Ontario Senior Women's Program Announce 2019 Coaching Staff

January 25, 2019

Ontario Blues Senior Women Announce 2019 Coaching Staff

January 25th, 2019

(WHITBY,ON)- The Rugby Ontario High Performance Program is excited to announce a new structure for the Ontario Senior Women’s Team beginning in 2019. Ontario will now be divided into ONTARIO EAST and ONTARIO WEST. “The rationale behind this change is to support our developing provincial athletes.” stated Rugby Ontario High Performance Manager Paul Connelly.

•Regional Hubs support increased training touch points (Technical/Tactical/S&C).
•Expanded player pool across the province.
•Senior Women and U20’s Training together.
•Decrease in travel time and cost to the athlete.
•Opportunities for professional development for local club and school coaches.

Leading Ontario East will be Head Coach Jackie Tittley. As a former player with the National Senior Women’s Team, past assistant coach with the Quebec Senior Women’s Team and current Barrhaven Scottish Head Coach, Jackie brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Senior Blue’s Program. Professionally, Jackie works with the Coaching Association of Canada.

Leading Ontario West will be Head Coach Darrell Devine. Darrell has been a fixture with Rugby Ontario for many years in the capacity of coach, referee and educator in the rugby community. A University, provincial and national level coach, Darrell has had not only a great deal of team success, but also has developed some of Ontario’s top age grade players onto the National stage.

“The true strength of this year’s program will be the “community of coaches” who will be engaged with each respective regional program. Jackie and Darrell have connected with many of the top coaches in Canada to work with our best provincial women athletes in their respective regions. This “community” development approach can only help accelerate the transition from “BLUE” TO “RED” stated Connelly.

Potential Schedule

February and March (Regional Sites)

ID / Training / Regional Selections

April / May

Game Series (Ontario East vs. Ontario West locations T.B.A.)
Sunday April 21^st
Sunday April 28^th
Sunday May 5^th
Teams will be selected after this session
(Ontario Provincial and Ontario Development)
Rugby Canada will also use these games as “selection” for upcoming Canada Events.

Canada: Can-Am Series: May 15th to 25th Toronto or Guelph

June

Sunday June 2^nd: Training Session (Provincial and Development Teams)
Eastern Canadian Championships (Quebec City) June 7^th, 8^th and 9^th
2-Game Championship Tournament
2-Game Development Tournament
Coach Bus Transportation for both teams and staff.

Canada: June 24th to July 12th Top 5 in San Diego (Can/Fra/NZ/England/USA)

July

AMS Women (UK Army Team) vs. Ontario Developmental
Wednesday July 3^rd
Tuesday July 9^th

Remainder of schedule to be developed for July and August.

As with all Rugby Ontario HP Programs, the ONE CALENDAR approach will support athlete engagement with their home club program and of course, all NSWT events.

Player Centred

Development Driven

Competition Supported

If you are interested in being added to the (u19/Sr women’s) email list, please follow the link below to input your contact information. Key updates regarding program tryouts, dates and structure will be communicated as they occur.

Sr. women’s Link
https://goo.gl/forms/hqSkvWmcS125UXE92

ABOUT THE ONTARIO BLUES

The Ontario Blues program is the high performance representative program for male and female rugby players in Ontario. Rugby Ontario is represented at the provincial level by the Ontario Blues. The program includes representative teams from Under-15 to Senior in both Women’s and Men’s Fifteens and Under-18 Men's and Women's Sevens. Specifically, the program is designed to develop and showcase rugby players for Canadian representative national teams.

ABOUT RUGBY ONTARIO

Rugby Ontario is the provincial sports governing body responsible for the organization of rugby in Ontario. Our mission is to establish a stronger identity for rugby in Ontario by promoting the sport’s core values and by fostering a culture of inclusiveness and excellence on and off the field of play.

To learn more, visit https://www.rugbyontario.com/