As I wrap up year one and write down my reflections of the graduate certificate part of the MHPCTL program, I’m filled with a sense of gratitude and accomplishment. This was the first time I’ve been back at formalized school since 2001ish so I was nervous going into it. Year one of this program really pushed me to dive deep into learning a more holistic approach to coaching and facilitating a means for deeper, more meaningful, personal development for my clients and I was very happy with how it’s gone so far.
I have to start off this blog with giving Dr. Shaunna Taylor her flowers. It was this slide from Shaunna’s lecture during orientation week which illustrated ISPARC’s Indigenout Holistic Model that really caught my attention so I made a point to talk to her after class to learn more.
Our conversation after class turned into a 30min discussion which then continued on in a 90min Zoom meeting a few weeks later. Shaunna encouraged me to connect with ISPARC and I eventually did. ISPARC became my mentor and I experienced so much learning and growth this year personally because they welcomed me in with open arms and filled my cup so to speak. Shaunna really pushed me to integrate what I was learning with ISPARC into my KIN586 assignments, mainly the Innovation Practice assignment. This assignment was very eye-opening and gave me insight into how to incorporate holistic interventions into that assignment and eventually all the programs in my business moving forward.
Lara Mussell Savage is the Executive Director of Sport at ISPARC and my main mentor at ISPARC. Lara was instrumental in quarterbacking my development by connecting me with other Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge keepers and ISPARC program leaders. We met regularly and I’d often open up to her about challenges with discrimination I would sometimes experience as a board member of our PSO. She helped me navigate through these challenges and I’m so grateful for the connection I’ve made with Lara which I know will continue into the future well past this program.
Next up was Dr. Andy Van Neutegem’s KIN515 class. This class was by far the most technical one of the four mainly because the GMP assignment. Our NSO has never developed a GMP so this assignment forced me to design a GMP for weightlifting and support it with research. This assignment brought me back to some engineering tasks I had to do in my previous career where I was required to develop dashboards and scoring matrices that have never been designed before to guide design and program decisions to solve problems that haven’t been solved before. I was very grateful to Andy for his analytical approach to coaching and program development. He forced us to ask the right questions and I think that’s why this course really resonated with me.
The Integrated Training Plan assignment in Dr. Anita Cote’s KIN585 class forced me to summarize an entire training plan in the context of coaching an athlete in our weightlifting program. By this point in the year, through the lessons learned in KIN586, ISPARC, and KIN515, I had a really good handle on a holistic training model so this assignment was a nice way to tie it all together. Planning an athlete’s year with key competitions is important however I’m still not convinced on the efficacy of planning physical, technical, tactical, and mental parameters into a spreadsheet YTP where none of the parameters are connected to each other and with the unpredictability of people’s lives. Like Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
KIN597 introduced the LPI which was something I’ve never seen before and a great way to identify gaps in my own leadership practice. The initial mentorship meeting with David and Lara was very helpful in developing specific objectives to achieve specific outcomes and tie that into my PIP that addressed the gaps in the LPI. I’m very grateful to David for guiding this process and I personally found the Portfolio of Evidence assignment to be a very enlightening. I put my reflections on my Portfolio of Evidence in this blog post.
Finally I’ve got to give flowers to each of my classmates in this cohort. It’s been a great honour and privilege to read your reflections on your blog posts, listen in on your presentations, engage in discussion in our lectures, and connect over WhatsApp over this year. As a small business owner and weightlifting coach, I never would’ve thought I’d be connecting with high-performance and sport leaders as each of you. I’m grateful to you all for helping me raise the bar this year. I’m really looking forward to continuing on into the Masters part of this program and continuing on building connections with you all too.
Bring on Year two !