News
USQ Coach Sponsorship Grant Recipients Announced
The coach sponsorship grant recipients for the 2015-2016 season are Tasha Robertson and Patrick Fuller.
In honor of the second year of USQ coach membership and the coach certification requirement for the 2015-2016 playing season, an exciting and important step toward increasing league knowledge, safety standards, and legitimacy throughout our teams, USQ is proud to award its first two coach sponsorship grants for this upcoming season to Tasha Robertson of the Portland Augureys and Patrick Fuller of the UBC Thunderbirds. This coaching program is aimed at supporting non-player coaches at a variety of playing levels. Applications were due on September 4, 2015, and applicants had to demonstrate need and outline their goals in an essay.
Tasha Robertson, Portland Augureys
The Portland Augureys, now in their second year, were the recipient of the Team Starter Grant Award in the 2014-15 Season. They competed in the inaugural Northwest Regional Championship last February 2015. At the end of the season, they were awarded the Xander Marshall Award for furthering USQ’s goals of building competitive community opportunities in creative ways.
As evident in her application essay, Robertson demonstrates a clear commitment to health, fitness and building community.
“With many of our players coming from a nonathletic background, teaching fitness and sports theory is high on my list of priorities. We teach exercise techniques and personal routines and diets, while being sensitive to the diversity in body types and abilities of players. We emphasize truly healthy practices, both mentally and physically, including proper stretching regimens, and listening to your body’s signals and knowing how far to push yourself.
In addition to getting my team into shape, as the coach I work with the rest of the leadership staff in making personnel and scheduling decisions, executing the logistical needs of the team, and most importantly, setting the culture of the team. I work very hard to create a team culture of openness and supportiveness, one that is nondiscriminatory, friendly, and sportspersonlike.
Essentially, my goal as a coach this season is to have a team that is versed in the basic skills and strategies of the game, while staying healthy and maintaining a culture that enriches all players on the team, and in the community at large. Where we are in the Northwest, with quidditch being a very new entity, we may be taking baby steps, but it’s all laying the foundation for a quidditch culture that already is showing signs of greatness to come.”
Patrick Fuller, UBC Thunderbirds
UBC Quidditch has been a part of USQ for several years. They compete in the Northwest region. They are an anchor in British Columbia and Western Canada. USQ is happy to award them, in their final season with us, the coach sponsorship grant.
As evident in his application essay, Fuller wants to give back to his team. He has been a part of the UBC Thunderbirds for six years and wants to end his time in a more supportive role.
“I have made it my goal this year to increase my role on the team as a coach... I spoke to my captains at the beginning of the season to help better define my role on the team [and] this has allowed me to set up my goals for this year. I plan on analyzing gameplay footage to develop new strategies or shore up weaknesses, which in turn will help me give advice to players and provide another voice at practice. I am going to develop my own system for tracking my players’ stats and keep up consistent records for the benefit of my own players and the team.”
USQ was impressed with his desire to step back from playing in his final year of play with his team.
“Honestly though, my team is the most important thing to me, so I am going to first look to improve their experience,” Fuller wrote in his application.
USQ congratulates both grant recipients who have been gifted complimentary coach memberships for the 2015-2016 season. Coach members receive access to a variety of exclusive benefits, including access to seminars offered by the Positive Coaching Alliance and a paperback copy of Rulebook 9.
