Observe. Teach. Repeat.
At SDR, our coaches value an exchange of energies. And learnings. They know when to rock the boat. And when to settle the waters. They are humble, open and fun. They see coaching as an art and a discipline — and they care about the person across from them.
Meet Coach Becky McGee
Coach Becky brings a strong vision for the game of hockey, and as a certified Dale Carnegie trainer, she knows a thing or two about the importance of just-in-time coaching.
In her own playing career, Coach Becky played high performance hockey for the Oval Xtreme in Calgary, competed in several national championships and was a member of the national junior team. She coached Midget AAA for 10 years, even winning coach of the year. She is currently a minor hockey coach with Girls Hockey Calgary, where her oldest daughter Tess plays. And for Coach Becky, sport is indeed a family affair – with her husband, mom and sisters frequently in the stands cheering on her team. In fact, she draws inspiration from her mom and her way of seeing everything as an opportunity.
Coach Becky believes in lifelong learning, and with a unique ability to communicate with young athletes, her goal is to pass on her passion for physical literacy. Being involved in sports as a kid gave her the gift of confidence, and she hopes all SDR athletes walk away with the conviction that anything is possible – if you put the work in. And hard work is something Coach Becky has never shied away from, even as a teen logging long, hot days of manual labour working for her dad’s swimming pool business.
But there are a couple of things she is afraid of: snakes and rink mice. And if you want to really rile up Coach Becky, simply point out that thin strip of ice that the Zamboni missed.
Meet Coach Danielle Goyette
Danielle Goyette likely needs to no introduction. She was Canada’s Opening Ceremonies flag bearer at the Turin Winter Olympics in 2006, and has a reputation for rising above the odds. Despite many language and gender barriers in her early days of ice hockey, Danielle’s perseverance and success has inspired many girls to pursue dreams of their own – including our own SDR athletes.
Few athletes in any sport can match Danielle’s accomplishments at the international stage. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2002, 2006) and captured a silver medal in 1998 in addition to eight World Championship titles – the most recent coming in Winnipeg in 2007. She has represented Canada at international competitions more than any other hockey player in history – male or female – and has more than 100 goals to her credit in international play.
Her Olympic accomplishments extend outside medals – she was the leading goal scorer in the 1998 tournament in Nagano, ranking second overall in points. The smooth-skating forward also won three gold medals each with Team Alberta and Team Quebec at the Esso Women’s Nationals.
Danielle is an accomplished skills coach, having worked with numerous bantam and midget teams in skill and skating development as well as with a variety of NHLers including Brayden Point, Braydon Coburn, and Vegas Golden Knight prospect Reid Duke. In 2012, she was named as an assistant coach for Team Canada at the world championships and reprised that role at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, where Canada went on to win the gold medal.
In 2017 Danielle received the ultimate honour in hockey when she was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Meet Coach Tomas Pacina
Coach Tomas has an impressive hockey resume, coaching the world’s best at all levels – the NHL, WHL, CWHL and the Canadian Women’s National Team. But his passion is not in winning; it’s in teaching. As an SDR coach, Tomas helps our young athletes see their own potential without the lens of self-imposed limits. He believes that when people come together to achieve a common goal, barriers are broken. Discipline, repetition and steady, careful progress is how Coach Tomas brings out the best in his students – from Sydney Crosby to Cassie Campbell to our own SDR athletes.
And a word of caution for SDR athletes – don’t act like the world owes you something. That doesn’t fly with our Czech-born coach, who at age 12, practiced swimming twice a day, six times a week, covering 12 kilometers every single day.
This accomplished hockey player, tennis player and swimmer is the only member of SDR who can talk equally – and intelligently – about The Office and the work of Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl. Coach Tomas is also the only one who admits to liking matcha tea.
You won’t ever hear Coach Tomas talking about what makes him proud – believing that pride leads to arrogance, which can lead to failure. He will, however, (in the most humble way possible), say that he’s most happy for his adult son and how engaged he is in his life and studies. (And no, his son is not a hockey player, but he can take Coach Tomas down on the tennis court.)