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8 stouffville suntribune saturday jan 6 2007 staff photosjoerd witteveen charlene knudsen coach of the markham gymnastics club works with andrea mclntyre 14 as club gymnasts ashley whittingstall 12 from left natalie ritch 1 1 lind say solmon 11 madison lott 12 kelly nimens 10 and lindsay braithwaite 1 1 follow their every move in the riv iera drive in markham facility ms knudsen is one of the hundreds of coaches across ontario who benefit from the quest for gold lottery ontario lottery helps iff j wccj by mike hayakawa staff writer when charlene knudsen went to school in sep tember one of the first tasks was to juggle three balls at once the richmond hill resident wasnt learning to become a juggler it was part of a new coaching program in which she is enrolled at the sport alliance centre in toronto as a longtime coach and cofounder of the markham gymnastics club in 1978 ms knudsen is one of about 900 coaches provincewide taking skills development training through a 12million program funded by sales of quest for gold lottery tickets ms knudsen was one of two coaches selected to represent gymnastics ontario enrolled in the first of a twoyear program she is pursuing her level 4 in coaching before completing the program she also hopes to achieve her level 5 which is her mas ters coaching degree attending weekly classes and monthly weekend sessions ms knudsen said the program provides a great opportunity for her to pursue her endeavours to become a better coach and hopefully one day work with the national team its quite an interesting course she said everybody in the class has a common goal to be the best coach they can this program is a wonderful step forward for sport in canada among some ofthe things she has learned is to properly manage her time and focus for her the juggling routine means balancing time for herself her family and the athletes she coaches so far the course has taught me valuable time management skills to help balance these three aspects that are all important in my life she said the juggling also was representative of the fact that once things are broken down into parts the whole skill is no longer overwhelming this is par ticularly relevant for teaching athletes new skills everything is more in control for me since taking the course for tina forani the program is a monetary bonus the quest for gold program certainly made taking the courses i did last summer much easier economically i dont know if i would have done as many courses if i didnt have the opportunity to participate through this program said ms forani a sharon resident who has been a coach with the east gwillimbury skating club for 10 years having taken one course in ottawa last sum mer a oneday session to attain her level 3 techni cal and a twoday course in waterloo on choreog raphy ms forani was quick to credit skate canada for providing the opportunity she left the sport for 20 years before returning and noticed progressive changes that forced her to play catchup i can say that skate canadacentral ontario section has always been excellent at offering edu cational programs to coaches at all levels and real ly promotes continued education within our sport she said there was plenty of friendly interaction between participants she said we are very lucky in our sport especially in our section as we have an abundance of coaches who really care about the advancement ofthe sport the level of education of the coaches in the sport and the progress ofthe athletes she said i have found that coaches are willing to share their expertise for the good ofthe sport its a nice feeling to be able to work with a group of profes sionals who have this attitude not only are coaches pleased to see such a pro gram created the athletes who eventually benefit from it are supportive of it as well athletes need the opportunity to develop skills and coaching is a fundamerital element said tracey ferguson a 32yearold holland landing resident and threetime paralympic basketball gold medallist ontarios coach training support will provide me and other athletes with an impor tant building block that is critical to achieving excellence last year more than 500000 was donated from the lottery program toward coaching pro grams across the province coaches association of ontario executive directory susan kitchen said this represented about 20 per cent of the lottery proceeds for more information on the program log on to wwwcoach- esontarioca a little time can make a huge difference in a childs life with several volunteer programs to choose from one is sure to suit your schedule sztt big brothers big slaters of york 9058950289 wwwbbbsyca this message brought to you as a community service of the economist suntribune