The Coaching Association of Canada is pleased to announce the names of the 43 coaches honoured with a 2010 Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award. These prestigious awards recognize coaches whose athletes have excelled at World Championships and/or the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Six cycling coaches are included in the Excellence Awards.
"2010 was a great year for Canadian sport - from the first Olympic gold medal won on Canadian soil to the numerous podium performances at World Championships, Canadian athletes have excelled. It is important to remember however, that when our Canadian athletes reach the podium, it is not without the support and dedication of a coach. That is why we at Suncor Energy, proud owner of Petro-Canada, are so honoured to have this opportunity to recognize Canada's coaches for their effort, leadership and dedication to sport," said Howard McIntyre, Vice President, Marketing at Suncor Energy.
"The Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Awards are a great opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of many of our great coaches, including our first 10-time recipient of this award, wrestling coach, Victor Zilberman," stated John Bales, Chief Executive Officer, Coaching Association of Canada. "We value coach recognition at all levels of sport and thank Petro-Canada for their continued commitment to promoting the value of coaching to sport in Canada."
Houshang Amiri (Victoria, BC): coach of Brian Cowie, tandem bronze medallist, World Para-cycling Championships.
Janet Arnott (Winnipeg, MB): coach of the Jennifer Jones rink, bronze medallists, World Curling Championships.
Mike Babcock (Calgary, AB): head coach of Team Canada, men's Olympic ice hockey gold medallists.
Randy Bennett (Brentwood Bay, BB): coach of Stephanie Dixon, 100-metre backstroke bronze medallist, World Para-swimming Championships.
Derrick Campbell (Montreal, QC): coach of short track speed skater Charles Hamelin, Olympic 500-metre gold medallist; François-Louis Tremblay, 500-metre bronze medallist; and the Olympic champion 5,000-metre relay team of Tremblay, Hamelin, Olivier Jean, and François Hamelin.
Peter Carpenter (Pointe-Claire, QC): coach of Valérie Grand'Maison, 50-metre freestyle bronze medallist, World Para-swimming Championships.
Doug Cox (Guelph, ON): coach of Ohenewa Akuffo, 72-kg silver medallist, World Wrestling Championships.
Sébastien Cros (Montreal, QC): coach of short track speed skater Marianne St-Gelais, Olympic 500-metre silver medallist, and the Olympic silver medallists in the 3,000-metre relay - Jessica Gregg, Kalyna Roberge, St-Gelais, and Tania Vicent.
Melody Davidson (Calgary, AB): head coach of Team Canada, women's Olympic ice hockey gold medallists.
Mark Fawcett (Nelson, BC): coach of Jasey-Jay Anderson, Olympic champion in parallel giant slalom.
Michel Gagnon (Longueuil, QC): coach of Vincent Gagnon, bronze medallist, World Racquetball Championships.
Dominick Gauthier (Montréal, QC): coach of Olympic moguls champion Alexandre Bilodeau and moguls Olympic silver medallist Jennifer Heil.
Ron Jacks (Victoria, BC): coach of Stephanie Dixon, 400-metre freestyle gold medallist, World Para-swimming Championships.
Jean-Sébastien Labrie (Plessisville, QC): coach of para-alpine skier Lauren Woolstencroft, winner of four gold medals at the Paralympic Games.
Marcel Lacroix (Calgary, AB): coach of long track speed skater Christine Nesbitt, Olympic 1000-metre champion.
Pierre Lamy (Saint-Sauveur, QC): coach of Benoit Huot, 200-metre individual medley gold medallist, World Para-swimming Championships.
Csom Latorovski (Waverley, NS): coach of Richard Dalton, C-1 200-metre bronze medallist, World Canoe and Kayak Championships.
Peter Lawless (Victoria, BC): coach of Mark Ledo, road race bronze medallist, World Para-cycling Championships.
Benoît Lebrun (Pointe-Claire, QC): coach of Benoit Huot, 50-metre freestyle silver medallist, World Para-swimming Championships.
