Rowing 1969-73, Water Polo 1969-72 Purple Blanket Award 1972-73 National Rowing Team 1970-76 Coach of Western Women’s Rowing Team 1989-98 – 6 OWIAA Championships National Team Coach 1977, 1979, 1980, 1983-89 Canadian Olympic 1993 Olympian Athlete 1976; Coach 1992,1996, 2000
On the lessons learned from his coaches throughout the years
“11 Years I rowed to probably have about 6 separate and unique coaches. Earlier in the interview you asked me about coaches influence in high school, so this is sort of a separate topic, this is my whole career now, that were quite unique. One was very passionate. One was very scientific, one had great leadership skills, one had great communication skills. So I was very fortunate I thought when I rowed to have run across 6 outstanding coaches of the game and it was almost a tactic of mine to go and row for these great coaches because I alway felt that I would progress as a rower if I found the best athletes to train with and the best coaches. They were the two most important ingredients. It didn’t matter, anything else didn’t matter, equipment, setting, lifestyle. Nothing else mattered, so these things were the most important things. To have good athletes to train with and good coaching, so as a result I had these 6 great coaches from my career. So when I started coaching it was pretty easy to reflect on the type of coach I wanted to be because I had these neat influences, these different styles, and I think it really prepared me unknowingly to develop my own style, because I had these neat and totally different personalities, and to this day, these has always been some mentor figure in my life that I could call on or look to as a model, as a role model, and I think it is a really important thing even at the age of 63 to have those people around you, so I am more of a product or the people I hang out with, and the people I associate with, rather than some special aptitude I have.”
