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(hooray! RMC finally concedes something recruiting officers have known for a long time - team players make better leaders!)
RMC philosophy puts focus on team sports
By Claude Scilley
Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 7:00:00 AM
Local Sports - At first, Patricia Howes didn’t quite know what to think.
A notice, first published in an Armed Forces communique, then distributed through the Canadian Fencing Federation, was advertising for a full-time fencing coach.
“I first couldn’t believe it,” said Howes, introduced yesterday among the new varsity coaches at Royal Military College.
“As far as I know there are very, very few full-time fencing coach positions in the country. I thought, ‘Wow, this is an incredible opportunity.’ ”
Howes admitted her first response was to wonder what is the catch.
“Most coaching positions in fencing are part time, or there’s an honorarium, or they want you to do it as a volunteer. I’ve done many years of that type of work, so this was, I can’t even think of the words to describe it. It’s an amazing opportunity.”
Howes represents part of a new athletic philosophy at the college, athletics director Joane Thibault explained yesterday. Essentially it’s a streamlined program with fewer varsity sports – individual sports such as swimming, track and field and rowing were deleted – with more resources for those that remain.
Primarily, that meant hiring full-time coaches for the remaining sports, and for a new women’s basketball team scheduled to begin play in the OUA in 2003.
The shift in emphasis, Thibault said, arose from a study commissioned by the previous commandant, David Morse, and written by Andy Scott, a former varsity hockey player and coach. Morse wanted to use varsity athletics to promote the college in the community and to promote teamwork and leadership among cadets.
The study concluded this was best done in the framework of team sports.
“This is not an exercise to reduce costs,” Thibault said. “This program is costing more than the program we had before.
“It was [done] to refocus the program on leadership development.”
excited by prospect
Thibault is excited by the prospect of a staff of full-time coaches.
“It is very difficult for most of those coaches who have the passion for teaching and coaching to do that as a profession,” she said.
“Most universities have part-time coaches. We’re going to have more time to recruit, more time to train our people. Hopefully this is going to be our key to more success.”
The exceptions to the team philosophy are in three combative sports deeply ingrained in the military culture of the college: Shooting, fencing and taekwondo. They get full-time coaching support, but unlike the varsity teams, there will be no money for recruiting.
Howes is nonetheless delighted with the opportunity. Two years ago she gave up her day job and, with the help of a PetroCanada scholarship, she obtained a diploma in high performance coaching from the National Coaching Institute.
“The timing is wonderful,” she said, “but what impressed me most was [RMC’s] vision of wanting to build a quality program that produces top athletes.
“I do coach recreationally but my pursuit is to coach and build up.”
intercollegiate fencer
Howes was an intercollegiate fencer at Carleton in the mid-1980s. After graduating, she stayed active in the sport and was head coach of clubs in Greenwood, N.S., and Winnipeg, where for nine years she led Manitoba’s largest fencing club and helped to develop several athletes for national junior and national cadet teams.
Coaching fencing presents unique challenges, Howes said.
“It’s a sport that most people have not done until they get to a place where [it’s taught]. A lot of sports, like volleyball, basketball, hockey, you’ve had exposure to that, you’ve been trained in that. A lot of fencers come into it very new, with no previous knowledge, so you have to progress them very quickly.”
That doesn’t preclude a university program from producing top-level competitors.
“If they’re fit and they’re intelligent and they train hard and they have a good work ethic, they can do quite well,” she said.
“It’s not going to happen easily and it may only be one or two but I think there’s a great possibility here if someone is a good athlete in general.
“Fencing requires a real blend of intellect and physical skills and balance. There’s potential to build a couple of real stars over the next few years and it’s going to take time but I’m quite confident that we can get there.”
RMC philosophy puts focus on team sports
By Claude Scilley
Wednesday, August 28, 2002 - 7:00:00 AM
Local Sports - At first, Patricia Howes didn’t quite know what to think.
A notice, first published in an Armed Forces communique, then distributed through the Canadian Fencing Federation, was advertising for a full-time fencing coach.
“I first couldn’t believe it,” said Howes, introduced yesterday among the new varsity coaches at Royal Military College.
“As far as I know there are very, very few full-time fencing coach positions in the country. I thought, ‘Wow, this is an incredible opportunity.’ ”
Howes admitted her first response was to wonder what is the catch.
“Most coaching positions in fencing are part time, or there’s an honorarium, or they want you to do it as a volunteer. I’ve done many years of that type of work, so this was, I can’t even think of the words to describe it. It’s an amazing opportunity.”
Howes represents part of a new athletic philosophy at the college, athletics director Joane Thibault explained yesterday. Essentially it’s a streamlined program with fewer varsity sports – individual sports such as swimming, track and field and rowing were deleted – with more resources for those that remain.
Primarily, that meant hiring full-time coaches for the remaining sports, and for a new women’s basketball team scheduled to begin play in the OUA in 2003.
The shift in emphasis, Thibault said, arose from a study commissioned by the previous commandant, David Morse, and written by Andy Scott, a former varsity hockey player and coach. Morse wanted to use varsity athletics to promote the college in the community and to promote teamwork and leadership among cadets.
The study concluded this was best done in the framework of team sports.
“This is not an exercise to reduce costs,” Thibault said. “This program is costing more than the program we had before.
“It was [done] to refocus the program on leadership development.”
excited by prospect
Thibault is excited by the prospect of a staff of full-time coaches.
“It is very difficult for most of those coaches who have the passion for teaching and coaching to do that as a profession,” she said.
“Most universities have part-time coaches. We’re going to have more time to recruit, more time to train our people. Hopefully this is going to be our key to more success.”
The exceptions to the team philosophy are in three combative sports deeply ingrained in the military culture of the college: Shooting, fencing and taekwondo. They get full-time coaching support, but unlike the varsity teams, there will be no money for recruiting.
Howes is nonetheless delighted with the opportunity. Two years ago she gave up her day job and, with the help of a PetroCanada scholarship, she obtained a diploma in high performance coaching from the National Coaching Institute.
“The timing is wonderful,” she said, “but what impressed me most was [RMC’s] vision of wanting to build a quality program that produces top athletes.
“I do coach recreationally but my pursuit is to coach and build up.”
intercollegiate fencer
Howes was an intercollegiate fencer at Carleton in the mid-1980s. After graduating, she stayed active in the sport and was head coach of clubs in Greenwood, N.S., and Winnipeg, where for nine years she led Manitoba’s largest fencing club and helped to develop several athletes for national junior and national cadet teams.
Coaching fencing presents unique challenges, Howes said.
“It’s a sport that most people have not done until they get to a place where [it’s taught]. A lot of sports, like volleyball, basketball, hockey, you’ve had exposure to that, you’ve been trained in that. A lot of fencers come into it very new, with no previous knowledge, so you have to progress them very quickly.”
That doesn’t preclude a university program from producing top-level competitors.
“If they’re fit and they’re intelligent and they train hard and they have a good work ethic, they can do quite well,” she said.
“It’s not going to happen easily and it may only be one or two but I think there’s a great possibility here if someone is a good athlete in general.
“Fencing requires a real blend of intellect and physical skills and balance. There’s potential to build a couple of real stars over the next few years and it’s going to take time but I’m quite confident that we can get there.”