Dave McDonald (Edmonton, AB): coach of Amber Thomas, 400-metre freestyle silver medallist, World Para-swimming Championships.
Sébastien Michel (Mont-Tremblant, QC): coach of para-alpine skier Josh Dueck, Paralympic silver medallist.
Craig Mortimer (Ancaster, ON): coach of Summer Mortimer, 200-metre individual medley gold medallist, World Para-swimming championships.
Lori Nichol (Stoufville, ON): coach of Patrick Chan, silver medallist, World Figure Skating Championships.
Scott Oldershaw (Burlington, ON): coach of Adam Van Koerverden, K-1 500-metre bronze medallist, World Canoe and Kayak Championships.
Jules Owchar (Edmonton, AB): coach of the Kevin Martin rink, Olympic gold medallists.
Mathieu Pelletier (Trois-Rivières, QC): coach of Laurence Vincent-Lapointe, C-1 200-metre gold medallist, World Canoe and Kayak World Championships.
Manon Perron (Boucherville, QC): coach of figure skater Joannie Rochette, Olympic bronze medallist.
Pierre Pomerleau (Charlesbourg, QC): coach of Richard Labbé, individual time trial bronze medallist, World Para-cycling Championships.
Sven Pouliot (Quebec City, QC): coach of para-alpine skier Karolina Wisniewska, Paralympic double bronze medallist.
Loren Prentice (Saskatoon, SK.): coach of Brandi Jacobson Prentice, doubles bronze medallist, World Racquetball Championships.
Paul Ragusa (Calgary, AB): coach of Carol Huynh, 48-kg bronze medallist, World Wrestling Championships.
Joe Rea (Prince George, BC): coach of the Jim Armstrong rink, Paralympic gold medallists.
Ed Richardson (Brampton, ON): coach of Adam Dukovich, Individual BC2 bronze medallist, Boccia World Championships.
Dave Robertson (Regina, SK): coach of Christine Selinger, TA K-1 silver medallist, World Canoe and Kayak Championships.
Dave Ross (Thornhill, ON): coach of Karen Cockburn, Rosie MacLennan, Samantha Sendel, and Kailey McLeod, team trampoline bronze medallists, Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships.
Mark Smith (Halifax, NS): coach of Team Canada, bronze medallists, Women's World Softball Championships.
Sue Swaine (Etobicoke, ON): coach of Mike Green, doubles silver medallist, World Racquetball Championships.
Sébastien Travers (Bromont, QC): coach of Robbi Weldon, tandem gold medallist, World Para-cycling Championships.
Éric Van Den Eynde (Saint-Hilaire, QC): coach of Geneviève Ouellette, tandem bronze medallist, World Para-cycling Championships.
Xiuli Wang (Calgary, AB): coach of long track speed skater Kristina Groves, Olympic 1500-metre silver medallist and 3000-metre bronze medallist, and of Clara Hughes, 5,000-metre bronze medallist.
Richard Wooles (Vancouver, BC): coach of Tara Whitten, Omnium champion, World Cycling Championships.
Victor Zilberman (Montreal, QC): coach of Martine Dugrenier, world champion in 67-kg, World Wrestling Championships.
Marina Zoueva (Canton, Mich., USA): coach of Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
The awards will be presented during Petro-Canada Sport Leadership sportif, scheduled to take place in Ottawa, November 18-20. The Sport Leadership Awards ceremony will take place on Friday, November 19th at 18:30 at The Westin Ottawa, Confederation Ballroom.
The Coaching Association of Canada is a not-for-profit amateur sport organization with the mission of enhancing the experiences of all Canadian athletes through quality coaching. CAC and its partners deliver a leading-edge coaching system whose goal is to have an impact on 1,000,000 athletes through the training of 100,000 coaches each year in the National Coaching Certification Program. Visit www.coach.ca more information about coach education and training.