Sept. 22, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
As an aspiring coach, having the chance to meet with peers that have been successful at the highest levels is invaluable. Earlier this month, Illinois State student assistant volleyball coach Laura Doornbos as well as athletics department graduate assistants, Kelly (Rikli) Kreger and Andrea Mosher, were awarded such an opportunity when they were selected to take part in the Fifth Annual Women in Coaching Conference at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The conference, which ran September 7-10, was jointly held by The United States Olympic Committee (USOC), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The purpose of the three-day event was to focus on leadership and coaching issues that today's female coaches face.
The conference provided the three members of the Illinois State athletics department the opportunity to network with coaches from around the country. The three aforementioned organizations developed this program to provide continuing education, so as to help foster and retain coaches in a climate that has seen a 20 percent decline in women coaches over the last 10 years.
"It was such an amazing weekend because there were so many elite female coaches from the high school and college ranks to the Olympic level," two-time first-team All-Valley selection Doornbos said. "It was great to hear about how different coaches from different sports handle recruiting, administrative duties and coaching strategy.
"We were really lucky (here at ISU) to be able to have three women attend. Most schools had one or two representatives."
The featured speakers at the conference were three former Olympic coaches in Ohio State track and field coach Karen Dennis, Auburn head basketball coach Nell Fortner and UC-Irvine soccer coach April Heinrichs. Each talked about the main themes of the conference such as networking and furthering education.
Each person that was selected to attend the conference from ISU has a strong interest in pursuing careers as coaches. Kreger, a 2001-05 volleyball letterwinner who works in the athletics study center, felt the conference's speakers gave great encouragement towards reaching their future goals.
"The conference gave us a great opportunity to hear from successful gold medal winning women's coaches," Kreger said. "Many times you go to conferences and you hear from male coaches. These coaches that spoke all had such different personalities and styles that directly related to their successes. It gave me great confidence that I can be successful in the future bringing my personality, which is different than many of the coaches I have had, into the profession."
Following the opening night where the former Olympic coaches spoke, attendees spent the next two days taking part in panels, which included the discussion of the importance of self motivation and communication when climbing the coaching ranks. Other panels included management and job advancement tips, as well as a presentation on the leadership practices within the Olympic hierarchy.
