Chevrolet Announces 2010 High Performance and Community Club Coach Grant Recipients

Today, ten Canadian high performance coaches and their Olympic hopeful athletes were each awarded a $10,000 grant for coach development through Chevrolet’s Making Dreams Possible Program. In addition, 51 community clubs from across Canada each received a grant of $2,000 for coach training and development activities.

Today’s announcement is the fourth year of Chevrolet’s commitment to provide a competitive edge for Canadian athletes through coaching excellence. Chevrolet’s direct support of coach education and development through this program has impacted more than 27,000 coaches and approximately 250,000 athletes in 183 communities across the country.

Click here to view a complete list of Community Club Recipients

“Chevrolet has a long history of supporting Canadian athletes and is proud to help our Olympic hopefuls realize their dreams by supporting their coaches as they work together to be their best in London at the 2012 Summer Games,” said Tom Laurie, Chevrolet of Canada’s Olympic Partnership Manager. “We were thrilled to watch our Canadian athletes compete in Vancouver, especially knowing that the Chevrolet Making Dreams Possible program played a role in helping competitors like Jon Montgomery, Ashleigh McIvor, Joannie Rochette, and others achieve their dreams.”

John Bales, Chief Executive Officer of the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) commented “Thanks to the Chevrolet Making Dreams Possible Program, more Canadian coaches of athletes at all performance levels have access to valuable training through coach education programs such as the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP). It is important that coaches are well trained to ensure that children have positive first experiences to encourage a lifetime love of sports.”

“This grant from Chevrolet allows me to focus on what matters leading up to the London 2012 Olympic Games and alleviates some of the traditional financial concerns associated with the intensive coaching that will be required,” says Victor Zilberman, coach of wrestler Martine Dugrenier.

“Community Club and school coaches play a critical role in setting the foundation to inspire and grow the next generation of Canadian athletes,” said Jennifer Scott, Head Coach, Burlington Synchronized Swimming Club, one of the 51 Community Club grant recipients. “Well-trained coaches ensure that children enjoy participating in sports and contribute to the development of an active, healthy lifestyle.”

About Chevrolet’s Making Dreams Possible Program
Making Dreams Possible is a program developed by Chevrolet in partnership with CAC, the governing body of Canada’s coaching education program and is designed to support coaches of Olympic and Paralympic Sports at the high performance and community club levels.

Chevrolet’s Making Dreams Possible program will provide a minimum of 100 grants of $2,000 each annually for coach development in local communities, and ten grants of $10,000 each annually to high performance athletes and their coaches. These grants will be used to fund special projects that develop the skills and abilities of high performance and community level coaches. Application forms can be found on coach.ca.

About the Coaching Association of Canada
The Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) is a not-for-profit amateur sport organization with the mission of enhancing the experiences of all Canadian athletes through quality coaching. CAC and its partners deliver a leading-edge coaching system whose goal is to have an impact on 1,000,000 athletes through the training of 100,000 coaches each year in the National Coaching Certification Program. Visit coach.ca for more information about coach education and training.

Contacts:
Adria MacKenzie
GM Canada
(905) 644-1824
(905) 442-6555
Adria.mackenzie@gm.com

Nancy J. Spotton
VP, Sales and Marketing
Coaching Association of Canada
416-816-7551
nspotton@coach.ca