Coach Life 2.0: Recent Episodes

CoachLife2.0

This podcast provides a behind-the-scenes look at life as a coach. From work-life balance, to time management, to being coached themselves, this podcast sheds light on the personal challenges that coaches face and provides insight on how to overcome them.

In today's world, coaching comes with a whole new set of trials and tribulations. This podcast is designed to help you realize that you aren't alone in some of the struggles you face, and provide useful conversation, mentorship and advice that will allow you to continue to evolve and grow on your personal coaching journey.

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In this episode, Jack Rosenkrantz, an executive coach and yoga teacher, shares his journey from a high-stress sales career to becoming a coach. He emphasizes the importance of taking responsibility for one's life and finding authentic desires and goals. Jack discusses his approach to coaching, which focuses on meeting clients where they are and helping them clarify their vision and dreams.

He also highlights the challenges of being a coach and the importance of self-care and creativity. Jack shares his plans for running retreats and immersions in the future.

Key Takeaways

  • Take responsibility for your life and create your own desires and goals.
  • Meet clients where they are and help them clarify their vision and dreams.
  • Self-care and creativity are essential for coaches to show up fully for their clients.
  • In-person retreats and immersions can have a transformative impact on personal growth and connection.

Timeline:

00:00: Introduction and Grounding

03:08: Discovering Coaching and Taking Responsibility

07:31: 100% Responsibility and Acceptance

11:17: Curiosity and Expanding Perspective

23:35: Challenges and Growth as a Coach

34:19: The Power of In-Person Retreats and Immersions

35:42: Conclusion and Where to Find Jack Rosenkrantz

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Nick Passarelli, a financial services professional with over 20 years of experience, shares his insights from coaching his own children in youth sports for 11 years. Nick discusses the challenges of coaching young children, such as managing their expectations and teaching them good sportsmanship. He also highlights the differences between coaching boys and girls. Nick shares how his coaching experience has influenced his approach in the corporate world, particularly in terms of embracing different strengths and setting people up for success. He advises new coaches to focus on the people and the experience rather than the results.

Timeline:

00:00-Introduction and Background

01:00-The Purpose of Coach Life 2.0

04:35-The Surprises and Challenges of Coaching

05:06-Lessons Learned from Coaching Kids

08:33-The Importance of Defense and Teamwork

09:36-Navigating Difficult Seasons and Building Confidence

11:21-The Rewards and Challenges of Coaching

13:39-The Personal Growth and Lessons from Coaching

19:20-Coaching Boys vs. Coaching Girls

21:31-Applying Coaching Lessons in the Corporate World

25:30-Building Confidence and Resilience in Coaching

27:25-Advice for New Coaches

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This week’s episode features Susan Hobson, the Founder and CEO of Elite High Performance Inc. Susan is an Author, Keynote Speaker, and High Performance Leadership Executive Coach who specializes in mindset strategy architecture, also known as Success Psychology Brain Training.

A former professional female hockey player and Princeton Graduate, Susan holds a masters in Neuro-linguisitc programming, and has created and implemented a science-based coaching process that is designed to drive growth and success when it comes to health, wealth, self, business and relationships.

Susan is a good friend of mine who is incredibly passionate about leadership and helping people actualize their full potential. As someone who has a ton of lived experience in both athletics and leadership, I am excited to be able to share some of her valuable insights with other coaches.

In this episode, Susan offers valuable insight and advice regarding some of the common themes that have come up in our coaching conversations to date, including self-care (22:00), our relationship to pressure (33:12), work-life balance (43:40), self-leadership (54:32).

Enjoy, and if you like what you hear, please share with other coaches who can benefit from Susan's messaging!

Have feedback? We'd love to hear from you! We are always looking for ways to improve our podcast, and ensure that the content we are covering is relevant and useful for athletic coaches. Whether you have an idea for a topic to cover, or a coach that you would like to have us interview, we want to know! Shoot us a line via the contact form on our website.

Thanks, and happy coaching!

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This week’s episode features Wally Kozak. Wally is known as one of the best technical hockey coaches in the world. A retired teacher and life-long coach, he has worked at every level of hockey and has contributed to Hockey Canada’s certification programs with age appropriate curriculum for teaching foundational skills.

