Joey Payeur
If her plate was any more full, Amy Wilson-Hands would be asking for a to-go container.
Not that the Fort Frances Fire ‘n Ice head coach is upset about recently being selected as an apprentice in the “Changing the Game–Changing the Conversation” program put on by the Coaches Association of Ontario.
“I was completely shocked to earn this apprenticeship,” admitted Wilson-Hands, who is in North Bay this week with several local youth volleyball players at a training camp being held at the Ontario Volleyball Association’s Region 1 High Performance Centre.
“I threw my application in on a complete whim,” she noted.
“Angie Shen, Ontario Volleyball Association senior beach development coach, sent it to me and encouraged me to apply.
“I spoke to her earlier on about wanting to get my Performance Beach Coach Level 3 certification after I finish my Performance Coach for indoor Level 3 certification, and asked if she might mentor me with that,” added Wilson-Hands.
“She did not hesitate to say yes.”
Wilson-Hands will be matched with a mentor coach who will guide her through the apprenticeship.
“It will only help me to become a better coach,” she remarked.
“It will help me bring a different perspective back to our region, as well as continue to help better our athletes,” added Wilson-Hands, who cited the outcomes of the three major teams she has been in charge of in recent months.
“The Muskie senior girls had one of the most successful seasons, with three out of six players heading off to play post-secondary volleyball with scholarships,” she noted.
“The Northwestern Norskies finished fourth at the Ontario championships and the Treaty #3 Tigers finished third at the Ontario Native Invitational Championships.”
This apprenticeship will begin after Wilson-Hands is finished coaching Team Ontario’s 16U squad at the North American Indigenous Games from July 16-23 in Toronto, then serves as an associate coach for Ontario’s 18U women’s squad at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg from July 28-Aug. 13.
“Empowering more females to become coaches is the focus of this apprenticeship and I can tell you that once my apprenticeships are complete, I won’t stop there,” she vowed.
“I think working on feeling empowered as a woman coach is an area of my coaching that needs improving,” Wilson-Hands admitted.
“Often, our sporting world is led by male coaches and sometimes being a successful woman in this business is intimidating,” she noted.
“But my current apprenticeship, as well as this one, is helping to change that.”
As for what’s on the horizon, Wilson-Hands is thinking on a grand scale.
“I am currently working on a national team mentorship, which could bring me to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo with Team Canada,” she said.
“My dream is to sit on the national team bench one day, as well as have a volleyball facility built for Fort Frances, which is currently in the works, and I will do everything to get there,” she stressed.
