardized system of coaching. He will always be remembered by those he touched as a kind, sensitive person who always tried to see the best side of people. Even when met with adversity he would, in his quiet way, try to restore calm and sanity. His legacy lives on through the people he preached to and taught. People of his ilk only come now and again. Canada will wait a long, long time before another Gerard Mach appears on the scene."

Al Morrow - Rowing

Al Morrow has been national coach of Canada's women's rowing team, based in London, Ont., since 1989. He is also director of London's National Rowing Centre. His longevity, unusual in a profession known for its penchant for firing coaches, is matched only by the extraordinary results of his athletes. He has to his credit the amazing total of 22 Olympic and world championship medals.

As a first-year political science student at the University of Western Ontario, Al chose to concentrate on rowing, rather than other sports he enjoyed, because it was the sport in which he was making the most progress and he enjoyed the sensation of improvement and the camaraderie. In 1976, he was selected as a spare to that year's 1976 Olympic team.

Al's first full-time coaching job came in 1978 when the University of Victoria hired him at a salary of $15,000, half paid by the university and half by Rowing Canada Aviron (RCA). Eight years later, the RCA assumed responsibility for his salary, and he has been with them ever since. He joined the national team as an assistant coach of the men's team in 1977. When the decision was made to resurrect the National Rowing Centre in London, Ont., Morrow was tapped as its director. Now coaching women athletes exclusively, he really hit his stride. "I've been 'way more successful with women than with men. It could have been that the time was right as I hit my late 30s. That and the experience I had picked up. Whatever the reason, I've been very successful coaching women."

The highlights of Al's career are also some of the great moments in Canadian sport, notably the three Olympic gold medal performances of Marnie McBean and Kathleen Heddle. So successful has he been that the International Rowing Federation named him 1999 FISA Coach of the Year in recognition of his many years of international success. He was the 2001 recipient of the prestigious Geoff Gowan Award, selected by the CAC's board of directors in recognition of lifetime contributions to coaching development.

Al is especially proud that three "generations" of athletes have excelled internationally under his guidance. Except for one athlete, no one on the 2002 team, which won silver medals in pair and in four, raced at the 2000 Olympic Games, the end of the second generation, where his rowers captured the bronze medal in the eight. After all these years at the helm of women's rowing in Canada, Al continues to be fulfilled and challenged by his chosen profession. He also retains the innate modesty and balanced approach to life that are his outstanding characteristics.

Former coxswain Lesley Thompson, who represented Canada at five s1ympic Games, says Morrow's handling of his program has been "brilliant", articularly his thoroughness. He listens to each and every athlete, reflects on ieir questions, answers from experience, believes in empowering people to lake decisions, has a remarkable knack for putting things in perspective, and knows the "big picture". The result is athletes who feel comfortable and confident, ready to go in a direction that all believe in.

Al's expectations are high, of himself and of his athletes. "Al has very strong ethics that apply to his personal and professional lives," says Thompson. "He likes to coach by those ethics; he likes to live by those ethics. He has a strong set of norms and we are expected to follow those norms. We often joke that one day we are going to write The Book of Al, because he talks about those norms over and over and knows exactly what he is going to say. You just know there's a reason for what he is saying. It's continuity and reassurance. It's us trusting him as our coach."

Debbie Muir - Synchro

Debbie Muir was a high performance synchronized swimmer who competed at the first world aquatic championships in Belgrade in 1973. the experience opened her eyes to Canada's potential to be the best synchro nation in the world; fulfilling that potential would drive her coaching career.

Her post-competitive plan was to earn an education degree at the University of Calgary and pursue a teaching career. Coaching wasn't on her agenda, even though she coached for 25 cents an hour with the Calgary Aquabelles club to help pay her bills. There were no full-time synchro coaches at that time, not even Debbie's coach, Mary Ann Reeves, whose "real" job was as aquatic director at the YWCA.

Before long, to Debbie's surprise, coaching had become a passion. "I fell in love with the idea of making other people better. I found I could help people to be better than I was. I got a real high out of helping talented people, giving them tips to become great, and quickly realized I would rather coach than teach." Debbie's timing could not have been better. Mary Ann stepped down as head coach of the Aquabelles, and Debbie took over, even though she had to teach part-time so that she could afford to coach.