Wally was a defensive skills coach with the Canadian men’s hockey team at the 1988 Olympics. He has coached in 3 Spengler Cups and at 2 Olympics, capturing a gold medal with the Canadian women’s hockey team as an assistant coach in 2002.

He has also served as head scout and manager of player development for Team Canada Women’s Hockey.

Wally is an advocate of the development of life skills through sport, and has dedicated his life to serving “the good of the game.”

In 2018, Wally was inducted into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame.

Wally has mentored hundreds of coaches and players over the years, and his passion for coaching and wealth of knowledge is undeniable.

In our conversation, we cover a variety of topics, including:

2:13- How he got involved in coaching

4:24- Why the season his team went 0-7 was his best coaching experience ever

14:09- Why coaching?

18:15- Challenges early in his coaching career

20:41- How his coaching philosophy has evolved with time

24:22- His transition from the men’s to the women’s game.

30:53- Challenges that coaches face later in their careers

34:42- Coaching at the university level

35:56- The danger of shortening the bench

39:12- Thoughts on the Toronto Maple Leafs

42:44- What he valued most about his experience at the Olympics

44:52- Impactful mentors that he has had on his coaching journey

47:33- Mission statement exercise that he runs as every clinic

50:29- His experience designing a body checking manual

58:15- Work-life balance & self-care

1:05:01- Advice that he would give himself as a first year coach

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Want to learn more? Check out our website for more helpful tips and tricks, as well as access to all of our Season 1 episodes!

Your support is greatly appreciated!

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Kasy Kiarash is the founder of Final3rd Soccer, a platform providing professional soccer training and knowledge to players of all ages.

Kasy is a UEFA-B Licensed and National Team coach who has worked with the Guyana women's national team, Orlando City S.C, and Toronto FC academy.

He is currently in his 7th season as the Men's Soccer Lead Assistant Coach at Ryerson University and has been coaching for the last decade at the University level in Canada and the United States.

On top of his elite athletic accomplishments, Kasy also holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Physical Education and Health, as well as an MBA from the Ted Rogers School of Management.

Kasy is a coach who cares deeply for his athletes, and leads with a ton of energy, encouragement and authenticity.

In our conversation, we cover a variety of topics, including:

2:02- Why and how Kasy got into coaching

5:19- The transition from playing to coaching

15:31- Work-life balance

18:44- Challenges that assistant coaches face

25:49- Self-Care

29:17- Evolution of his coaching philosophy

34:44- What it is about coaching that keeps him up at night

42:40- His experience navigating COVID

46:27-Mentors who have impacted his coaching journey

48:35- Players who have impacted his life

53:08- What advice he would give himself in his first year of coaching

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This week’s episode features Matt Holmberg. Matt is entering into his 15th season with the Queen’s University women’s hockey program, and his 12th season as Head Coach.

Queens has made the playoffs in all twelve seasons with Holmberg at the helm, and they have the second highest winning percentage in the OUA over that span.

He holds the Gael’s women’s hockey record for most regular season and playoff wins by a coach with 203, and has won numerous OUA Coach of the Year Titles during his tenure.

Matt has led the Gaels to 2 OUA Championship titles, 2 OUA silver medals, and a Bronze Medal at the USports National women’s hockey championship in 2011.

The success of the Gaels women’s hockey program goes beyond the ice. His team also has a 100% graduation rate among it’s players, and in 2019-20, his team set a program record with a 3.539 cumulative GPA.

Matt is a High Performance Level 2 certified coach who served as the USports Women’s Hockey Coaches Association President from 2013-2016. He is also associated with Hockey Canada and the OWHA at various events and camps, both on and off the ice.

Matt’s story is a unique one. A native of Pembroke, Ontario, he graduated from Queen’s Law in 1997, and practiced for 13 years before transitioning into his career as a hockey coach. He is a husband, a father, and someone that I respect immensely in the hockey community.

Some of the topics we cover in our discussion include:

6:30- Why coaching?

