The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) is pleased to announce that Katie Havekes from the Fanshawe College Women's Basketball Program has been chosen as one of ten successful applicants of the inaugural Canadian Colleges Athletic (CCAA) Female Coach Mentor Program.

Launched in October, the CCAA Female Coach Mentor Program is designed to identify and nurture female graduating student-athletes who demonstrate the desired skills for coaching by providing them with the opportunity to share the coaching experience in CCAA National Championship sports.

Apprentice Coach Katie Havekes – Katie is a former member and captain of the Fanshawe Falcons Women’s Basketball team for 4 years. Her coaching experience includes volunteer coaching for the Owen Sound Girls Minor Basketball League for 4 years and assisting in running coaching clinics for young grade school girls. Katie is looking forward to the opportunity of increasing her coaching understanding and mastering her coaching technique from someone she considers her true mentor, Lori MacKay.

Mentor Coach Lori MacKay – Former Assistant Coach at the University of Western, Lori has been the Head Coach of the Women’s Varsity Basketball team at Fanshawe since 2003. A Certified Level II coach, Lori believes it is important to encourage our female athletes to pursue their dreams of coaching because there is so much talent to be shared. Excited to be a part of the process, Lori affirms that more female role models in the basketball community are needed and believes that the CCAA Female Coach Mentor Program is an excellent initiative to nurture this.

Aimed at increasing the number of female coaches within the collegiate sport system, the three goals of this program are:
- To increase opportunity for young women to have access to the coaching experience.
- To support identified female graduated student-athlete coaches in their pursuit of professional development opportunities.
- To provide qualified CCAA coaches in National Championship sports with advanced training opportunities and mentoring experience.

Funded by Sport Canada, a branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the CCAA Female Coach Mentor Program is a national project conducted in partnership with the Atlantic Colleges Athletic Association (ACAA), the Quebec Student Sport Federation (QSSF), the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA), the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) and the British Columbia Colleges Athletic Association (BCCAA).

The OCAA governs intercollegiate sports and promotes physical activity in its member institutions through quality athletic and campus recreation programs. It offers 16 varsity sports to 30 member institutions throughout Ontario.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Sandra Murray MacDonell
CCAA Executive Director
Tel: 613.937.1508 / Email: sandra@ccaa.ca

Michelle Waddick
OCAA Marketing & Communications
Tel: (416) 426-7043
Email: waddick@ocaa.com