Chantel Norman has finished her final days in Humboldt with a flourish by winning the Saskatchewan Club & Recreational Coach Award of Excellence 2015.
“I was very excited and honoured that my work was recognized and appreciated,” said Norman, who now goes by McDougall since getting married. “I was head coach (in Humboldt), ran the programs on the ice, and organized them all.”
After 15 years of skating and coaching not just in Humboldt, but in Saskatoon as well, Norman felt it was finally time to slow down. She got married last fall and is now looking to start a family, so living in Saskatoon while working in Humboldt would be difficult. Moreover, her commitments with Skate Saskatoon are growing. So this award was a great farewell to a much-loved coach.
“Congratulations to Chantel for 15 years of awesome work and dedication,” said Troy Lucyshyn, president of Skate Humboldt. “Replacing her will be very difficult.”
According to Lucyshyn, the award is given to coaches that have a proven track record for teaching the Learn to Skate program and the Star Skate program, which Norman evidently has.
“It’s about personal success, achievement, participation, spirit, and passion,” said Lucyshyn. “Chantel has demonstrated that she’s achieved all that.”
Ironically, Norman never thought she’d actually end up with a skating career back when she was just 15 and started coaching. She was only a figure skater when the skating club in Humboldt seemed to be on its last legs. It was about to fold, in fact, if nobody could step and take charge of it. So that’s what Norman decided to do.
“At that point, they were going to fold it. I think we had like six skaters; it was so low. We had to rebuild it and there was only four or five of us on the committee then,” she said. “Having the opportunity to start something like that was one of the things that made me fall in love with the sport because (the committee members) became like family.”
After becoming a coach, Norman graduated high school and then commuted for post-secondary education in Saskatoon for hair styling. She eventually moved to the city and coached there while also coaching in Humboldt (and some surrounding communities) and doing hair styling on the side. She stopped training as a skater when she was 18 and last June she gave up hair styling to pursue coaching full time.
“I was amazed at how I could fall in love with each kid individually,” she said. “I go on the journey with them … it’s hard to look back at what you’ve done because it’s always been for the kids and everything I’ve done has been to build more opportunity for them.”
Despite everything she’s accomplished, rebuilding the club, splitting her time coaching so many kids, etc., Norman said she still feels like she sometimes has to prove herself. The figure skating coaching community in Saskatchewan isn’t very big. There are probably only about 50 coaches in total and many of them are in their late 50s and 60s. There’s a generation gap between the older coaches, the younger ones like Norman, and the newer ones who are in their mid- to late teens.
“(The most challenging thing) is having to prove myself only because I look young and I sound young. A lot of people discredit my ability as a coach, so I always feel I having to prove that is a struggle,” she said. “I’ll probably continue to feel that way because everyone is much older.”
Despite that feeling, this award should prove that Norman has distinguished herself as an accomplished coach to her peers.
“The award makes me feel like I’m on the right track and I’m meant to be a coach,” she said. “I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
Norman said it’s going to be extremely difficult saying goodbye to everyone she’s worked with in Humboldt over the last 15 years. A few of them were there with her right from the start. So for her, it’s a bittersweet goodbye.
“I grew up with this group of women and it grew into a board where you became family,” she said. “We built our culture from there. The opportunities of learning to build a community like that is rare. I’ve learned so much and the people I’ve worked with on the board have really made me who I am today and made me successful. They’re definitely part of my success.”