9:50- The benefit of starting his coaching journey in House League

12:49- How being a lawyer impacted his approach to coaching

16:49- The evolution of his coaching philosophy

25:42- What keeps him up at night as a coach

29:42- How becoming a parent impacted his approach to coaching

33:27- What it's like to coach with his father

36:36- Mentors that impacted his coaching journey

41:00- The impact that players have had on him as a coach

49:24- Navigating COVID

52:16- Work-life balance and self-care

Like what you hear? Your support is greatly appreciated! Please give us a 5-star rating and/or positive review on Apple podcasts, share with a friend, and follow us on instagram at coachlife2.0 for useful coaching tips and tricks.

Want to learn more? Visit our website for access to all episodes and coaching articles.

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This week’s episode features Dr. Beth McCharles.

Beth is a mother of three who runs a private practice as a mental performance coach. She works with National Sport Organizations, including Hockey Canada and Curling Canada, and serves as a mentor coach with Ryerson University’s athletic department.

A successful dual-sport athlete in Ice Hockey and Soccer during her collegiate career, Beth was inducted into the St.FX hall of fame in 2019. She was a 2x All-Canadian and Academic All-Canadian, who captained Team Canada at 2 FISU games.

At the age of 24, Beth was named the Head Coach of the University of Toronto Women’s Soccer program, becoming the only acting female head coach in women’s OUA soccer at the time. She also coached the Canadian National Military Team, and coached at 2 FISU games.

As someone who has played at a high level, coached at a high level, and coached coaches at a high level, Beth has a ton of unique and valuable insight to share.

In our conversation, we cover a variety of topics, including:

Common challenges that coaches face early in their careers, and advice for overcoming them.

Common challenges that coaches face later in their careers, and tips for overcoming them.

The importance of organizational support for parent coaches.

Why self-care is such a challenge for coaches.

Why coaches need a yearly training program.

Enjoy!

Like what you hear? Your support is greatly appreciated! Please give us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and share with someone you believe could benefit from this episode.

Have any feedback? We'd love to hear from you!

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This week’s episode features Haley Irwin. Haley is in her second season as the lead assistant coach with the Ryerson University women’s hockey program.

She is a three-time olympic medallist, and two-time olympic champion, representing Team Canada at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 games.

Following the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, Irwin began to shift her focus from playing to giving back to the game. Prior to joining the Rams, Haley had been in coaching roles with various teams, including the Barrie Jr. Sharks, the Edge School and the Calgary Fire.

As someone who has played the game at the highest level and is now working as a full-time coach, Haley has a ton of valuable insight to share on the transition from playing to coaching and what she has learned from her unique experience in hockey to date.

We cover a variety of topics, including: 

Haley's transition from playing to coaching 

What kept Haley up at night as a player vs. what keeps her up at night as a coach

Haley's experience navigating COVID as a coach

Haley's experience with self-care and work-life balance in her first few years of coaching

Words of wisdom she has received from her mentors that have stuck with her.

Haley's most memorable hockey moment to date. 

**For a more detailed bio on Haley Irwin, please visit the following link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haley_Irwin

Enjoy!

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This week’s episode features Stephanie Jones. Stephanie is the Associate Head Coach of the University of New Hampshire’s women’s hockey program. She has been with the Wildcats for 19 seasons and counting, the first four as a standout student-athlete, and the past 15 as a member of the coaching staff.

From 2007-2010, Stephanie helped guide New Hampshire to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and three hockey east tournament championships.

Her duties with the wildcats include athlete recruitment, academic advising, managing players well-being and creating and directing the off-ice conditioning program.

For a full bio, visit the following link: 

https://unhwildcats.com/sports/womens-ice-hockey/roster/coaches/stephanie-jones/47

With over a decade and a half of experience coaching at the NCAA level, Steph has some great stories and insight to share. 

Some of the topics we cover include: 

-The recruitment process

-The transition from playing to coaching

-The importance of mental performance training for athletes & coaches

-Self-care 

-Parenting as a full-time coach

Enjoy!

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This week's episode features Liz Keady Norton, the Associate Head Coach of the Boston University Women’s Hockey program.

Liz began her coaching career almost a decade ago at Andover High School. She then entered the division 1 coaching ranks, with stints as an assistant coach at Union College and Harvard University before joining BU in 2017.

