The 2024 Coaches Retreat is open to coaches of all levels, from across the country. The one expectation for this weekend, is that all attendees embrace the guiding principles,
~ Rest ~ Connect ~ Support ~ Learn ~ Grow ~
Our overall goal is to create a space where coaches can expand their networks, learn with and from each other, and explore ways to build more inclusive and sustainable coaching environments for all.
- Dates: Friday, March 22nd – Monday, March 25th 2024
- Location: Pinewood Lodge, Seven Sisters Falls, MB
- Accommodations: Two person per room, shared accommodation (each with their own bed).
- Transportation: Bus transportation between Winnipeg and the Lodge will be provided. Out-of-town coaches are responsible for arranging their own transportation to Winnipeg. Target departure time is 4:30pm from the University of Manitoba. Out of town coaches should plan their travel accordingly and inform us of any scheduling issues if they arise!
- Cost:$100
- Food: All meals are provided as part of the registration package. Some will be catered by the venue, and some will be prepared as a group!
Sign up now! Registration deadline is March 3rd and spots are limited.
Depending on the weather (you know since it’s Manitoba in March), we may be able to canoe or kayak around the peaceful coves and inlets on beautiful Dorothy Lake, or even fish off the floating dock located directly across from the lodge along the waterfront.
If it’s still “winter” we’ll stick to the trails, or stay inside to enjoy the salt water pool and sitting around the fireplace.
Check out the Lodge – https://mypinewood.com/
Maura Martina (she/her/elle), the founder of Salawey Engagements and Project management, is an Afro- Mi’kmaw woman originally from Stephenville, Newfoundland.
She holds a bachelor’s degree majoring in Criminal Justice with a minor in conflict resolution which she received from the University of Winnipeg. During her time living and studying in Treaty one territory, she continued her wrestling career of 13+ years and started to transition from sport to her career in facilitation. Starting with the Indigenous sport body of Manitoba and working with Indigenous youth province wide as a mentor and sport program manager.
Full time, Maura is a project manager with a private consulting firm based out of Ottawa, with 7 years’ experience in facilitation, she works on consistently growing her business. She serves as a board member with the Community Justice Society in Kjipuktuk as she is passionate about changing the criminal justice system for the better of her community and strives to make meaningful changes.
Maura is now a retired elite National level athlete, still heavily involved in the sport world, working closely with Canadian women and sport facilitating numerous workshops and programs to spread diversity, inclusivity, and equity across the country. . . She is currently living in her homeland, Kjipuktuk Mi’kmawki (also known as, Halifax Nova Scotia).
As a late adopter of the sport, Gee-ef (he/him) has spent most of his time learning about all things track and field. As an athlete, he competed for the University of Manitoba Bisons for all 5 years of his eligibility. After a steep learning curve in his first year, he started to figure it out as he worked with his long-time coach and mentor Alanna Boudreau. In that time, he was a multiple time Canada West medalist, finalist at the USports National Championships and a medalist at the USports Championships in 2018 (Triple Jump). He also has continually been a finalist at the Senior National Championships and placed 2nd at the Senior National Championships in 2019. He currently is 4th all time on the Bisons triple jump rankings.
As a coach, Gee-ef started and continues to coach with the Winnipeg Optimist Athletic Club. From his beginning in 2013 to now, he has coached on multiple provincial teams like the Tri-Province and Dual Province teams and has been coaching with the Legion National teams since 2013 but most recently took a break to complete his Master of Education in Coaching Studies at the University of Victoria. At the 2022 Canada Games, Gee-ef was a mentee coach learning from the Team coaches and working to support the athletes throughout the Games.
He recently completed his performance coach certification in the combined events and is currently the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the University of Manitoba track and field team. Gee-ef runs the Jr. Bisons Track and Field program and will be the sprints/hurdles/relays coach at the 2025 Canada Games in Newfoundland. Coaching mainly the power speed events, he works with many Bison and Manitoba Provincial record holders including Jordan Soufi, Kyla Findley, Tyler Cox-Yestrau, and Madisson Lawrence.
Away from the track, Gee-ef is a teacher in the Pembina Trails School Division. In his free time, he enjoys doing puzzles, cooking, and most of all, golfing.
Alanna (she/her/elle) is the current Executive Director and a Provincial Coach with Athletics Manitoba.
She began her career in the sport as a young high jumper on Team Winnipeg at the Manitoba Summer Games. She later went on to join Winnipeg Optimist Athletics and represented Manitoba at the Legion National Championships, Western Canada Summer Games and the Canada Summer Games, collecting medals along the way. In 2004, she was the bronze medalist at the Senior National Championships and was named to her first National Team; the NACAC U23 Championships, in Sherbrook QC.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts in the Faculty of Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario; where she competed as a Mustang for 5 years, winning 5 consecutive USports medals in Triple Jump (2 Bronze, 2 Silver and a Gold).
She is now a proud University of Manitoba Bisons Assistant Coach, and has spent the last 15 years supporting and building a high quality provincial jumps program that has seen athletes achieve podium performances at Canada West Championships, USports Championships as well as Senior National Championships and Canada Summer Games.
