Eight USports women's hockey players have been selected to participate in Creating Coaches, a collaborative program between Hockey Canada and USports.
Eight USports women's hockey players have been selected to participate in Creating Coaches, a collaborative program between Hockey Canada and USports.
Creating Coaches, a program designed to increase the number of women coaching hockey in Canada, has selected eight new members to participate for the next two seasons. Launched in partnership between Hockey Canada and USports, the eight participants will coach U-13, U-15, and U-18 hockey teams over the next two seasons while continuing their own playing careers.
Those players include Emmy Fecteau (Concordia), Chihiro Suzuki (Guelph), Lyndsey James (Mount Royal), Madison Laberge (Nipissing), Alexis Anonech (York), Isabelle Lajoie (Alberta), Sophie Lalor (Saskatchewan), and Sarah-Maude Lavoie (McGill).
“We are thrilled to welcome these eight accomplished student-athletes to Creating Coaches and look forward to working with them during the next two seasons,” said Marin Hickox, Hockey Canada’s vice-president of women and girls’ hockey in a press release. “Creating Coaches is an important program to support and develop hockey’s next generation of leaders and we are grateful to the U SPORTS coaches who nominated this talented group.
“Girls who have been coached by a woman are more likely to transition into a coaching role at the end of their playing careers, and it is our intention that this program will positively influence the recruitment and retention of girls and women in leadership roles in the sport.”
Fecteau, Hockey Canada's winner of the 2023 Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Award, a second team All-Canadian and captain of Team Canada's gold medal winning team at the 2023 Universaide headlines the cohort.
“The eight student-athletes selected to join Creating Coaches are tremendous ambassadors for hockey and university sport in Canada,” said Lisette Johnson-Stapley, chief sport officer at U SPORTS. “We have already seen the positive impact that this program has had inspiring young girls in communities across the country and we are excited for Alexis, Chihiro, Emmy, Isabelle, Lyndsey, Madison, Sarah-Maude and Sophie to begin their coaching careers while continuing to represent their universities with pride as student-athletes.”