Liz is also in her 13th year as the General Manager and Director of Hockey Training at the Institute of Performance & Fitness in Andover Massachusetts where she serves as a strength and conditioning coach, developing sport-specific training programs for hockey athletes.

A native of Braintree, Massachusetts, Keady Norton graduated from Princeton in 2008. She was named the Tigers' team MVP and Most Improved Player following the 2004-05 season, scoring a career-high 15 goals. That same season, she earned All-ECAC Hockey Honorable Mention and All-Ivy Second Team accolades as well.

Keady has also spent time with the U.S. National Team, as she appeared in 16 games during the team's 2005 Pre-Olympic Tour.

Liz is a former university teammate of mine, who possesses an incredible work ethic and a strong passion for the game of hockey that has stayed consistent in her transition from playing to coaching.

In our conversation, we cover several topics, including:

The transition from playing to coaching

Simultaneously navigating the roles of mother and coach

Coaching through COVID

Mentors that have impacted her coaching journey

Her most memorable coaching moment to date

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This week’s episode features Marcello Lio. Marcello is currently serving as the Football Director and JV Head Basketball Coach at St.Andrew’s College in Aurora Ontario. He has over 22 years of coaching experience at a variety of levels from grass roots to professional, with the Bergamo Lions of the European American Football Association. Marcello has coached with Football Canada’s Junior National Program, and from 2015-2019, served as Quarterback Coach as it his Alma Mater, York University. Marcello also has extensive experience as a parent coach, having worked with his son’s Football and Basketball programs for several years. Prior to coaching, Marcello had an illustrious playing career as a quarterback, competing at the university level in Canada, and professional level in Europe.

We cover several topics, including:

The transition from playing to coaching

Being a parent coach

Navigating COVID as a coach.

Enjoy!

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This week’s episode features Stephanie White, the Director of Sport at Western University.  Stephanie has over 20 years of experience working in athletics. She holds a Master’s in Leadership from the University of Guelph, where her major research paper was on Coaches’ ethical behaviour and the impact on student-athlete performance.

Steph has also coached women’s hockey at the provincial, national and international level. In 2005, she led Team Ontario to a gold medal at the U18 National Championship, and spent half a decade coaching with Hockey Canada, medalling at numerous IIHF World Championships.

Steph currently serves as director of the BC Hockey Board of Directors, and is the Chair of Hockey Canada’s Female Hockey Policy Committee. Given her wide range of experience in sport, as an athlete, a coach, a director and committee chair, Steph brings a very unique and insightful take on the role of coaches and the challenges they face. 

We cover a variety of topics, including: 

Being a female coach in a male dominated sport

The importance of self-leadership in coaching

How sport organizations can better prepare coaches for success

Enjoy!

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This week’s episode features Vanessa Stratton. Vanessa is a Level 4 certified hockey official with 20 years of refereeing experience. She has served at various levels of minor hockey, from grass roots to junior, and has also officiated at 8 National Championship Tournaments and 7 IIHF World championships, including the Women’s Worlds in 2016.

Vanessa holds a Bachelor of Sport Management, A Master of Business Adminstration, and a Master of Science in International Management, as well as a Project Management Certificate.

She is currently serving as an Officiating Coach with BC Hockey and Hockey Canada, and is a Co-facilitator of the Female High Performance Excel Program which works with experienced referees looking to advance beyond National Competition and serve at the International level.

From 2015-2017, Vanessa also served as a coach at the competitive minor hockey level, giving her a unique perspective of the game, having served as a player, a referee and a coach.

In our conversation we cover several topics, including: 

How she got into refereeing and why

How her experience coaching impacted her perspective as a ref and vice versa

Mentors who had a meaningful impact on her reffing journey

What coaches and referees have in common

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This week's episode features Rachel Flanagan. Rachel is in her 14th season as head coach of the women's hockey program at the University of Guelph. During her first 13 seasons as head coach, Coach Flanagan has taken the Gryphon women's hockey program to new heights, securing the school's first ever national title in 2018-19 while capturing a total of three OUA titles (2018-19, 2016-17 & 2015-16). In the process, Rachel has been named OUA Coach of the Year on five separate occasions while compiling a record of 250-79-21 through her first 13 seasons in charge. In May of 2019, Rachel was also named the top female coach in the OUA from across all OUA-governed sports, marking the second time in a three-year span she had received the conference-wide honour.

