Long-Term Player Development (LTPD) Committee Chair
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2013
Softball Canada Announces new LTPD Committee Chair
(Ottawa, ON) Softball Canada is pleased to announce that Noreen Murphy (Saskatoon, SK) has been appointed as the new chair of the Long-Term Player Development (LTPD) Committee. Softball Canada would like to thank Don Bates who recently stepped down as chair for his years of service. Don was a tremendous champion of LTPD and greatly assisted in ensuring LTPD principles were upheld in all of Softball Canada's programs and services.
Noreen, born and raised in Toronto, was involved in many sports, including softball and was recruited to play for the Harmony Centre Women's Softball team from Saskatoon who went on to play in four provincial championships between 1980 and 1984, winning a Gold medal at the Canadian Senior Women's Championship in 1980. She also represented Canada at the European Championships in 1980 and at the World Games in 1981.
She moved to Lloydminster with her job and began her coaching career. In 1985 and 1986 she coached the Lloydminster Midget Girls to back-to-back gold medals at the Canadian Midget Championships. She was named Alberta's Minor Coach of the Year in 1986. In 1987 she moved back to Saskatoon and began an eight year stint coaching Lorne's Lazers, taking the team from midget to junior and then to senior at the national level , before returning to coaching the junior age class. She led the Lazers to eight straight Canadian Championship appearances during those years. In 1995, she was named the Head Coach for Team Saskatchewan, leading the team to a silver medal at the Western Canada Summer Games in BC. She continued with Team Sask for the next two seasons, taking the team to the 1997 Canada Summer Games in Brandon, Manitoba where the team finished second in their pool and fifth overall. In 2008, she went back to her roots and started to coach again at the midget level in Saskatoon but is currently not actively coaching.
During this time period she also began her coaching career with Softball Canada's National Teams which included the following assignments:
In recognition of her involvement in sport in general and softball in particular, Noreen has been inducted into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame - Builder (2008), the Softball Alberta Hall of Fame - Team (2010), the Softball Canada Hall of Fame - Coach (2010) and the Softball Saskatchewan Hall of Fame - Coach (2011).
Professionally Noreen has worked at various levels in the sport system gaining valuable knowledge and experiences. Noreen worked at Sask Sport Inc. as a Sport Consultant from 1994 to 2002 and also worked in the Lottery division from 1988- 1994. In 1998-99, she took an educational leave of absence to attend the University of Michigan (Kinesiology Division) to obtain a Masters degree in Sport Management & Communications. She moved on from there to work as an Instructor for Recreation and Tourism Management at the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology Kelsey Campus from 2002 to 2010. In 2010, Noreen rejoined Sask Sport Inc. in the Provincial Sport Development Unit as the Organizational Development Coordinator and Sport Consultant.
Softball Canada has been very fortunate to have outstanding chairs for our LTPD Committee first with Mark Smith, then Don Bates and now Noreen will carry on that tradition of excellence. Noreen brings an excellent blend of knowledge and experiences that will help lead the committee's initiatives for years to come. As a former National Team coach and one of only a few Level 4 certified Softball Coaches, Noreen knows what it takes to get athletes prepared to compete and perform at the highest level. In her professional career, Noreen consults with provincial sport organizations in numerous areas of development, which includes Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD), Coaching, Officials, Board Governance and any Grants available to the sports. Noreen will be able to bring the knowledge and best practices from these sports into her work on Softball Canada's LTPD Committee.
'This is a wonderful opportunity to chair the LTPD Committee for Softball Canada and one that aligns to the work I'm doing with Sask Sport Inc. currently' stated Noreen. 'Working with sports daily provides me the opportunity to learn best practices from a variety of sports that translates to leading or using ideas in other sports. Along with playing and coaching in softball, I'm excited to get to work on current projects and to engage in new initiatives. I'm excited to continue the excellent work done by previous chairs and committee members in identifying programs and structures that will facilitate the values of the organization and softball's LTPD model. I look forward to working with passionate people that want to develop the sport from the grassroots to the podium.'
-SC-
For more information, please contact:
Lise Jubinville
Manager - LTAD and Coaching Services
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3108
ljubinville@softball.ca
