Webinar – Becoming Para Ready for Coaches

Becoming Para Ready for Coaches

Are you curious about how to become involved in Para Sport or want to expand your knowledge to better welcome and support athletes with a disability in your sport? This one-hour webinar led by Athletics Canada’s Para Development Manager Fannie Smith will review the basics of Becoming Para Ready with one of the framework’s author Tim Konoval from the Steadward Centre and welcome Paralympians turned coaches Darda Sales (Wheelchair Basketball and Swimming) and Michael Whitehead (Wheelchair Rugby) for a discussion around their journey in Parasport and transition into Coaching.

Meet the Speakers:

Fannie Smith: 

Fannie found her true passion for adaptive and parasports at the end of 2010 and has never looked back. Fannie has established herself as a leader in the Canadian Parasport landscape is currently the Manager, Para Development with Athletics Canada and a Director with Wheelchair Rugby Canada.

In 2021, guided by the “Becoming Para Ready” framework developed by the Steadward Centre for Personal & Physical Achievement, Fannie worked on developing a national Para Athletics development strategy focusing on building a strong foundation at the Provincial and Territorial level, creating greater capacity, support and alignment of Para Athletics, including integration and inclusion at all levels.

Fannie is a Certified Canadian Diversity and Inclusion Professional  (CCIP) with the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) and has been building her knowledge and growing her advocacy for better representation and inclusion in sport. She believes that creating spaces where individuals feel safe and seen and belong will lead to a more inclusive and diverse society and that this work starts with athletes with a disability, LGTBQI2S athlete & BIPOC athletes and coaches.

Emerging as a sought after bilingual facilitator she strives on collaboration and connection and guiding conversations that lead to meaningful action.

Timothy Konoval:

Tim Konoval earned a PhD a Sport and Coach Development from the University of Alberta. He is currently a Lecturer and Researcher at University of Alberta and the Steadward Centre. Tim has also worked on numerous disability sport coaching projects with local, provincial and national sport and parasport organizations. He developed a resource to help coaches “become para ready”. In addition, he led a project with the Coaching Association of Canada and the Canadian Paralympic Committee that examined disability inclusion in Canada’s National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP). He is excited to help coaches and clubs learn how to be more inclusive and become “para ready”.

Darda Sales: 

Darda Sales, PhD, PLY, completed her doctoral studies at Western University in 2022 where she focused her research on para athlete development. Her passion for para sport is fueled by her experiences as a three-time Paralympian in swimming (gold and silver medalist) & one-time Paralympian in wheelchair basketball, coach, and classifier. Darda currently provides consulting services to national and provincial sport organizations looking to enhance their para sport programming. In everything she does, Darda is committing to making sport more accessible and equitable to those who experience impairment.

Mike Whitehead:

Before his spinal cord injury, Mike Whitehead was an avid multi-sport athlete who enjoyed basketball, volleyball, hockey, soccer, and badminton. He was introduced to wheelchair rugby when his future teammates, including David Willsie, came to visit him at the Parkwood Rehabilitation Hospital in London, Ontario. He quickly became hooked on the contact and the level of competition and made the national team, just one year after his injury.

Mike has been a mainstay in Team Canada, have competed in five Paralympic games (2 silvers & 1 bronze), five World Championships (1 gold, 1 silver & 2 bronze) and two Parapan Am Games (1 gold & 1 silver). He has taken on a mentorship role with his younger teammates in recent years, by his sharing his experiences and knowledge of the sport.

Most recently, Mike coached Canada’s wheelchair rugby team at the Toronto Invictus Games and at the 2021 Low-Point Tournament in Switzerland. Mike is an accomplished public speaker having presented at the notable TEDxBeaconStreet event in Boston.

How to Register?