By: Julie Parkins-Forget, Manager of Communications & Marketing, Coaching Association of Canada

I’d been aware of our Women in Coaching National Coach Workshop (NCW) for some time, but this year was the first time I attended. I’ll be honest. The idea of spending my weekend hanging out with a bunch of women, just ‘talking’, didn’t fill me with a whole lot of enthusiasm. I mean – how much could there be to talk about? Wouldn’t it be a lot more fun to spend the weekend outside being active – hanging out with my family?

Happily, I couldn’t have been more wrong. And funnily enough, as the lead facilitator for the weekend – Carla Nicholls pointed out – I wasn’t the only one who had the same sentiment leading into the weekend – she had felt the exact same way before she attended her very first NCW several years ago.

SIDEBAR: The aim of the workshop is to bring Canada’s top women coaches together for a unique female coach development experience, to support and develop a stronger network of coaches in national level positions that are focussed on high performance preparation. (A need highlighted by the small number of women coaches that represented Canada at the recent Olympic and Paralympic games in Sochi, Russia!)

At the time, Carla was a successful athletics coach at the University or Regina (you can read more about her story in this article in Coaches plan) who also didn’t see what she’d get out of spending the weekend chatting with a group of women. What she learned however, was that she wasn’t the only one facing the challenges of being a female coach in a man’s world. That she wasn’t the only looking for how to take the next step up the coaching ladder, and that she wasn’t the only one trying to figure out how to balance being a coach, a mother, and having a career.

This year’s workshop brought together 23 women coaches from across the country, all currently working at the national level. They represented Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) teams, national teams, and Olympic teams from karate, to water polo, to speed skating, to hockey, archery, figure skating, taekwondo, athletics, squash, and more. Some of the coaches were also well-known Olympic athletes now moving into coaching (Vicky Sunohara (hockey), Tonya Verbeek & Lyndsay Belisle (wrestling), Rhian Wilkinson (soccer), and Lynn Kanuka (athletics)).

The weekend was kicked off with a networking event featuring keynote speeches by Anne Merklinger, CEO of Own the Podium, and Lorraine Lafrenière, CEO of the CAC. It also brought together other leaders from the Canadian sport community including Sue Hyland, CEO of the Canada Games Council, Karin Lofstrom, Executive Director of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS), Pierre Lafontaine, CEO of CIS, Catherine Gosselin-Després, Executive Director, Sport for the Canadian Paralympic Committee, Sport Canada representatives, and more. It was truly impressive to see how many women leaders there are in Canadian sport – and what a phenomenal opportunity for these women coaches to be able to network with them all in one room!

The weekend itself featured a series of workshops delivered by top women facilitators like Nora Sheffe, Dina Bell-Laroche, and Guylaine Demers on values, empowerment, conflict resolution, and more, to incredibly moving presentations by Olympic coaches Xiuli Wang (speed skating) and Lisa Haley (women’s hockey), to eye-opening stories of the athletic experience by Verbeek and Elizabeth Manley (figure skating) – the weekend didn’t have any dull moments.

“There aren’t words (for the impact of the workshop),” said one coach. “I feel supported and inspired and I look forward to reconnecting and making a difference as a result.”

“The experience of the workshop was outstanding!” said another coach. “To meet new people outside of my sport will be instrumental in my coaching career moving forward. (This) was one of the best, most impactful professional development opportunities I’ve ever had!”

And another: “It was greatly empowering to find such a great group of accomplished women who, after sharing stories and discussing topics, I found to be quite similar to me. I came to realize that sport is just that – sport, and our common denominator is our passion for it.”

Marci Sier, a national coach for squash commented: “(This weekend) taught me the benefit of learning from, and being empowered by, athletic, strong, experienced, and fun women – who are guiding the sports of today.”

“I have had the opportunity to hear from many speakers as an athlete, but this was only the second time I have had this kind of workshop as a coach,” said Vicky Sunohara – a triple Olympic medal-winning hockey player, and now head coach of the University of Toronto’s women’s hockey team. “It’s invaluable and I have so many tools to take back to my coaching position at U of T, on how to be a better person and coach.”

I was truly inspired by the quality of the women who attended – and by the experiences and challenges they all have faced at one time or another. Coaching is still very much a man’s world – but with women like the ones that attended this workshop, and the continuing work done by the Women in Coaching program and CAAWS, I truly hope that that tide is beginning to change. There is so much to be gained by having more women coaches involved in Canadian sport – they bring a completely different, yet much-needed dynamic to coaching that young girls and women (and yes – boys and men) can’t help but be inspired by.

One key message of the weekend was NETWORKING. How creating a network of women coaches and women leaders is key to affecting change. To that end, stay tuned for more information on some new initiatives we are exploring to connect women coaches. In the meantime, you can see a series of photos from the weekend by visiting our facebook page here (https://www.facebook.com/coach.ca/photos_stream) and find out more about the Women in Coaching program here (https://www.coach.ca/women-in-coaching-s16529). CAAWS also has some great resources for women you can access on their website (http://www.caaws.ca/).

If you have specific questions about the CAC’s Women in Coaching program, please contact Isabelle Cayer, Senior Coaching Consultant and lead of the Women in Coaching program, at icayer@coach.ca or 613.235.5000 x 2376.

“Don’t think that a small group of committed individuals can’t change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” (Margaret Mead).

2014 Women in Coaching National Coach Workshop attendees:

Carla Bacco, Taekwondo
Michell Ge, Taekwondo
Nassim Varasteh, Karate
Silvana Yee, Women's Field Lacrosse
Annie Barabé, Figure Skating
Christi Bardecki, Water Polo
Barbara Bautista, Ringette
Jill Perry, Boxing
Xiuli Wang, Speed Skating
Sabrina Lapointe, Speed Skating
Julie Dunlop, Special Olympics (Figure Skating)
Lynn Kanuka, Athletics
Marci Sier, Squash
Trina Snooks, Archery
Amanda Schweinbenz, Rowing
Katie Edwards, Rowing
Rhian Wilkinson, Soccer
Vicky Sunohara, Hockey
Rebecca Russell, Hockey
Tonya Verbeek, Wrestling
Lyndsay Belisle, Wrestling
Jennifer Koptie, Synchronized Swimming
Mandi Duhamel, Hockey
Guylaine Demers, Laval University
Dina Bell-Laroche, Sport Law & Strategy Group
Nora Sheffe, Sheffe Consulting Inc.
Karin Lofstrom, CAAWS
Isabelle Cayer, CAC
Carla Nicholls, Athletics Canada