Joan McDonald to Lead Canadian Recurve Archery Programs as National Coach

Archery Canada, is pleased to announce that Joan McDonald has been appointed to the position of National Coach, Recurve, Men and Women for a 2-year appointment through the Rio Olympics.

McDonald has played an integral part in the development of Archery Canada's High Performance strategy, and will lead the senior and junior High Performance programs. Her central objective will be to optimize our immediate podium potential across the men's program, while building a platform for longer-term success in the women's program. The overall focus for the national recurve coach will be to work closely with our archers' personal coaches, while enhancing the potential of our targeted athletes and leading the team, talent identification, and national team planning areas of our program.

McDonald's experience includes coaching at 5 Olympic Games and numerous World Cups and World Championships over a 23 year coaching career. Her knowledge of the sport of archery and her relationships across Archery Canada's community, athletes and coaches, make her the best candidate for leading Archery Canada's Recurve program to the next level through 2016.

Scott Ogilvie, Archery Canada's Executive Director, commented on the appointment by saying, "this will be an opportunity to build a strong program and a team to challenge for Olympic quota spots in 2015 and medals at the Rio Olympics in 2016. At the same time, we will be able to start designing an integrated program that will produce the stars of the future.

Looking forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead, McDonald stated that "this is a new and exciting challenge for me and I look forward to working with the many talented archery athletes in Canada and their dedicated coaches. It is a great opportunity to contribute and provide leadership as Archery Canada continues to build out its new high performance structure."

McDonald is a NCCP certified level 4 coach. She has received numerous coaching awards throughout her career, 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; and a seven-time recipient of Archery Canada's Coach of the Year award. She is a graduate of the National Coaching Institute in Toronto and a former competitor winning 13 national titles, competed in 8 world championships and won bronze and silver medals at the 1979 Pan American Games.

About Archery Canada

Archery Canada is the national sport organization responsible for the promotion and development of the timeless sport of archery in a safe and ethical manner. Archery Canada supports the achievement of high performance excellence in archery in all categories and the development of a national archery infrastructure to promote archery participation across Canada in cooperation with the provincial/territorial archery associations. Visit:www.archerycanada.ca/