SPORTS BEAT by Miriana Dundek
Ask of coaching and you’ll hear the fitting motto that it’s more than just a commitment, it’s a challenge.
Preparing athletes in physical and mental training for sport takes time, effort, and determination. A daunting task it is. A strong work ethic is present in all athletes.
But, with coaching, it’s a whole new ballgame.
Coaching is a vital link in any sporting association. What’s more, it is important in fostering the growth of a sporting community.
Coaching is where sport and direction combine.
Providing mentorship, discipline, guidance and support, coaches help their athletes develop the necessary skills used to compete against even the toughest odds.
But who gives the coaches their pep-rallies?
Luckily, there is a strong support network for coaches in Ottawa.
In Centretown, the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC), located on Laurier Avenue, provides the backbone to this structure.
Recognized as a world leader in the development of coach education and training, the non-profit amateur sport organization is committed to delivering programs and services that serve the needs of Canada’s coaches and strengthen Canada’s sport system.
In recent years, the CAC has done more than its part in promoting the recognition of coaching importance to sporting communities across Canada.
On Oct. 29 and 30, the Petro-Canada Sport Leadership Sportif 2004 is being held in Winnipeg.
As part of the CAC seminar series, the sports convention brings together some of Canada’s best coaches, athletes, sport administrators and coach educators to examine sport in Canada.
The focus is on what’s required for Canada to become a leading sports nation.
Of course, local community coaching contributes greatly to this theme.
From the individuals who volunteer with little league to those certified to teach at McNabb Arena, coaches are more than just qualified persons of skill, they are leaders in their community.
It’s a title that often goes overlooked.
Not often celebrated but certainly assumed, the role of these coaches is as important outside of sport as in it. Unaccredited with the awards or medals that adorn winners, their laurels are more modest.
They serve as role models who often have an impact on youth, teaching developmental skills to individuals and teams.
But in many ways, they are also role models for society.
The due acknowledgement of coaching at a sports convention like the one in Winnipeg does more than give consideration to what’s required for Canada to become a leading nation in sport.
It hints at how Canada can become a leading nation.
Initiative, support, leadership and commitment. The ingredients to coaching are a recipe for achievement. In even the smallest of communities, it’s a formula for society that inspires.
In spite of this larger lesson, coaching remains about one thing – sport.
The overall reach of the influence of coaches and coaching associations extends to the well-being of people actively involved in sport.
“Every sport contributes to improving life skills and a healthy lifestyle. Coaches are the leaders in enabling that to happen,” says David Hill, a CAC coaching consultant. “They’re active spectators that make an enormous difference. It’s nice to see.”
The CAC provides leadership to the Canadian national sport federations of more than 60 sports by helping facilitate curriculum development, determining coach competency, providing financial aid and helping with logistics (it compiles a coaching database for distribution).
By bringing awareness to coaching, it’s developing a vision.
Coaching education in Canada is needed if it is to lead to positive outcomes in sport. Quality coaching makes a positive difference. It leads to improving performance and a better overall sport experience for Canadian athletes in this city and others.
It’s obvious that the CAC is deeply committed to this vision.
And in the sporting fields and arenas, on the tracks and on the courts, if we look hard at the coaching in our city, we’ll be sure to see it too.