NORTH BAY – A first of its kind two-day summit for sports coaches is taking place over at Canadore College in North Bay for the weekend.
Around 70 delegates from 16 cities representing 19 sports are hoping to grow their coaching skills through keynote presentations. The end goal is to help the young athletes become better on the ice or field and also as people.
"Coaches are more than coaches in a sense. They're leaders and they really do have impact and I don't think we can really take our eyes off the ball who work in the coaching industry," said Glenn Cundari, Summit Organizer.
Among the keynote speakers is the former Head Coach Daniele Sauvageau of Team Canada's Women's National Hockey Team that claimed Olympic gold in Salt Lake City in 2002.
"We won the silver medal in 1998 and what we needed to create was performance and not always looking at the end result but performance and hope to build it for future generations to come," explained Sauvageau.
She says there are many challenges coaches need to overcome when working with players and to get athletes to perform to the best of their ability. She says that one of the key areas to the 2002 Olympic success was the focus on building proper relationships with her team.
"We cannot bring an athlete to the games or further up if they don't want to. So creating those positive, secure environments for athletes I believe will keep them longer."
During the summit, coaches will learn about leadership roles, communication, how to identify talented players, proper player development, mentorship and so much more.
"The big stand out for me is establishing that culture of excellence, so whether that be on the basketball court for us or in life for our athletes. We want them to develop as people," said Rachel Van Woezik, Nipissing Lakers Women's Assistant Basketball Coach.
Skills taught at the summit can be used by coaches to improve future stars in all aspects of their life.
