Glenn Hyland & Rick Hodgkinson
Jozo Weider Ski Club
This is the 2nd year Glen & Rick have been nominated for voting!
Glen & Rick are always the first to arrive at the hill and last to leave!! They only break for a quick 220-minute lunch each training day. Often will set 4-5 different courses each training day on different terrain across the mountain. Worked with young coaches showing them how to coach at an elite level. Always taking video at each race and training days, reviews video with each athlete and always provides examples of the athlete’s next steps towards being a better skier. They give athletes homework regularly to teach them about good habits, technical details, healthy eating, regular exercise and staying flexible all year long.
Rick and Glenn are known across Canada as two of the greatest and most dedicated coaches in the field and always take time to show and lead by example on how to be the best coach possible for every athlete.
Madison Irwin,
Craigleith Ski Club
Madison is nominated by the entire U14 EXT program at the Craigleith Ski Club.
Madison is adored by her skiers. She has an extensive ski race background so explains and describes in ways that “click”. She is exceptionally motivating during races and training – she pushes us, those around her and herself to be her best and always make improvements.
She is 100% positive, making sure all the work behind the scenes is complete and organized so we can focus on skiing. She is very smart, responsible and positive – provides racers with the perfect balance of fun and serious. We love Madison!!!
Shawn Banfield,
Camp Fortune Ski Club
Shawn has made a significant difference to my skiing where I went from not being able to finish to winning an OCUP and qualifying for U14 CanAms!
Shawn is a true mentor to new coaches and all the U14 and U16 skiers. Shawn has been instrumental in growing the U14 team. In the last couple of years, 3 athletes from the CF U14 program have moved to the NCO Team, the regional high-performance U16 team. Shawn is one of the most respected coaches in our region. This winter at Calabogie we had a 100-year cold snow storm. We thought that the GS would be cancelled but Shawn got on the groomer and helped clean the race track so we would not hit snow berms. He is always first on the hill, super conscious about our safety and always makes sure we help with teardown and slipping properly. Shawn does not talk super much, but he is an example to us racers that hard work and being serious and focused makes you better at ski racing and everything.
Tak Watanabe
Alpine Ski Club
Tak received more nominations than any other coach this year.
Tak’s passion, dedication, patience, tenacity, focus, and natural coaching abilities are parallel to none. He demonstrates his leadership with utmost respect to Head Coach Rob Crossan, and works in tandem with him to extract the very best performance in training with each and every athlete. Tak is always at each training day early, eager, positive, and ready to give 1000%.
More importantly, he has given our athletes a taste of what respect for the sport is really like and not accepting the “casual/ entitled” mentality that our private club atmosphere usually breeds. Our athletes have mentally grown to be more focused on their goals, to be more respectful and appreciative of the sport they are privileged to be participating in all because Tak has mentored them that way and demands nothing less. AlpineSC is lucky to have him!