For some of the University’s varsity head coaches, the season doesn’t end with the completion of the school year.
Men’s rugby coach Peter Huigenbos was selected as the video analyst for the Canadian men’s national team competing at the Churchill Cup in England, while women’s volleyball coach Chris Galbraith will be an assistant coach with Team Ontario at the National Team Challenge Cup in July.
The Churchill Cup, which began May 17 and runs until June 2, is a six-team international tournament involving Canada, the U.S., England, Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand. The tournament is a tune-up for September’s Rugby World Cup.
This isn’t the first time Huigenbos has assisted with the national team. In 2005 he did video preparation for the Super Cup in Japan, which Canada won. Later that summer he helped Canada prepare for a match against Wales by presenting a video clip, and he also did some work with last year’s Churchill Cup team.
Galbraith, however, is a newcomer to the provincial scene. He will be assisting with the under-17 and under-18 squads from July 26-29. Prior to that, he will have to help pick the athletes on the team from July 3-8 at Brock University.
Galbraith is uncertain what his responsibilities will be as assistant, partly because the head coach hasn’t officially been named yet.
“I’ll just be doing whatever [the head coach] wants, scouting, game planning, maybe running practices,” Galbraith said.
Although he’s used to working with older players at Queen’s, Galbraith isn’t concerned with the differences that coaching a younger age group can bring.
“I’ve coached at the U-18 elite level for about five years, so I have experience with this age group” he said.
Football head coach Pat Sheahan has been invited to be a guest coach at the B.C. Lions training camp in June.
It’s a common practice for CFL teams to bring in extra coaches during training camp due to the large number of players present. Sheahan is no stranger to the process, having been a guest coach at previous training camps for the Montreal Alouettes and the Calgary Stampeders.
Not only will the experience be a great personal one, Sheahan says, it will also help him obtain new ideas for the Gaels.
“I like to get in the middle of a pro team and pick up what I can in of new systems and techniques for our team.”
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