(July 30, 2007)
Skate Canada strongly supports the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) and General Motors of Canada (GM)’s program Making Dreams Possible, an initiative that enhances the experience of young Canadian athletes by providing funding for coach training and development.
Skate Canada eagerly encourages all its club members and coaches to apply for these grants. The CAC is now accepting applications for the next wave of GM’s Club Coaching Grants, and the deadline is September 21, 2007. In addition, GM’s High Performance Coach Grants application deadline is February 29, 2008.
The CAC received close to 400 applications for their first grant allocation last spring and 55 community clubs and 10 high performance coaches and their athletes benefited from the program’s first wave.
Last spring national coaches Annie Barabé and Sophie Richard were recipients of a $10,000 GM grant as part of GM’s Making Dreams Possible program. Barabé and Richard coach the 2007 Canadian pair champions Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison and will share the grant and use it towards this season’s needs. Coach Manon Perron, who coaches Canadian champion Joannie Rochette, was the first recipient of a $10,000 GM grant last October.
GM will award 10 grants of $10,000 each to coaches of high performance athletes every year through 2010. The 10 grants will be distributed as follows: five Winter Olympic coaches, one Winter Paralympic coach, three Summer Olympic coaches and one Summer Paralympic coach. These grants can be used by coaches to travel with their athletes, attend special training camps, and learn innovative coaching techniques.
The Ice Palace Figure Skating Club, in Edmonton, Alberta, was also selected as one of the 55 community sport clubs that received a $2,000 grant for coaching skill development. This represents a portion of GM’s overall $1.2 million pledge to support Canadian athletes and their coaches through GM’s Making Dreams Possible initiative.
Go to the CAC’s website (www.coach.ca) and click on the Making Dreams Possible button for more information and to apply for a grant.
Good luck!