Joan McDonald steps down from National Coach position

After two years in the position of National Coach for Archery Canada’s high performance program, Joan McDonald will conclude her leadership role, which saw her coach at her 6^th Olympics during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

“It is with mixed emotions that we announce this change in Joan’s role. On one side, we knew Joan would be stepping down from this position, states Alan Brahmst, Archery Canada’s High Performance Advisor, “while on the other side we will miss Joan’s tremendous leadership that helped us move the program through a significant transformation over the past couple of years”. “Joan will continue to support our program toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in other technical capacities.”

McDonald will continue to work closely with the high performance program to support the new National Coach, and to be a coach to many of her personal athletes. “It’s what I enjoy most, coaching athletes, and developing talents to allow them to be the best they can be” states McDonald, and adds “but it is not just about coaching anymore, it’s about in-depth long-term planning, it’s about sport science and technology, and, perhaps most importantly, it’s about evaluation and analytics to understand where our athletes stand and what potential they have. Getting to the podium is a business, and it has to be managed as such, and that means a lot of continuing change for Archery Canada.”

In her capacity as National Coach, McDonald has been working closely with Alan Brahmst, and the technical leadership team to establish a new structure for high performance archery in Canada. “The new structure and processes which we have created will serve as the platform from which to continue to build out our program to achieve excellence with the very clear objective to win medals at the Olympics and Paralympics,”, adds Brahmst, “The sport of Archery is changing, and we have to embrace our ability to be a leading nation in the future of our sport.”

Archery Canada’s Executive Director, Scott Ogilvie, commented on McDonald’s stepping down by saying, “Joan has provided exceptional leadership and has made a major contribution to the ongoing development of our high performance system and programs. Our sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to Joan. We look forward to her continued involvement in other technical capacities.” 

McDonald’s accomplishments in Canadian coaching are significant and span a 25-year career, during which she received numerous coaching awards including the 2013 Jack Donahue Award; Petro Canada Coaching Excellence award in 2013; 2008 Coaches Association of Ontario High Performance Coach of the Year; Archery Canada's Volunteer of the Year in 2009; Archery Canada's D.M. Lovo Outstanding Contribution to Archery award in 2004. McDonald is also a seven-time recipient of Archery Canada's Coach of the Year award.

Archery Canada will be posting for the job of National Coach over the coming days.