Rachel started at the University of Guelph as head coach in the 2007 season. She graduated from U of G in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Kinetics. During her playing career as a Gryphon she earned OUA all-star status while captaining the women’s hockey team for two of her five years. Following graduation, she received her Bachelor of Education at Lakehead University. Rachel is an NCCP High Performance Level 2 coach and has also completed her Masters in Leadership at the University of Guelph’s Lang School of Business and Economics.

Rachel spent two seasons as player/coach for a Div. 1 English Premier Women’s Hockey team as well as playing for the Great Britain Women’s National Team during that time. In the summers of 2010 and 2011, Rachel was named assistant coach with Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team and attended 2 International events with the team (MLP Cup 2010, MECO Cup 2011). In 2013 she was an assistant coach for the Gold medal winning Canadian FISU team (Italy) and in February of 2017 served as Canada's head coach at the FISU games in Kazakhstan, leading the team to a silver medal.

During her tenure as head coach she has helped develop three OUA Rookies of the Year, two OUA Players of the Year, one U SPORTS Rookie of the Year, one U SPORTS Player of the Year, 25 conference All-Stars, 6 U SPORTS All-Canadians, three U SPORTS tournament All-Stars, and two league scoring champions.

Rachel resides in Guelph with her husband, Jeff, and their two boys, Cylus and Cullen.

In our conversation, we cover several topics, including the following:

-Rachel's experience as a player/coach

-Female empowerment in sport

-How becoming a mom has impacted her approach to coaching

-Being married to another coach

-The value of coaches having coaches

-What it felt like to win a National Championship

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This week’s episode features Dave Gwyn. Dave is in his 20th season as a minor hockey coach in the Greater Toronto Area. He spent his first 8 seasons in the GTHL with the Wexford Raiders AAA program. In 2006, he transitioned to the girls game, and in his second season, lead the Scarborough Sharks Midget AA program to a provincial championship and a silver medal at the inaugural Esso Cup in Calgary.

In 2009, Dave won PWHL coach of the year honours, and the following season, won the MLP cup with Team Canada as an assistant coach. He also coached with Team Ontario at three U18 national championships, including the Canada Winter Games in 2015.

Dave is a Chartered Professional Coach with the Coaches Association of Canada. He holds an NCCP high performance II certification, is an acting NCCP High performance I coach evaluator, and is currently serving at the head coach of the PWHL’s Durham West Jr. Lightning.

This conversation is a great listen for any minor hockey coaches out there looking to gain some advice and insight from someone with 20 years in the game.

We cover an array of topics, including:

-coaching in a pay-to-play system 

-work/life balance as a volunteer coach

-how parenthood has impacted his approach to the game

-what has kept him up at night as a coach

Enjoy!

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This week's episode features Jessica Roque, head coach of the University of Waterloo women's basketball program.

Roque is in her first year with the Warriors, after making the move from the Ryerson Rams where she spent the past four seasons as the full-time Assistant Coach.

With the Rams, Roque was the lead in preparing in-game tactics, practice facilitation, game film breakdown, recruiting, and more that has prepared her for a U SPORTS head coaching role. Roque also led the Rams in an interim head coaching role in the summer of 2018 during an international competition in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

On top of Roque's valuable experience gained at the U SPORTS level, she has coached in various other roles at the provincial and national level. Provincially, Roque led the U14 Ontario Girl's team in the Summer of 2019 and was also the assistant of the U17 Ontario Girl's team at the 2017 Canada Summer Games. Roque has also been a coach at the Ontario Basketball Association Centre for Performance from 2016-19.

Nationally, Roque was a training camp coach for the Junior National Men's Basketball team in 2017, a program that went on to win the FIBA World Cup gold medal. She was also a guest assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings in July of 2019 at their California Classic Tournament. In addition, Roque gained more valuable interuniversity experience as an assistant coach in the NCAA for Cleveland State University (CSU) during the 2015-16 season.

