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Coaching: A foundation for women’s success in Canadian sport –
International Women’s Day recognizes women as makers of history

OTTAWA (March 8, 2006) – As Canadians celebrate International Women’s Day, it is timely to recognize the contribution of women coaches to Canada’s unprecedented success at the 2006 Winter Olympics. All four women head coaches in Torino produced medals. And of the 24 medal winners, 16 were won by women athletes.

With International Women’s Day, the United Nations acknowledges women as makers of history, and celebrates the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. The Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) endorses this theme and provides an opportunity for women to make history in their own communities by becoming part of a pilot campaign to increase the number of women coaches.

Women coaches are underrepresented compared to the participation rates of girls and young women in sports. In short, coaching is male-dominated in Canada. CAC is undertaking an ambitious community-based program to increase the number of National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP)-trained women. Called “We are coaches,” the program is working with three national sport organizations, softball, soccer, and hockey, in seven communities across the country.

“We need to address the root of the problem and that is at the grassroots, community level,” says Lorraine Lafrenière, CAC’s Chief Operating Officer. “It’s important to provide children with a positive sport experience and to see both men and women coaches as role models.” Women are naturally good communicators and good communication is essential to providing a positive sport experience to participants.

For the pilot year of “We are coaches” each of the seven communities has set individual targets to increase the number of NCCP-trained women coaches. Communities can't afford to ignore half the population when they recruit coaches, and people don’t need expert sport skills to get involved. Participants will be given the training and support they need to become coaches.

Success at the community level will have positive effects at the high performance level. “Our results would be even better if we had more women coaches” says Sheilagh Croxon, Consultant for CAC’s Women in Coaching program. She believes that men and women combining their unique strengths will lead to better overall sport performance. “As a high performance coach, you need to surround yourself with people who challenge you to think differently and who have different approaches. This is what men and women can do for one another.”

The key to success at all levels of sport is being able to direct athletes to focus on performance and process versus the outcome. Says Sheilagh Croxon, “If this is something that women bring to coaching then we definitely need more of them.”

About the Coaching Association of Canada
CAC is a not-for-profit amateur sport organization with the mandate to improve the effectiveness of coaching across all sports and at all levels of the sport system. Visit www.coach.ca for more information about coach education and training.

The Women in Coaching program is a national campaign to increase the number of coaching opportunities for women at all levels of sport. Since 1987, women coaches across Canada have benefited from professional development grants, National Team Apprenticeship Program grants, and National Coaching Institute scholarships. The program also develops resources for women coaches including the Canadian Journal for Women in Coaching.

The NCCP is a training and certification program for coaches, in both official languages across Canada in 65 sports. The program meets the needs of a wide range of coaches – from those who introduce youngsters to sport to those who work with Canada’s high performance athletes. Since its inception in the mid-70s, more than one million coaches have participated in the program, which is designed to develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required to coach effectively.

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International Women's Day
www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/women/womday97.htm

Coaching Association of Canada
www.coach.ca

For further information contact:
Julie Tam
Director, Communications
Coaching Association of Canada
(613) 235-5000 ext. 9-2378

Isabel Struik
Communications Consultant
(647) 224-4409 Cell
(416) 901-0378 Office