Some Very Big Shoes
My high school coach, Dave Nicholls, was a major influence in my life – partly for what he did for me
when I was an athlete at Queen Elizabeth High School, and partly for how he affected me after he
passed away. When I was in second year university, Dave, age 49, died of a brain aneurism. We had
been close, and it was a massive blow to me. I was a pallbearer at his funeral, and shortly thereafter I
found myself coaching the high school team, trying to fill some very big shoes. I quickly found that I
loved working with student-athletes, and that using my knowledge of the sport as a platform to teach
was very rewarding. At the time however, there were six full-time coaching positions in BC, 2 at each of
UVic, SFU and UBC. Within a couple of years that number was reduced to three. The prospect of
making a career out of coaching track and field wasn’t good, and so I did what many aspiring coaches do – I became a teacher so that I could feed my coaching addiction after school, as a volunteer.
While I waited for one of the coveted coaching positions to become available, I often reflected on my
predicament. It seemed to me that many of my peers valued the coaches in their lives as much as they
did their good teachers. Part of the reason for this was the relational nature of the work – coaching
wasn’t just about imparting knowledge, but also about getting to know and care about the student-
athlete outside the field of play. Yet very few professional coaching positions existed. Our coaches
taught us to be gracious in defeat and humble in victory. We learned that there is a time to have fun
and a time to get down to work. Former coaches get invited to weddings. They are called upon years
after careers have ended to give mentoring advice. Coaching is a high calling.
The idea of the Thunderbirds Coaches Tribute is twofold. Firstly, we feel it is important to, as a
collective, honor those who built the UBC Cross Country and Track and Field programs. We stand on the
shoulders of giants, and Thursday, January 12th will be an opportunity for the Thunderbird community to
recognize that. Across eras and generations, we have something in common – the incredible influence
of the Head Coach of UBC Cross Country and Track and Field on our lives. Marek Jedrzejek, Carmyn
James, Thelma Wright, Diane Clement and Doug Clement will all be here and would love to see their
former athletes! Secondly, knowing how important coaching has been to us, we want to start by
doubling the size of the full time coaching staff – from one to two. To truly coach well, we need to
improve the coach-athlete ratio and simultaneously spread the administrative load. If we can do this,
we can continue to impact future Thunderbirds in the same way that each of you were influenced. $90
from each ticket will go into a fund to support the hiring of a new coach.
Your call-to-action is to click on the link below to purchase a ticket to this great event. Can’t make it?
Perhaps you’d consider buying a plate for a current athlete – they’d get a chance to understand the
history of the program and you receive a tax receipt! We’d love to see you on January 12th, but equally
we hope that, in some way, you are able to support the event.
Laurier Primeau
Head Coach, UBC Cross Country and Track and Field
