Research and practical application will go hand in hand at the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre (CACC), when its director, Dr. James Denison, takes the helm, starting January 1 2010.
Denison, a leading sport sociology scholar and seasoned coach educator in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation will officially assume the leadership at CACC in January 2010.
The CACC is the legacy of the 2001 World Championships in Athletics and is the premiere hub for coaching education in athletics in Canada.
"My primary objective will be to concentrate on forming productive relationships locally, nationally and internationally to make the CACC a force for positive coach and athlete development," he says. "My role will entail bringing a strong education and applied research emphasis to the Centre by connecting with our partners, the University of Alberta, Athletics Canada and Athletics Alberta as well as coaches across Canada."
Denison has been actively involved in coach education at the Centre for the past three years, and brings extensive experience as an athlete, coach, educator and researcher to the Centre's helm. He is a member of the Coaching Association of Canada's Research Committee and the Program Leader for the IAAF's Academy Courses for Coaches.
A former competitive middle distance runner, Denison was head coach of a boys' cross-country and track team; he was an assistant coach in men's cross-country and middle distance at the University of Toledo, where he completed his master's degree in educational psychology and served as a volunteer assistant coach in men's middle distance cross-country at the University of Illinois, where he completed a doctoral degree in sport sociology.
Denison's extensive body of research includes numerous scholarly publications on coach effectiveness, coach education, athlete development, athletic identity, coaching ethics, and coach-athlete relationships, and regular contributions to prestigious international coaching magazines and newsletters. He is the former editor of the "The Coach" and also the author of the official biography of Ethiopian running legend, Haile Gabrselassie, "The Greatest," and "Bannister and Beyond: The Mystique of the Four-Minute Mile" - a collection of in-depth interviews with sub- four-minute milers.
"My vision is to establish the CACC as a resource for the development of innovative, ethical and healthy training practices relevant to our current cultural context that hopefully inspires today's generation of coaches and athletes to find meaning in participating in athletics," said Denison.
In terms of the future of high performance sprint training and development, for which the Centre became well-known under former CACC director, Kevin Tyler's direction, Denison says the Centre is no longer an Athletics Canada designated sprint centre, and has shifted its focus to coach education programming.
Denison sees the Centre as a strategic hub for coach education, but stresses there'll be greater emphasis on taking the programs to the coaches. "We intend to have a coach development manager on board next year. This is a new position and one we'll develop with Athletics Canada. Edmonton will be the strategic hub to plan the programs, but in terms of delivery, we will be going to where the coaches are, and to other training centres," he says.
Denison says coaches can wield a great deal of power in the coach-athlete relationship, but coupled with it, comes a responsibility to their athletes - and one he intends to guide and promote. "I believe coaches have a duty of care to use their power and knowledge positively and responsibly for athletics to become a healthy activity - ethical, productive, and safe.
"I also believe leadership is required for this ethic to be adopted, as it requires a strong voice to question the many unhealthy practices in sport such as over-training, the use of illegal substances, the misapplication of sport science, and dominating coach-athlete relationships."
Mike Mahon, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation says the Centre is in very capable hands. "With his combination of experience as an athlete, coach, educator and his exceptional knowledge and vast body of research in coach education, Jim is in a unique position to strengthen this Centre as a strategic hub of practical knowledge translation and dissemination for the benefit of coaches and athletes across Canada."
"I hope to build and extend on the great work that Kevin Tyler initiated as the previous director in establishing the Centre. This will be all the easier because currently there's a great staff working at the Centre with whom I am excited to be working more closely," says Denison.
Learn more about the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre at www.athleticscoaching.ca