Alanna has been involved with the WCSG and CSG programs since 1999, missing only the 2007 WCSG in Edmonton AB as she transitioned away from competition, returning in 2009 as a Manager and subsequently as a Coach. She was most recently named the Head Coach for the upcoming 2025 Canada Summer Games.
It has always been her goal to improve the quality of jumpers in Manitoba and to build up a sustainable program that consistently contends at the National level (and eventually Internationally). This now means finding the balance between leading new athletes, and working to help develop and support new coaches. Alanna’s long term ambition is to play a part in getting Canadian jumpers back on the International competitive scene.
Jill (she/her) started her love for sport early on, competing in as many sports as she could throughout junior high and high school. She started off in athletics as a sprinter, when her junior high coach suggested she try throwing. That coach was Jill’s first mentor and helped introduce her to truly being an athlete. With her support, Jill started training in throwing at the High Performance Centre in grade nine and hasn’t left!
Jill was the Canadian National Junior Hammer Champion in 1994, and competed for 5 years for the University of Manitoba, earning two silver and one bronze medal at the CIAU (now USports) track and field championships. She competed at Western Canada and Canada Summer Games and was 4th at the 1999 Senior Track and Field Championships in the shot put.
Field and Track and especially coaching are Jill’s passions. Jill has been coaching for 30 years and at the high performance level for 26 years.She truly believes that good coaches build better people and is true to developing the sport by encouraging and introducing the sport to everyone.
Jill was named to the inaugural board of directors that was tasked with developing Coaching Manitoba, and once developed, she served as Chair of the Board for one term.
Jill is a coach and the President of the Flying ‘M Athletic Club. She is a meet director and was the race director for the Islendingadagurinn Road Race.
Jill is a lifelong learner and seeks feedback and guidance from other coaches and athletes to be a better coach herself.
Most recently, she was named Head Coach for Manitoba Athletics Team at the North American Indigenous Games. She was honoured and grateful for this opportunity and was proud to be a part of the journey with the athletes and coaches.
Vickie has dedicated her life to supporting athletes at all levels and building the sport of Athletics. Her accomplishments as a coach, contributor, and advocate for women in sport is a testament to her love of the sport and her belief in the power it has to shape lives far beyond the field of play.
She is in her 30th year as the Head Coach of Western University and coaching with the London Western Track & Field Club. Prior to that she coaches at York University/York University Track Club for 4 years and at McMaster University and the Hamilton Olympic Club before that.
Vickie’s efforts at Western have contributed to two OUA Women’s titles, and two Women’s and Men’s USPORTS titles – inducting her into the UWO Sport Hall of Fame in 2015.
Vickie was also named to represent Canada as a FISU coach in 1991, 2005, and 2019; a Commonwealth Games coach in 2014; a NACAC coach in 2002 and 2009; and a World Championship coach in 1995. Vickie has coached some of Canada’s top high-performance athletes, including Damian Warner (decathlon, Olympic bronze and gold medalist, Canadian and Olympic record holder); Catharine Bond-Mills (heptathlon, 1993 Canadian record holder); Nicole Devonish (long jump, 1992 Canadian Junior record); Jessica Zelinka (heptathlon, 2000 Canadian and North American Junior Record) and Caroline Ehrhardt (triple jump, 2023 Canadian Record).
She is an NCCP Level 4 Coach who is also a Learning Facilitator and Evaluator, and is a four-time recipient of the OUA Coach of the Year award. In addition, Vickie has been named the Ontario Sport Alliance Female Coach of the Year twice, a three-time Petro Canada Coaching Award Recipient, three-time CIS Track and Field Coach of the Year, four-time OUA Track and Field Coach of the Year, and two-time OUA Women’s Coach of the Year for all sports.
Vickie has also donated her time as a Director on the Board of the London Western Track & Field Club for over twenty years – and is a valued speaker and contributor to athletes, coaches, and her community. Awarded the Women of Excellence Award in Western Ontario (2017), Vickie was also inducted into the McMaster University Sports Hall of Fame (1995) and most recently the Athletics Ontario Hall of Fame (2023). Her work does not stop there; as Vickie was a valued contributor to the Athletics Canada Gender Equity Plan, currently a member of both Athletics Canada Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee and Women’s Athletics Coaching Forum; was a speaker/panelist at the Ontario Coaches Conference, the NACAC Coaches Conference, and the Border City AC Summit. As an advocate for women in sport, Vickie took on the role of Organizing Chair of the Stay in the Game: Pathways for Women in Sport Conference (March 2021).
1 part outdoor enthusiast, 1 part professor, 2 parts parent, and 3 parts recreational athlete. Too many parts?
Melanie first learned about sport psychology as an athlete, then found it really useful when coaching high jumpers, and now uses it to get her kids to do things they didn’t know they wanted to try!
This knowledge is also really useful at her day job as Professor of sport and exercise psychology at the University of Winnipeg, where she does research on mental imagery in sport, psychological skills for athletes with intellectual disability, physical literacy development, and sport psychology for coaches.