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Yukon athletes encouraged to shout out their coaches during National Coaches Week

By using #ThanksCoach on social media Yukon, Canadian athletes can show their coaches some support
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Yukon athletes and coaches are seen before travelling to Swift Current, Sask. for the 2019 Western Canada Games. (John Hopkins-Hill/Yukon News)

National Coaches Week will run from Sept. 18-26, so it’s time to give a thank you to all those coaches out there.

National Coaches Week is a time to celebrate the positive impact coaches have on athletes and their communities across Canada, said the official website. The annual campaign is an opportunity to recognize coaches for the integral role they play by taking the time to say #ThanksCoach.

Here in the territory, Sport Yukon is encouraging athletes to share pictures and memories they have with their coaches on their social media pages using the above-mentioned hashtag.

“Last year we ran a campaign to upload a picture of you, your favourite coach or just yourself saying thanks to that coach with the hashtag,” said Lisa Vowk with Sport Yukon.

“We supported that with a little video of all the pictures we came across it was great to see all the social media with the hashtag.”

Vowk said last year there weren’t as many posts because the COVID-19 pandemic had shut down many of the sports.

“This year I hope people will engage with it a lot more and we see some great photos that are current action photos,” said Vowk.

Coaches can play an integral role in an athlete’s development on the field of play but also away from it, that’s why they deserve to be recognized.

“Coaching is like a mentorship in some respects,” said Vowk. “You’re mentoring these athletes but you want to coach them to be good humans also.

“You coach them to be receptive to feedback. If you are coachable in life chances are you can be successful because you can take everything into perspective.”

Many of the coaches in the Yukon do it voluntarily, said Vowk.

“Coaches, you know, often their time with family is reduced because they are off coaching a whole other family which is their athletes,” said Vowk.

“That’s on top of the courses they attend and the hours of planning they before a practice.”

National Coaches Week not only encourages athletes to give their coaches a shout-out, but it provides coaches with free or discounted National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) education.

“It’s that time of year where coaches are getting back into action and sport is returning so it’s a great opportunity,” said Vowk.

The coaching courses can be especially beneficial as 2022 will be the next Canada Summer Games in the Niagara Region of Ontario.

“The coaches that are preparing for these Canada Summer Games, this is really big,” said Vowk. “Some of these coaches may not have coached at a Games before. Getting that certification in place helps them meet all the requirements leading up to those Games.”

Coaches who want to sign up for any coaching programs can do so by visiting coach.ca.

Contact John Tonin at john.tonin@yukon-news.com