Melody Davidson was born in Coronation, Alta. and grew up in the city of Oyen, Alta. where she first started coaching.
“I’m not sure why I got into coaching,” says Davidson. “I think it had something to do with growing up in a small town. If you played a sport, you coached it. I started coaching my younger brother’s hockey team in grade eight. I don’t even know how that happened originally, but I stayed with his team until I graduated University and left town.”
A certified Level 4 NCCP hockey coach and graduate of the National Coaching Institute, Davidson is also a certified NCCP coach in baseball, softball, and volleyball.
“I coached at the local high school for their sports and also for the local community teams who needed coaches. I remember my sister’s softball team asking my mom to coach her team. She said ‘no…but Melody will!’”
Since those early beginnings, and choosing hockey as her coaching sport of choice, Davidson has won numerous World Championship medals as the coach of various levels of Canadian women’s hockey teams as well as three Olympic gold medals – the first as an assistant coach in 2002, and as the head coach in 2006 and 2010. Named Jack Donohue “Coach of the Year” by Coaches of Canada in 2010, Davidson is globally admired for her dedication to the women’s game, her core belief in values, and her leadership.
“Mel is the most honest and up front coach I have ever played under,” says 2010 Olympic hockey player Tessa Bonhomme. “She lets each athlete know they are talented and have several strengths to their game, but makes them look in the mirror and work hard on bettering themselves as a player and teammate. She taught me to grow thick skin, to be confident in my skills, yet humble as an individual/teammate, and to treat myself and my training as a true professional. She wants to get the best out of everyone on the ice, and off of it, it doesn’t matter what it takes.”
Melody Davidson was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Committee Hall of Fame in 2011 and is currently the Head Scout for Hockey Canada’s Women’s national team programs.
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