U of R hosts high-performance coach camp for Indigenous community

Coaches are key to the development of young athletes. They help shape the perceptions of the athlete and can positively or negatively affect the relationship athletes have with their sports.

This week, the University of Regina hosted coaches and athletes from the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council community for a high-performance coaching symposium.

“We’re just introducing the high-performance industry to coaches and athletes that haven’t really been in the industry before,” said organizer Jordynn Pewapsconias.

“Just kind of what to expect if athletes and coaches do want to pursue the high-performance industry in the future.”

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The first of the three-day event was dedicated to coaches. Pewapsconias said coaches from the university’s basketball, soccer, football, and track teams offered their advice and skills.

“We have some people coming in to talk about mental performance (and) nutrition. Basically like a toolkit for coaches that want to help foster high performance athletes,” explained Pewapsconias.

The other two days are aimed toward helping athletes.

“We have nutrition coming in… mental performance. And then we have some strength and conditioning… Just (to give them) a toolkit, again, for them to take home and kind of build off of, and in the future hopefully we see them in high-performance spaces,” said Pewapsconias.

“A lot of the time, sport is kind of like that gateway into higher education, so I think the biggest thing, for coaches especially, is how to foster that in their athletes,” said Pewapsconias.

“One of our main goals actually is to see our athletes continue on their post-secondary education and become a student-athlete,” said Tara Griffith, one of the coaches who attended the camp.

“This high-performance camp is the first step where we can empower our coaches and our athletes to get to that next level and to have more representation.”

Griffith has been coaching basketball for the past 10 years, and decided to coach softball for the first time this summer.

“I hope to gain a lot of insights from different coaches. I like to kind of take perspectives from each one of these facilitators and just try to come up with a plan that works for our athletes,” said Griffith.

“I love seeing the youth grow and develop, not only as athletes but as human beings. I really enjoy seeing their progress (and) their confidence build in not only sports but outside of the sport and who they are as people,” shared Griffith.

While this was the first year for the event, Pewapsconias said it will likely grow and expand in the future.

“This is the first year it’s happening,” said Pewapsconias. “In the future, we’re hoping to expand to other Tribal Councils as well and kind of include more Indigenous coaches across the province.”