Volunteer Coaching Position (September – early November, 2011)

The Oak Bay High School Field Hockey team is in desperate need of a coach (or two coaches working together) for their upcoming season. Practice times / days are up to the coach’s discretion. However, the team has historically practised from 7:00-8:00 a.m. Tuesday mornings at the Oak Bay Rec Centre indoor turf and after school on Thursdays at UVic. Game days are Mondays and Wednesdays, either from 3:30-4:30 or 4:30-5:30. The team is scheduled to play in tournaments as follows:

a) Friendship Cup (September 16th/17th)
b) Bridgman Tournament (Thanksgiving weekend)
c) Island Championships (end of October)
d) B.C. Championships (if qualify from Island zone – first weekend in November)

There is a very strong parental support network. No managerial duties are required. (Several of the parents also have coaching experience and could possibly fill in on the odd occasion.)
There is a range of abilities on the team, from beginners all the way to junior national team players. Last year the team won Islands and placed fourth at provincials. Due to the graduation of several key players, the depth of the team may not be quite the same this year. However, they are a keen, supportive, fun bunch of girls and they would be a fantastic group to coach!

For further information, please contact Deb Secco at dsecco@shaw.ca or 250-595-1403.

VILFHA is hold a pre-season tune-up, skill session for all members on August 27th.

The session will be run by Field Hockey BC’s High Performance Coach Shiv Jagday.

Time: 12 noon to 2 pm on the pitch followed by 30-45 minutes of video sessions off the pitch in the David Strong Building

Location: UVic water base & video session David Strong Building, C112

All attendees must pay your annual FHBC dues in advance: https://www.fieldhockeybc.ca/fhbc/membership.php

This session is open to all VILFHA members and coaches.

Questions: contact Rebecca Coutermarche @ rjmc@uvic.ca

April 6, 2011

The 3rd Annual Celebration of Women in Sport was held on April 3rd, 2011 at the Pacific Institute for Sport and Excellence in Victoria, BC. The luncheon honoured a variety of women involved in sport and also featured keynote speaker Kristina Groves, a four-time Olympic medalist in long track speed skating.

This year, Krista Thompson was honoured as the 2011 Women in Sport Coach of the Year. This is a very deserving award for Krista, as she has been highly involved in coaching field hockey of a variety of levels for many years. Currently the assistant coach of the UVic Vikes field hockey program with Lynne Beecroft, Krista spends her “free time” devoted to the field hockey community.

Krista helps organize practice plans for the Victoria Junior League Association, coaches and runs two Vancouver Island Ladies league teams (Lynx I and Lynx II), organizes coaches and practice plans for the BC Schools program on the island, head coaches the U18 Island High Performance program, offers coaching to other Vancouver Island Ladies league teams – all on top of her duties with the Vikes field hockey program. To cap it all off, Krista has spent the last couple of years learning from and helping out the Senior Women’s national field hockey team and more recently has focused her attention as the Junior Women’s national team assistant coach. She returned in late March from the Junior National team’s first tour of the year to San Diego in a 4-test series against the USA where Canada was successful in 3 of the 4 games.

Krista has contributed so much time and energy into developing young athletes that this award is very deserving for her. She is a mentor to so many aspiring field hockey players and her devotion and passion to improve the sport of field hockey in Canada is truly evident. We would like to congratulate Krista on this amazing accomplishment and we look forward to her success as she continues to improve field hockey in Canada.

Photo shows Krista Thompson (center) with Lynx athletes that she has coached (From L-R): Kathleen Leahy, Annie Walters-Shumka, Sarah Keglowitsch, Maddie Secco and Jaymie Tucker. Leahy, Keglowitsch and Secco are current members of the Canadian Junior National team.

Photo credit: Kathy Gaul
Write-up: Ali Lee

Congratulations to Lynx 1 member, Kathleen Leahy, who was recently named A-Channel’s "Amazing Kids." Oak Bay High grad, future UVic Vikes Field Hockey member and most recently named Junior national Field Hockey team member, Kathleen has shown tremendous ability both in the classroom and on the field. Whether it be running, soccer, field hockey or another sport, Kathleen is constantly excelling as an athlete. She demonstrates true leadership on the field and her humble nature only adds to that. Congratulations to Kathleen and we are all expecting to see great things from her!

You can view the A-Channel news clip on Kathleen at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grYCBwspKnU

Every year several athletes are able to receive financial assistance due to a non-profit organization known as the Canadian Athletes Now Fund and this year five members of the women’s national team were chosen to each receive $6000. As individuals this money helps cover costs of team levies, travel, food and rent. Every little penny helps the team especially since this year, each athlete donated $2000 towards the team program, which gave the coach $10, 000 to plan some new tours. In order for Canada to excel on the world stage we need to gain more experience, which means traveling to play games and therefore fundraising. Each team member fundraises over $2000 per year and our resources are beginning to run dry.

The Canadian Athletes Now Fund helps supply our team with the funds we need to get moving the right direction to qualify for London 2012! On top of that, the CanFund helps many, MANY other athletes in all varieties of sport. It is for this reason that we believe donating to the CanFund will not only help each of us as individuals but also a"TEAM CANADA" as a nation-wide multi-sport team and family. Please think of the athletes this holiday season and realize that every amount truly makes a difference in our lives. We are playing with passion and pride for you as a Canadian! We want to help do you proud and this is a great way to show your support.

Donate now at : www.canadianathletesnow.com or http://goo.gl/1JRTp