THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay has produced more than its fair share of great coaches over the years.
The National Hockey League’s coach-of-the-year award is named after Fort William-born Jack Adams. Scott Morrison spent a decade coaching the Lakehead Thunderwolves men’s basketball team and is now an assistant with the NBA’s Boston Celtics.
George Gwozdecky won a pair of national championships coaching the University of Denver Pioneers, then went on to an assistant position behind the bench of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Not every coach grabs the spotlight or makes it to the big leagues, but they still play an integral role in the lives of young athletes throughout the city, whether it’s the high-school football coach teaching his players how to tackle properly, the figure skating coach helping a youngster perfect a triple axel or the tae kwon do master assisting a student learning a move.
This is the week to say thanks for their dedication.
On Monday the city declared its participation in National Coaches Week, encouraging athletes young and old to use #ThanksCoach and #ThanksCoachTBay on social media to recognize the positive impact coaches have had on their sporting lives.
Curler Sarah Potts, who throws lead stones for Krista McCarville’s rink, said coaches are invaluable to all athletes, whether or not they’re trying to reach an elite level.
Potts is lucky.
Her parents, Rick and Lorraine Lang, are world champion curlers in their own rights, but as their playing days wound down, both have helped coaching Team McCarville, runners-up at the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
“We’ve been fortunate,” Potts said.
“Well, in my case, my parents are kind of stuck with me. But to have people who actually have the applicable experience has been great, because when we’re in those big moments and are nervous it’s been great to have them there.”
Not all are so lucky, said Potts, whose team is aiming for the Olympic pre-trials in November in Summerside, P.E.I.
“There are teams in town who aren’t fortunate enough to have a coach, because it’s hard to find people to put the time and effort and hours into it.”
Wrestler Lou Kok, who will be inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, said too many take coaches for granted.
There would be no sports without them, he said.
“Coaches for the most part aren’t doing it for praise or for recognition. They’re doing it to give young athletes opportunities, often opportunities they had themselves,” Kok said.
“For us to be able to stop and say, ‘You know coach, thanks for everything you do, thanks for thinking of me, thanks for getting me the ride, thanks for staying late, thanks for teaching me for what you know and thanks for supporting me and finding me opportunities and thanks for getting me to the next level,’ I think we need to do that.”
For more information, visit www.thunderbay.ca/nationalcoachesweek.