In 1979, when federal money became available to pay coaches' salaries, Debbie was able to quit teaching. When Synchro Canada formed a national team in 1981, she became national coach. From then until 1991 was a glorious period for synchro and for Debbie as she built an enviable reputation as an astute, innovative coach who produced world champions such as Helen Vanderburg in solo and duet with Michelle Calkins in 1978, Olympic silver in 1984 with the duo of Kelly Kryczka and Sharon Hambrook and with Carolyn Waldo in solo, all three events at the 1986 world championships, and gold at the 1988

Olympics with Waldo in solo and in duet with Michelle Cameron. Her athletes also won seven of a possible nine world championship medals as well as numerous Commonwealth, Pan American, and Pan Pacific golds. Debbie had become the most successful synchro coach in Canada and the world.

Gradually, however, a negative side began to emerge, a combination of people attracted to the sport because of its growing success, exploding bureaucracy, regionalism, and parental self-interest. The inevitable result was compromised quality of training, and in 1991, Debbie resigned from the national team, although not from the sport. She provided expert consultation to many teams and coaches internationally, from countries including Japan, Sweden, Korea, England, and Egypt, as well as to Canada's national team. She coached Australia's team to an eighth-place finish at the 2000 Olympic Games, its best international results ever. When she started in 1995, the team was ranked last in the world, and when the Olympics were over, they sat solidly in 12th place out of 25 countries in world ranking.

Debbie has also had a profound influence on other coaches, including Sheilagh Croxon, the head coach of Canada's 2000 synchro Olympic team. "Debbie is an exceptional role model for all coaches," says Sheilagh. "In 1986 [at the age of 231, I was fortunate to be accepted into CAC's long-term apprenticeship program. Determined to become the best coach I could be, I knew it was essential to study under the best coach in the world in my sport. I moved to Calgary for one year to take advantage of the phenomenal opportunity to work under the guidance of Debbie Muir."

"What made Debbie an incredible mentor and role model was her ability to always keep her eyes on the big picture, to speak a vision and inspire others to do the work to reach for the top of the podium, and to build confidence in the athletes. Working with her I truly learned that there was a solution to every problem."

"I don't think I would have achieved the results I have had as a coach without the knowledge and skills I gained from the opportunity to work with Debbie as a master coach. Her belief in me and my abilities, in addition to the incredible example she set for me, provided the knowledge and confidence I needed to pursue my coaching abilities to their maximum. This is exactly what i'nspired and enabled so many athletes and teams to achieve success under her guidance."

Debbie continues to coach today, but she's made a smooth transition from the swimming pool to the boardroom, where she shares her expertise with the business world. After earning a graduate certificate in executive coaching from Royal Roads University, she is building a business/executive practice. Using a program she developed and calls Podium Performance at Work, she demonstrates how to get world-class performances from employees with a one-day workshop followed by one-on-one coaching. She also works one-on-one with several athletes and teams to develop greater self-awareness and create strategies to help them achieve at the highest level.

She remains involved in sport, playing several critical roles. Most recently she was one of three technical experts chosen by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) to serve on its Expert Review Panel to review proposals submitted to Podium 2002. She helped the COC to prepare the summer and winter Olympic sports for the sport reviews. She is a member of the Coaching Implementation Group that is developing measures to implement the recommendations of the Canadian Sport Policy consultations.

Debbie is a member of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. She was twice named Air Canada Coach of the Year and is a two-time recipient of the YWCAs Women of Distinction award. She was Female Coach of the Year for Alberta and is a four-time Longines-Wittnauer Award winner.

Percy Page - Basketball

John Percy Page was born of Canadian parents in Rochester, N.Y, was raised in Bronte, Ont., was a gold medallist at Hamilton Collegiate, and graduated from Queen's University, Kingston, Ont. In 1912 he came from Ontario to introduce commercial classes to Edmonton's McDougall Commercial High School. Two years later, Percy, a keen basketball player in his student days, began coaching the girls' team at the school, and that squad went on to win the city championship. In 1915, the graduating players were reluctant to give up the camaraderie that had forged such a successful team, so he organized the Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Club, known far and wide as the Grads. From then until 1940, when the team was disbanded because the Second World War necessitated that the Royal Canadian Air Force take over the team's arena, the Grads built Edmonton's first sports dynasty. So successful were the Grads that, in 1950, the team was named Canada's best basketball team of the half century. They were inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Grads compiled a winning record that remains unparalleled by any team in any sport.

They played 522 games and won 502, for a 96.2 percentage. Nine of those games were played against men's teams, and they won seven of those. Along the way, they recorded victory streaks of 147 and 78 games.

They took part in exhibition tournaments organized as part of the 1924, 1928, 1932, and 1936 Olympic Games, and won every game they played. They won 27 consecutive exhibition games constituting world championships.