Roque also had a very decorated playing career, suiting up for the CSU Vikings for four seasons (2006-2010), winning the 2008 and 2010 Horizon League Championship as co-captain. In 2010, Roque graduated from CSU with honours and a bachelors of science in health science. She then went on to take two years of Graduate School, graduating with honours and a masters of education in exercise science.

Jess is hard-working, honest and open to new experiences that will allow her to grow and evolve as a coach.

In our conversation, we cover several topics, including the following:

Transitioning from player to coach.

Relocating for job opportunities.

The impact of mentorship on her coaching career.

Enjoy!

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This week’s episode features Dan Church.

Dan was named the head coach of the Lions women’s hockey program in 2004 and is the longest-serving active head coach at York.

In addition to his work with the Lions, Church is a coach mentor for the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA). He also has extensive national and international experience with Canadian women’s teams at a number of different age levels. Most recently, he has been the head coach of the senior national women’s team at the world championships, leading the squad to a gold medal in 2012 with a 5-4 overtime victory over the United States, as well as a silver medal in 2013.

He was also the head coach of the senior women’s national team for the 12 Nations Tournament in Vierumaki, Finland, in August 2011 and the 4 Nations Cup in Sweden. In April 2011 he was an assistant coach with the Canadian senior women’s team that won the silver medal at the world championships in Switzerland.

In 2010, he served as head coach of the Canadian national women’s U18 team that won the gold medal at the world championships, Canada’s first women’s world title in that age group.

In 2009, he served as the head coach of the Canadian team at the 24th FISU Winter Universiade in Harbin, China and led the squad to the gold medal in the inaugural event. He also oversaw a selection camp for the team in the summer of 2008 at York University.

Church was also head coach of the Canadian national U22 women’s team. That squad went 7-0 with Church at the helm, sweeping a series against the United States before winning the European Air Canada Cup in Germany. In August of 2006 he served as an assistant coach at Hockey Canada’s U22 national team evaluation camp. That team went on to win a gold medal at the Air Canada Cup in Germany in January 2007.

Church is an NCCP fully certified Level 4 Master Coach and a Chartered Professional Coach (ChPC) with Coaches of Canada. Before coming to York, he served as an assistant with the University of Toronto women’s hockey program for seven years. During that time, the Varsity Blues won four OUA titles and captured the CIS national championship in 2001.

Dan has been around the game for a long time, and has a wealth of valuable knowledge and insight that he shares in this conversation.

Some of the topics we cover:

The transition from assistant coaching to head coaching

The challenge of self-doubt and judgment as a head coach

The evolution of personal coaching philosophy

Enjoy!

**Audio quality is slightly decreased on our end of this conversation, due to some technical difficulties. We apologize for the inconvenience and the issue will be fixed for the next episode!

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This week’s episode features Ken Dufton, a hockey coach with an extensive and storied history in the game, amassing almost 50 years of coaching experience to date. Ken’s father was a founding member of the Don Mills Flyers AAA program in Ontario, the organization with which he spent the first decade of his coaching career.

In 1984, he transitioned to the women’s game, and became a pioneer in the growth and development of women’s hockey in the Greater Toronto Area.

He has coached at virtually every level in hockey, from minor to junior to senior, high school, university, provincial and national levels, and has experienced tremendous success at each.

Ken lead Team Ontario Red to a gold medal at the first U18 national championships in 1993, and was an Assistant coach with the Canadian women’s national program for two world championship titles in 1999 and 2004.

He has won multiple PWHL titles, and over 20 provincial championships in Ontario to date.

Ken has coached numerous Olympians over the years, including Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Angela James and Geraldine Heaney.

There are not many coaches out there with Ken’s unique combination of experience and passion for the game. He has been an amazing mentor for me in my coaching journey, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to share some of his knowledge and insight with you.

In this conversation, Ken & I discuss the highlights and challenges of his personal coaching journey, as well as some valuable advice for minor hockey coaches when it comes to work-life balance and managing expectations in a pay-to-play system.

Check it out!

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This week's episode features Kim McCullough. Kim is the Director & Founder of Total Female Hockey, an organization that empowers players and coaches in the female game with the information and inspiration they need to drive their own success. For the past 13 years, Coach Kim has worked with thousands of players and teams across North America, both on and off the ice, sharing her experiences and expertise on how to get to, and excel at, the next level. She draws from her own experiences as a former NCAA D1 captain and professional hockey player who started playing the game in her early teens and creates the resources she always wished she had access to (but didn't exist) when she was coming up.

