By Shane Fudge
High schools are having problems finding coaches for varsity sports teams lately, due to the fact teachers are suffering from increased workloads.
Steve Kenny, head of physical education at Immaculata High School, has had problems finding teachers willing to coach because of the heavy demands placed on them to teach more classes since the province enacted the Education Accountability Act.
Teachers are expected to teach four classes a day and are just too busy to put in the time after school, Kenny says.
Schools, such as Immaculata, are forced to look into the community to find parents to volunteer as coaches.This creates “major headaches” since those from the community people have limited contact with the school on a regular basis, he says.
A big concern for community coaches is not knowing which kids pose potential discipline problems the way a teacher with regular contact with the students would.
Kenny said the solution would be to create a directory of people who could coach a specific sport and would be easy to find when needed. Otherwise a crisis in high school sport will become inevitable, he says, as schools spend more time scrambling around to find someone to fill their coaching rosters.
Darlene Charron, the coach of Immaculata’s girls handball team for the past six years says teachers lack the energy to coach after a full day of teaching.
Charron says she likes having outside coaches since their expertise is sometimes invaluable for drills.
She gets assistance from Ivana Zelenika, a member of Canada’s national women’s handball team. The knowledge she brings to the practices is very helpful Charron says.
Kenny says high school sports are headed toward a major crisis since most schools cannot find a coach for an important sport or several schools end up vying for the same coach.
Not all kids can afford the expensive fees for community league sports. And without a school team to play on they have nothing to look forward to during the school year. “I know kids, who if it wasn’t for basketball in school, they would be out in the street,” Kenny says.
Tom Kinsman, executive director of the Canadian Professional Coaching Association, says the politics surrounding teachers who want to coach need to be solved before the coaching situation can be solved.
“There are a whole lot of teachers who would love to get more involved (in sport) but can’t.” So much time is needed for coaching, he said, teachers couldn’t fully make the commitment, says Kinsman.
He says more people who are committed to learning more about sport and willing to give their time and effort to improving their teams are needed.