VOTE FOR "OLD COACH"

3, 2, 1, Go! This familiar phrase is heard echoing around the small-town rink of Spencerville, Ontario every Sunday afternoon at 1:45 signifying the start of a race as famous as some marathons, the popular “Cookie Race”. Ron “Old Coach” Baker has been racing 4 and 5 year old hockey players for the past 40 years, still looking for his first win. Unlike most coaches who usually follow their kids up through the minor hockey system, Ron has remained with the South Grenville Minor Hockey Association Initiation program, helping over 2000 kids learn to skate and love hockey, and is recently coaching a player in which he also coached his father and grandfather. His commitment to youth hockey goes above and beyond the norm, from always being the first one at the rink on Saturday mornings, to his Montreal Canadians cape, to strategically scheduling his Sunday afternoon ice time so that it is just before public skating so that he can then encourage and join his hockey players for extra ice and fun without their hockey equipment. “Old Coach” gives back by leading, doing and inspiring others to follow his message, which is always, “hockey is for the kids”! He holds coaching clinics and mentorship programs that have in turn inspired over 200 coaches to take on the important role of being a youth hockey coach. Through these, his message is to make hockey fun and when we do this, kids will love it and learn the basics. His philosophy has never changed, which is why there are thousands of kids, teenagers, and adults in the community and its surroundings that immediately recognize the name “Old Coach” and then follow it with a “Remember when…”. Ron has held many positions on a variety of hockey executives and boards, along with assisting in the development of the country’s Initiation program and to this day is still our association’s coach mentor.

Our association is extremely lucky to have many extrodinary volunteers, but the one who has had the biggest impact is Old Coach!