In addition to her work with TFH, Coach Kim has been a bench coach for 12 seasons with the Toronto-Leaside Girls Hockey Association, the organization she played for growing up, and has served as the Head Coach of the Toronto-Leaside Junior Wildcats team in the Provincial Women's Hockey League for the past 7 seasons. Kim has coached at the university, provincial and national team level and was inducted into the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. Kim was also recently named the Director of Hockey Operations for the Toronto-Leaside Girls Hockey Association, a newly created role that puts her in charge of culture, coaching and player development for the largest girls hockey association in the world. Kim is also the mother of 3 young kids (age 2, 4 and 6) and is married to a terrific non-hockey playing husband - all of whom keep her grounded and slightly less hockey focused.

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This week's episode features Jess Turi, a hockey coach with over 13 years of experience behind the bench.  

Jess served as a head coach in the PWHL for 7 seasons before spending the last two years as an assistant coach with the University of Toronto women's hockey program. 

She has also served as a high school hockey coach for the past 10 years, winning 3 ROPPSA gold medals to date. 

Jess has also coached Team Ontario at the U18 women's hockey national championships 6 times, capturing the national title twice, and medalling in each of her appearances with the program. 

In this episode, we tackle the following topics: 

  • Getting into coaching vs. staying in coaching
  • Mentors that impact our coaching journey
  • Strategies for effective work-life balance
  • The evolution of personal coaching philosophy
  • Embracing adversity as opportunity

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This week’s episode features basketball coach Carly Clarke. Carly is currently in her 9th season as head coach of the Ryerson University women’s basketball program. In 2016, she led the Rams to their first ever OUA championship title. The team would go on the become the first Ryerson team in any sport to make an appearance in the national championship final, where they finished with the silver medal.

Carly has also spent over a decade coaching with Basketball Canada at various levels, and is currently serving as an Assistant coach with the Senior women’s national team, a position that she has held since the fall of 2017.

For a full bio, click the link below:

https://ryersonrams.ca/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/carly-clarke/905

In this conversation, Carly and I discuss many topics, including the following:

How to achieve work-life flow as a coach.

Relocating for a work opportunity.

The challenges of coaching through the COVID pandemic. 

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This week’s episode features Lisa Haley, a Canadian ice hockey coach, wife and mother. Lisa has spent 23 seasons as head coach in USports women's hockey, tying her for the longest tenure in history of the league.

She spent her first 14 years at St. Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, before joining Ryerson University in Toronto, where she is currently in her 10th season behind the bench.

Lisa also has extensive experience working with Hockey Canada, serving as a head coach with the U18 and U22 programs, before serving as an assistant coach with the Sr. Women's National Team, with whom she captured a gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Lisa is also currently serving as head coach of Hungary’s Women’s National Team and as an assistant coach with the Toronto 6ix of the NWHL. 

For more info on Lisa Haley, please visit the link below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Haley

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Today’s show features hockey coach Kori Cheverie. After an illustrious playing career at St.Mary’s university and in the CWHL with the Toronto Furies, Kori joined the Ryerson Mens Hockey coaching staff in 2016, becoming the first female full-time assistant coach in USports mens hockey history.

She is currently in her fifth season with the men's program at Ryerson, and is also serving as an Assistant Coach with Hockey Canada’s Senior Women’s National Team.

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This week's interview is with Geoff Haddaway, a hockey coach with extensive experience in both the men's and women's game.

Geoff has won numerous Coach of the Year accolades, has served as a coach with Team Ontario U18 at several National Championships, and has worked with Hockey Canada at their development camps.

Geoff is currently in his 9th season as head coach of the Cambridge Rivulettes, and is also in his 9th year of serving as a High Performance 1 Mentor Coach and Field Evaluator.

In this interview, Geoff and I tackle topics such as:

The evolution of personal coaching philosophy over time.

How to strike a balance between coaching and life outside of the rink.

The challenges related to COVID that coaches are currently facing, and strategies for how to make the most out of what is a difficult situation.

Enjoy!