The following coaches were all honoured with a Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award this month at the Sport Leadership Awards Gala. To help us paint a picture of these accomplished coaches, we turned to their athletes, who were coached to podium performances at the World Championships or Special Olympics in the 2010-2011 season, for help. After all, who knows the coaches better than their athletes? The following are some of the highlights from those interviews! 

  • Coach: Merv Fonger
    Athlete: Amber Holland
    Sport: Curling
     

     

    • Does your coach have any hidden talents? If so, what are they? Chewing & swallowing 4 soda crackers in 2 minutes.
    • If your coach won a million dollars, what would he do with it? Become owner of the Moose Jaw Warriors.
    • If you could give your coach any superpower, what would it be and why? The ability to read other people’s minds because then he could understand his four female athletes better. 

  • Coach: Dennis Capicik
    Athlete: Warren Shouldice
    Sport: Freestyle Skiing
     

     

    • What are three words that describe your coach? Patient, knowledgeable, passionate
    • If you were to compare your coach to an animal, what would he be and why? Whatever the most patient animal is -- it takes a LOT of patience to coach me!

  • Coach: Marty Calder
    Athlete: Jessie MacDonald
    Sport: Wrestling
     

     

    • What is the thing your coach says to you that you hate the most/but know it will help you? The thing that Marty says to me that I hate the most, but know it will help me is “high speed”, “10 sprints” or “one more go”. When I’ve had a long, hard day of training and I think I’ve survived practice, Marty loves to throw in overload exercises or an extra match. Physically I want to quit but Marty is preparing me for the mental battle I’ll face in a match when I’m tired and my opponent is gassed. These exercises push my limits and allow me to believe I can do and accomplish anything. As much as I hate hearing those words, I know it’s Marty’s way of making me a better athlete and wrestler.
    • What are three words that describe your coach? Knowledgeable, determined, inspirational.
    • If your coach was not coaching, what career would you see him doing and why? If Marty wasn’t coaching, I would see him as a teacher. He is a great role model and as much as he likes being known as a ‘tough guy’ he’s actually caring, and strives for people to reach their fullest potential. He has a ‘never give up attitude’ and instils his hard working qualities into his athletes. He teaches and repeats lessons a million times or until the concept or skill is finally acquired. Marty always puts his highest efforts into any task, therefore, no matter what Marty would do, he would always be successful.
    • If you could give your coach any superpower, what would it be and why? If I could give Marty a superpower it would be to be as strong as me!!! All kidding aside, I would give Marty the superpower of telepathy. With the telepathy superpower Marty could tap into ‘the women’s brain’ and read our emotions better as we prepare ourselves for big tournaments. Maybe then, he could understand our ‘loss of sanity’. With the telepathy superpower, Marty could also tell me exactly how to prepare myself for a match. He could tell me what move was coming next and what my next move should be in order to win.

  • Coach: Marty Calder
    Athlete: Tonya Verbeek
    Sport: Wrestling
     

     

    • What is the thing your coach says to you that you hate the most/but know it will help you? Marty is a vocal coach so there are times when he is correcting your mistakes over and over again and you feel like (and sometimes I have) shouting back - “I’m trying!!” Sometimes his constructive criticism is hard to hear but you know that in the end it will be for the best.
    • If your coach was not coaching, what career would you see him doing and why?  I think coaching is Marty’s calling, however, I could see him working with under-privileged children or children with special needs. I think this because he is great with children and his humorous and caring personality would make a difference in a child’s life.
    • If you could give your coach any superpower, what would it be and why? I would give him the ability to be as strong and as powerful as he can be when he wants to be. That way when he wants to wrestle with the athletes, he can keep kicking their butts! I think we listen to him because he doesn’t only tell us how to do something, he can show us too.

  • Coach: Marina Zoueva
    Athlete: Scott Moir
    Sport: Figure Skating
     

     

    • What is your coach’s favourite quote? Marina’s favourite quote to say is: “Do your job!” Which simply means: Go out there, work hard and do what you do every day. 
    • If you could give your coach any superpower, what would it be and why? The superpower I would give her would be the ability to fly. Maybe she could fly around the ice with us and coach at the same time, but I would really only give her that because everyone wants to be able to fly -- Don’t they?
    • If you had to name the autobiography of your coach, what would the title be? Magical Marina. A story of a strict and powerful woman with a huge heart.
    • What is your coach’s favourite outfit? It’s funny - because we are usually in a cold and wet arena, we only see our coaches in sweat pants and big winter coats. Almost every time we get to competition, Marina catches me off guard by wearing some fabulous outfit. I don’t know what her favourite outfit is but I do know that when we look back to the boards she always looks great.

