Profile:
“…my intuitive coaching skills are now backed by knowledge.”
“A member of the first graduating class of the NCI–Calgary, Marcel has shown the ability to deal with coaching issues on a day-to-day basis and has provided great mentorship to aspiring speed skating coaches.” — Dale Henwood, President, Canadian Sport Centre Calgary
As a fast-skating hockey player in Montreal in the late 1970s, Marcel Lacroix never dreamt that he would become one of Canada's best speed skaters. Nor did he aspire to a coaching career; teaching was his plan. Invited by friends to try speed skating, he turned them down flatly: “No way you're going to catch me wearing those tights!” When he eventually did venture out to a practice, the coach assured him he could skate in his jeans and Marcel never looked back, going on to excel at both long and short track.
He got his start coaching in 1988 when, as the oldest skater in his club, he was asked to fill in for an absent coach. Told he would be paid, he accepted. The offer was repeated the following year and before long he began to take coaching seriously. “I brought together two rival clubs, which was quite innovative in those days because the clubs were fighting each other. Together, we got more ice time and followed a joint training program and took on the top Montreal clubs. I had good success and ended up as provincial coach at national championships and gradually moved up the ranks.”
Marcel earned a degree from Laval University in Quebec City with a major in history and a minor in teaching. To pay his tuition, he coached cycling in summer and speed skating in winter. After graduation he landed a teaching job at École secondaire Rivière-du-Loup and a coaching job at the local speed skating club. “That's what I was leaning towards doing for the rest of my life.”
In 1993, fate intervened when Jacques Thibault, a friend from his competitive days, invited Marcel to Richmond, B.C., to coach at a week-long training camp. Thibault, the general manager of Calgary's Olympic Oval, then invited Marcel to move to Calgary to start a short track program. “I arranged a one-year sabbatical, packed my car and headed for Calgary. At the end of the year, Jacques asked me to stay and put some figures on the table. It was way more than I was making as a teacher so I stayed. I've never gone back to Quebec.”
Salary aside, Marcel was also attracted by the quality of the Oval skaters, the strength of the program, and the excitement that was building for the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. “I was right in my element. The skaters were very motivated and wanted to come to the Oval every day.” Many of Canada's best skaters including Derrick Campbell, Chantale Sévigny, and Tania Vicent, moved west, drawn by Marcel's coaching style. “I am very energetic, have good communication with my athletes, and treat each of them as an individual. I try to adapt my personality to suit the needs of each one.”
When the National Coaching Institute–Calgary (NCI–Calgary) was launched in 1994, director John Bales was on the lookout for candidates who were Level 3 certified by the National Coaching Certification Program. Marcel was an obvious candidate. “I was an experienced coach, but not very knowledgeable about physiology and psychology, the peripheral aspects of sport that you know by experience but lack the scientific base. The NCI combined logic and sound knowledge with what I call the 'black magic' of coaching. In other words, my intuitive coaching skills are now backed by knowledge. The experience also fuelled my interest in studying even more about coaching and really trying to be on top of it.”
For Marcel, who earned his NCI Diploma in High Performance Coaching in both speed skating and hockey, 1998 was a banner year. ”I was named to the coaching staff for the Nagano Olympics, where the men's relay program won the gold medal for the first time, we had another gold, a silver, and a bronze, and we won the world championships.” The success convinced him it was time for change. “I had achieved everything I could with the short track program. I like to challenge myself and if I kept doing the same thing, I would plateau and not become a better coach. Being able to switch is a lovely part of the Oval. There are always opportunities for a coach to challenge himself.”
Marcel, who was Speed Skating Canada's Male Coach of the Year for 2003-04 and is a three-time recipient of the Wittnauer Coaching Excellence Award, spent the next two years coaching the all-around long track program and another two years coaching power skating with the women's hockey program before returning to long track. Currently, he oversees the long-term development of the Oval's junior program, whose skaters won a gold and two silver medals at the 2005 world junior championships.
As for the future, “the Oval is a great place to work and provides opportunities in different programs. I really enjoy what I am doing and can see myself coaching for a long time.”
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