They won the first national women's basketball championship when it was inaugurated in 1922 and never lost the event
through to 1940.

They won 23 of 24 provincial titles, 15 of 15 Western Canada titles, and 29 of 31 national championship games.

They outscored opponents with an all-time average of 48 to 20.

The one element of continuity in this astonishing record was mild-mannered, self-effacing Percy, whose standards were high and whose dedication was unshakeable. In 25 years, Percy missed part of one game and three practices, one to skip a city championship curling team and twice while campaigning for a seat in the Alberta legislature. This dedication occurred despite the fact that he was also coaching two high school teams and had become principal of the high school.

"He was there all the time, and he always expected us to be there. I broke my arm, but I still went out to practices. He told me, "You can learn something by watching,"' said former Grad Helen Northrup Alexander.

Page demanded from his team the same sacrifices he made himself. "You must play basketball, think basketball, and dream basketball," he told his players. He was no tyrant, but the fact that he had been their teacher as well as their coach, in a period when teachers still enjoyed unchallenged authority, clearly contributed to the great influence he established.

"One thing Mr. Page did instil in all the girls was a great deal of discipline," said Kay MacRitchie, who played the final two seasons in the Grads' history. "After a game we didn't go out and have a brew or anything. I don't drink to this day. There was a real camaraderie and a real caring among all the girls. That's continued over the years. I've played on other teams since then, and I've never run into a group that was as close-knit as we were. And he knit us together."

With his assistant, Bill Tate, Percy developed a McDougall School farm system to provide new athletes to replace retiring players. Girls developed their skills through working their way up through three teams, finally joining the Grads when there was an opening. He either coached or supervised each team, so every player who wore the black and gold of the Grads had been assessed by him from her earliest days.

Undoubtedly, the cohesion that derived from Percy's recruiting system had something to do with the Grads' success. He himself always gave credit to his players. "They are champions," he said in 1923, "because they are the most wholehearted, sport-loving girls that it would be possible to find; they have won because the spirit of the Prairies is born and bred in them."

To the young women who played with the Grads over the 25 years, Percy wasn't just a coach; he was a father figure. Many of the players referred to him as "Papa". His commitment to the team was reflected in the amazingly low turnover rate of the team's roster. There were only 38 players in the history of the club. "We accepted without question the standards he set," said former player Betty Bowen. "It made us stronger and helped us become better people."

In their pursuit of excellence, the Grads also earned respect for their fair play. Percy said, "You're ladies first and basketball players second, and if you can't win playing a clean game, you don't deserve to win."

Said basketball inventor James Naismith of the Grads in 1936, "You are not only an inspiration to basketball players throughout the world, but a model of all girls' teams. Your attitude and success have been a source of gratification to me in illustrating the possibilities of the game in the development of the highest type of womanhood."

 

Deryk Snelling - Swimming

Deryk Snelling spent 29 years coaching swimming in Canada and compiled a record few coaches in any sport can match. He placed 57 swimmers on Olympic teams, 19 of them earning Olympic medals. Of 50 swimmers making world championship teams, 10 won medals. His medal tally at the Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games is 38 and 65 respectively. He won 87 national team championships and more than 500 Canadian championships, individual and relay, nine CIAU championships, and seven CIAU Coach of the Year awards. He coached at 10 consecutive Olympic Games. His accomplishments have earned him the Order of Canada and induction into the Canadian Aquatic Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Deryk's athletes produced many great Olympic performances -1972 Olympic medallists Leslie Cliff, Bruce Robertson, Donna-Marie Gurr, and Bill Mahony; 1976 Olympic medallists Cheryl Gibson, whom he calls the best all-round female athlete he ever coached, Stephen Pickell, Gary MacDonald, Gail Amundrud, Wendy Hogg, and Susan Sloan;1984 medallists Tom Pouting and Cameron Hemming; 1988 medallists Pouting and Mark Tewskbury; 1992 Olympic champion Tewksbury; and 1996 medallist Curtis Myden.

Deryk is about more than records. As national coach Dave Johnson notes, Deryk brings a passion and insight into high performance coaching that has been honed over 30-plus years of coaching at the international level. He is able to project to coaches the enthusiasm, tenacity, and belief system required for international success and, in doing so, lifts people to levels that they didn't think were possible. He has excellent insights into the planning and construction of program models and brings his many years of experience to the deck to enourage, challenge, and motivate the swimmers and coaches."

