Men’s National Softball Team Adds Three Pool Coaches

(Ottawa, ON) Softball Canada is pleased to announce that three coaches have been added to the Men’s National Team Coaches Pool. Tom Doucette (Middle Musquodoboit, NS) has returned to take on the Junior Men’s National Team Head Coach position, with Jean-Yves Doucet (St-Leonard-d’Aston, QC) and Todd McCulloch (Martensville, SK) joining him as assistant coaches.
 
Tom Doucette returns to the Junior Men’s National Team program after a two year absence.  He last coached the Junior Men’s National Team at the 2012 ISF Junior Men’s World Championship held in Argentina. He served as the Team Leader of the Junior Men’s team in 2001 before taking on the role of assistant coach in 2005 followed by head coach in 2008 and 2012. Canada won a silver (2008) and two bronze medals (2001 and 2005) as well as a fourth place finish (2012) over that period. At the local level, Tom coached various Junior, Intermediate and Senior teams between 1980 and 1992, and also coached Team Nova Scotia at four Canada Summer Games (Boy’s in 1989, 1993 and 1997; Girl’s in 2001), leading his 1993 team to a Silver medal. Doucette has also been instrumental in the development of coaching in Canada as a member of Softball Canada’s Coaching Development Committee since 1997.
 
Jean-Yves Doucet joins the coaches pool after serving as a guest coach and scout with the Junior Men’s National Team in 2014. He has international coaching experience in France, serving as an assistant coach of their U22 Junior Women’s National Team at the 2008 European Championship and as a consultant in 2002. Doucet has been instrumental in building the men’s fastpitch program in St-Leonard-d’Aston, QC and in the province of Quebec. He has been the Head Coach of the St-Leonard-d’Aston Express since 1993, and has represented Quebec as Head Coach of their men’s teams at 12 Canadian Championships (Gold in 2000 and 2013; bronze in 2006) and three Canada Summer Games (1989 – Silver; 1993 and 2001). He served as Head Coach of Team Quebec at the 2013 U21 Men’s International Championship held in Saskatoon.
 
Todd McCulloch, a newcomer to the National Team program, has been a high performance coach in Saskatchewan since 2003 with a focus on hitting and pitching. He has worked with many individual players and teams to improve their skills with the use of video analysis. He has coached both men’s and women’s teams, including Team Saskatchewan at the 2007 and 2011 Western Canada Summer Games, and is currently a coach with the U18 Women’s team. McCulloch coached the University of Regina women’s softball team from 2009 to 2011, and has had success coaching various club teams since 2010, including a bronze medal at the 2010 Junior Women’s Canadian Championship and a pair of Gold medals as an assistant coach at the provincial championships (U18 Men in 2013 and U21 Men in 2014). He is a CANpitch Master Pitching Instructor since 2012, and became a Master Learning Facilitator in 2014.
 
The Junior Men’s National Team coaching staff will be planning and preparing throughout 2015. Their goal will be to identify the best U19 eligible players for the 2016 ISF Junior Men’s World Championship. More information regarding selection camps and identification opportunities will follow.