  • Coach: Brent Kehl
    Athlete: Kelsey Serwa
    Sport: Freestyle Skiing
     

     

    • Does your coach have any hidden talents? If so, what are they? I hear he has some pretty killer dance moves -- he performed a tango at his wedding.
    • If your coach could meet a world famous athlete/coach, who would it be?  Brent would like to meet Muhammad Ali for sure...who wouldn’t!?
    • If you could give your coach any superpower, what would it be and why? The power of instant transport so we would never have to drive across Europe, or fly back and forth to North America. Plus it would be great team bonding because we would be forced to hold hands!
    • What is your coach’s greatest coach moment/achievement with all of you? There have been many triumphant victories our team has had, but I think Brent’s greatest moment in coaching would be watching his athlete Ashleigh McIvor win gold at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
    • Name one song that reminds you of your coach, and why? Pussy Cat Dolls featuring Snoop Dog because Brent drove both groups around town when they had concerts in Vancouver and he likes to tell us funny stories about each.

  • Coach: Willy Raine
    Athlete: Kelsey Serwa
    Sport: Freestyle Skiing 

     

    • Does your coach have any hidden talents? If so, what are they? Willy was a member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team in his younger days and is still quite the athlete now. He keeps up with the boys ripping around downhill trails on his bike, and keeps up with the girls on the uphill bits! He is an entrepreneur and the ultimate handyman as well as father, coach, and mentor. Willy can also speak a number of languages which comes in handy travelling around Europe.
    • If your coach could meet a world famous athlete/coach, who would it be? “Macho Man” Randy Savage so Willy could meet someone who could bench press him.
    • If you could give your coach any superpower, what would it be and why?  The ability to snap his fingers and his chores would be done -- such as the renovations on his house, or changing his boys’ poopy diapers...I think he would appreciate that one.
    • Name one song that reminds you of your coach, and why? “I’ve been everywhere” - Johnny Cash...self explanatory.

  • Coach: Tamas Buday Sr.
    Athlete: Mallorie Nicholson
    Sport: Canoe-Kayak
     

     

    • Does your coach have any hidden talents? If so, what are they? Carving knee blocks -- he can also fix ANYTHING!
    • What is your coach’s favourite outfit? There is universal agreement that Tamas’ favourite outfit is a Speedo

  • Coach: Mario Delisle
    Athlete: Marco Dispaltro
    Sport: Boccia

     

    • If he had to evacuate his house immediately, what is the one thing he would grab on the way out? His prized possession – his family. His two girls, one in each arm, and his wife piggy backing – oh, and maybe the computer and a couple of portable hard drives and the camera. Only one thing? Come on, this is Mario we’re talking about -- he’s a multi tasker!!!
    • What is your coach’s most unusual habit?  Playing with his balls -- boccia balls that is. You people get your mind out of the gutter! For a G-rated answer, we could say stopping in the middle of traffic to run after potential players, now that’s dedication -- although he’s scared the hell out of a few but they just couldn’t get away.
    • If your coach won a million dollars, what would he do with it?  Build a high performance boccia training center and maybe adopt a few Korean players and import a 2012 V6 turbo Suzuki Gran Vitara.

  • Coach: Jamie Atkin
    Athlete: Corissa Boychuk
    Sport: Gymnastics
     

     