A swimmer himself, ranked number two in the world in the late 1940s in breaststroke, the native of Darwen, England, began to coach while doing his national service. After becoming a physical training instructor at Aldershot, the army's school of physical education, he ran the swimming programs for Britain's armed forces throughout Europe. Service completed, he moved to Southampton to handle 10,000 swimming lessons a week for the education authority and to be the volunteer coach of Southampton Swim Club's 1,400 members. Guided by Deryk, the club grew into Britain's dominant swim team and the number one men's team in Europe.

In 1967, Deryk was invited to Vancouver to take over the moribund Canadian Dolphin Swim Club and run the school board's swim program. Attracted by the proximity to the great American swim clubs strung along the West Coast, he accepted a two-year contract that stretched to nine success-filled years. Ready for a change of scene in 1976, he spent the next four years establishing the Etobicoke Swim Club. In 1980, he took over the University of lgary Swim Club, where he built yet another powerhouse. From 1996 to 2000 he was back in Britain, lured by the challenge of rebuilding British swimming, which, individual performances aside, hadn't improved since the 1948 Olympic Games. Best of all, he was given a free hand and access to Lottery money. When he retired to Canada after the Sydney Games, he left behind six national centres, several regional centres, and a slew of high performance clubs. "It was probably the most productive time I've ever had, because I was in charge. It was total freedom. I didn't have to answer to committees. I didn't have to ask for permission. Nobody got in the way. It was pretty amazing."

One year into his retirement, recognizing how much he could offer the sort, Swimming Canada appointed Deryk national junior mentor coach. His task is to restructure youth (15- and 16-year-olds), and junior (19 and under) programs, long neglected through years of under-funding and cutbacks. It's all about producing the next generation of tough, competitive international racers who can swim fast when it counts. "We've got to treat talented kids differently. If I get this right, then two or three years down the road, well before Beijing, we ould be back as a major swimming nation."

Recognized worldwide for his technical knowledge, Deryk instills confidence, provides strong leadership, and is passionate "beyond anyone's dream". He also has an innate eye for spotting talent. "I can look at a youngster and say, "at least Olympics", or "at least an Olympic final, certainly a chance of a medal'. Having that eye to identify talent is something no one can train you to have. A good c oach also has to be an educator, educating athletes, parents, and school friends as they learn to cope with the regimen and change their priorities. Absolutely, his is the 'art' of coaching. Being able to push somebody through 30,000 metres if training a day - it's indefensible in physiology, but in psychology, it's 100 per cent on the mark - and have them want to come back and do it again he next day. That's motivation, that's positive pressure, that's confidence that it will pay off big time. It's making a kid afraid of nothing, taking him to a fatigue Ievel where he has no energy to eat or drink. When that passes, a couple of days later, he's a stronger person. I definitely have never been known as a brutal coach, but I don't think my swimmers know what they went through."

Deryk's goal is always to develop athletes who are mentally tough, physically welI prepared, superbly confident, and very focused - to him, the essential winning combination. He also points with pride to the many swimmers who have followed him into successful coaching careers. His first swimmer to make an Olympic team was David Haller, who swam on the 1964 British squad. Haller made numerous Olympic appearances as a coach and head coach and has produced two Olympic gold medallists. Nigel Kemp, coach of double 1976 Olympic bronze medallist Nancy Garapick, was for many years Deryk's team captain in Southampton, and 1976 Olympic medallist Gary MacDonald is now a coach of the Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club. Jim Fowlie, who swam for Canada in the 1970s and honed his coaching skills at the Australian institute of Sport, is now head coach at the national training centre in Victoria.

The Snelling swimmer who stood at the top of the Olympic podium sums up coach this way: "To put it simply, Deryk loves swimming," says Mark Tewksbury. "it is his passion. When he coached me, I knew this man ate, breathed, lived swimming. It was his life. There was something very infectious in that. Through his lead, my commitment was for the most part unwavering. Deryk is a natural motivator, a gifted storyteller who had that rare ability to articulate and share his passion with others. Long before there were training centres, we had as many as seven people on the national team from our local club team. We were a training centre, because Deryk had the ability to build a strong support system around him. We were one of the first club teams to incorporate sport science into our regular training and competition schedules. My success at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is a reflection of the incredible team of athletes, club volunteers, and experts that surrounded me, and Deryk was at the heart of that team."

Profiles compiled with information from Wendy Long, author of Celebrating Excellence: Canadian Women Athletes; Tom West, senior manager of Canada Olympic Park; S.R. Wise and Douglas Fisher; authors of Canada's Sporting Heroes; Cecil Smith, editor of Athletics magazine; John Hudson, first CAC executive director; and Andy Higgins, director of the National Coaching Institute-Ontario.

 

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