Longtime ringette coach Phyllis Sadoway receives Geoff Gowan Lifetime Achievement Award
November 8, 2019 – The Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) will recognize longtime ringette coach Phyllis Sadoway with the Geoff Gowan Lifetime Achievement Award tonight at the Petro-Canada Sport Leadership Awards Gala in Richmond, BC.
The Geoff Gowan Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a lifelong commitment to coaching and coaching development and is presented to an individual who has fostered a positive public image of coaching, enhanced the role of the coach within the public in Canada, and who is a role model for future generations of coaches. The Award was created in 1996 to honour former CAC President Geoffrey Gowan, CM, PhD. The trophy is housed at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary, where the recipient will be featured for the year. Previous recipients include figure skating coach Manon Perrault, ChPC, and diving coach Dany Boulanger.
“Phyllis has made monumental contributions to the growth of ringette across Canada,” says Paul Carson, Chair of the CAC Board of Directors. “Her love of the sport and her dedication to developing its coaches have left an indelible mark on the entire ringette community. Her ability to communicate with athletes and coaches is legendary, and in achieving her NCCP Advanced Coaching Diploma – following her induction into the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame – she shows us what lifelong learning truly means. We’re honoured to present Phyllis with the Geoff Gowan Lifetime Achievement Award.”
“I am both honoured and humbled to receive this Award,” says Sadoway. “It’s remarkable to me that I find myself in such an elite group of coaches. I believe that good coaching involves more than developing athletic talent – it involves imparting positive values that guide an athlete to greater heights outside the rink as well. I also believe that good coaches must always be learning – not only to keep current with new coaching techniques, yet also to challenge their own perceptions and acquire new knowledge. Coaching has been the great pleasure in my life and I thank every one of the athletes, administrators, parents, and volunteers I have met because of it. I would also like to thank Ringette Canada for having nominated me.”
