BC Athletics Announces Recipients of the Women in Coaching Grant for the 2020 BC Throws Summit!
Women continue to make outstanding contributions to Canada's sport sector but remain significantly under-represented in coaching. Although female athletes make up about half of the athletes on national teams (and sometimes more), the percentage of women who coach at that level is dramatically lower.
This year we are proud to partner with Canada Women & Sport to provide financial support to women coaches with the aim of removing the financial barriers related to attending the 2020 BC Throws Summit. BC Athletics committed to offering grants to eligible BC Athletics Coach Members to help cover the cost of attending the Summit. Importantly, the grants were directed to coaches of all abilities and backgrounds.
The recipients of the 2020 Women in Coaching Grants Include:
- Pat Sima-Ledding, Okanagan Athletics Club
- Marilyn Benz, Okanagan Athletics Club
- Kathleen Henderson, Greyhound Masters Track & Field Club
- Nicole Carlos, Okanagan Athletics Club
Additionally, it was essential to BC Athletics that the Summit featured a female coach presenter to serve as a strong role model to our developing coaches and athletes that female coaches can succeed at the highest level in our sport. BC Athletics was honored to have Ashley (Muffet) Kovacs attend the summit as a featured Presenter. Ashley is the Assistant Coach & Recruiting Coordinator at the Ohio State University whose career coaching highlights include coaching her husband, Joe Kovacs, to the 2019 World Championship title in the Shot Put. At the University level, she has helped guide her athletes to an NCAA Championship, 12 NCAA All-American titles, and numerous conference and regional titles.
More About the 2020 BC Throws Summit
BC Athletics hosted the 4th Annual BC Throws Summit from Nov 7, 8, 10, & 12, 2020. Adopting a virtual format this year, the summit featured both theory and practical sessions and was targeted to those coaches working with High School, University, and Post Collegiate athletes in the Shot Put, Javelin, & Discus Throw events. BC Athletics was proud to announce a truly world class line-up of presenters headlined by German National Coach, Boris Obergföll (Henry) coach of 2017 World Champion in the Javelin, Johannes Vetter (PB - 97.76m).
Canadian Women & Sport 2020 WISE Fund
A lack of funding dedicated to creating equitable opportunities for women and girls to participate and lead in the sport system is a barrier to achieving gender equity in Canada. Since 2004, Canadian Women and Sport has awarded $250,000 in grants through our WISE Fund to leaders and organizations across Canada to help address this gap.