    • What does your coach do in his free time? In Jamie’s free time (the little time he has outside the gym), he is spending as much time as he can with his wife, Jen, and his boys, Brody and Jared. But when he is not with his family, he spends the rest of his ‘free time’ back at the gym, or at least thinking about the gym.
    • What is your coach’s most unusual habit? One of Jamie’s unusual habits is that he forgets to eat. He is extremely insistent on us eating healthy, like any coach to his athletes, and even amongst all the reminding and checking in on our nutrition, he somehow forgets about his own.
    • What is your coach’s favourite quote? Jamie is one of those coaches who puts up motivational quotes on our chalkboard often. At a rough time in my gym career, Jamie went out of his way, like always, to try every angle to make things easier for me. On a particularly hard day, I found in my mail box a card from him. The front of the card read: “If you’re going through hell, keep going”. Jamie would do absolutely anything for his athletes, and motivating and keeping us going is very important to him.
    • If you could give your coach any superpower, what would it be and why? The only super power I would give Jamie, the only one he needs, is to learn how to fly. He already has crazy lightning speed to save us in a crash, he already has super strength to throw us when spotting, and catch us while crashing, and he already has psychic abilities (he always knows what everyone’s thinking). Flying seems to be the only thing Jamie can’t do, although it certainly seems like he appears out of nowhere whenever we need him.
    • If he had to evacuate his house immediately, what is the one thing he would grab on the way out? If Jamie had to evacuate his house immediately, and if he had his family and cats with him of course, he would definitely grab his laptop. More specifically, the Microsoft Excel program that is on his laptop. Jamie is a spreadsheet wizard and is obsessed with creating charts and line graphs out of any gym related data. I could honestly keep writing forever; Jamie is an incredible person and has forever changed and benefited the entire sport of trampoline.

  • Coach: Xiuli Wang
    Athlete: Lucas Makowsky
    Sport: Long-Track Speed Skating
     

     

    • Does your coach have any hidden talents? If so, what are they? During our camp this summer in Colorado Springs, our training group was quick to find out that Xiuli is quite the basketball player!
    • What is your coach’s favourite quote? It’s probably not her favourite quote, but she does always tell us to be like a “little ball” when we skate! 
    • What is your coach’s most unusual habit? Aside from loving bacon at breakfast, she’s always stretching.
    • If you could give your coach any superpower, what would it be and why? I would give her infinite flexibility so that she’d never have to stretch again.
    • If your coach won a million dollars, what would she do with it? She’d likely do something with her family, but I also think she’d hire her own personal chef so that she could have bacon whenever she wants!
    • If you were to compare your coach to an animal, what would she be and why? She’d definitely be a cat because she’s very light on her feet and very sure footed!

  • Coach: Jeff Dunbrack
    Athlete: Meghan Montgomery
    Sport: Adaptive Rowing

     

    • What is your coach’s favourite outfit? His favourite outfit is flip-flops, shorts and a Wheelchair Basketball Canada t-shirt (until he gets more Rowing Canada gear).
    • What is your coach’s favourite quote? “Empty the tank” and “Light it up” are two common quotes.
    • Name one song that reminds you of your coach, and why? The team was torn between Abba’s “The winner takes it all” and Disturbed’s “Indestructible”.

  • Coach: Yihua Li
    Athlete: Émilie Heymans
    Sport: Diving
     

     

    • What are three words that describe your coach? Comprehensive, serious, devoted.
    • Does your coach have any hidden talents? If so, what are they? When she was younger, when she was competing, in order to relieve the stress, she told me she used to knit. I believe she is very talented and I would love for her to do it with me one day!
    • If you were to compare your coach to an animal, what would she be and why? I would say a panther. She can be very sweet and soft, but she knows what she wants!
    • If you could give your coach any superpower, what would it be and why? Well, if you call this a superpower, I think she would like to be able to cook when her husband is away. Also, I think if she could teleport herself to visit her family in China, she would be very happy!

  • Coach: Jean Laroche
    Athlete: Diane Roy
    Sport: Para-athletics
     

     

    • What are three words that describe your coach?  Patient, attentive and determined.
    • What does your coach do in his free time?  Whenever he can find the time, rain or shine, Jean plays golf. It is his biggest passion in sport, other than coaching of course!
    • What is your coach’s usual apparel? Jean is always dressed in sport attire – he has a very laid back style. Since he is part of Athletics Canada, he almost always wears Nike apparel because that is a large part of his wardrobe (they sponsor this national sport organization so he receives a lot of their brand).
    • What is his main passion in coaching? I think that it is to help lead athletes to a high level in their sport and to push them the farthest they can go. He loves to learn and evolve in his sport. When one of his athletes reaches a podium, he is proud because he has a part in this result.

  • Coach: Michel Dorion
    Athlete: Chloé Dufour Lapointe
    Sport: Freestyle Skiing

     

    • What are three words that describe your coach? Michel has a strong personality because of his liveliness, his winning attitude, his warrior likeliness and strategic way of thinking in sports.
    • What does your coach do in his free time? In his free time, he loves to go for coffee and pastries - his ‘Peche Mignon’! He also loves to play golf and take care of his loved ones.