Sir Wil coach selected as Ottawa’s best

The woman who resurrected the girls’ rugby program at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School by taking on coaching responsibilities in 2006 actually leads four rugby teams: Sir Wil, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, the Coven club program and the national university sevens team, which won a silver medal at this past year’s world university championships.

“If I were coaching the same level at four different programs, then I think it would get boring after awhile,” Chaulk says. “But because I do different age groups and different performance levels, it’s fresh. The high-performance feeds my desire for really high-level rugby, and high school reminds me of how it all started.”

Sir Wil grad and current Ottawa Gee-Gee Courtney Healey is a perfect example of the kind of player Chaulk has helped grow. The Orléans native never imagined she could be playing for a university team when she first tried out rugby in Grade 11.

“(Chaulk’s) whole philosophy is that this is a sport where any girl can come out and play,” Healey notes. “If she has the opportunity to introduce sport – and this sport in particular – to other people, then she’s done that whenever she’s had the opportunity.”

Chaulk’s willingness to help out at Sir Wil was crucial since there wouldn’t have been a team that year without a coach. Healey, who now helps direct the Sir Wil program, says there’s been a “huge influx of girls wanting to try the sport” to the point that there may be enough players for a junior and senior team this spring, which is their fourth season.

“If anyone deserves this award, I think it’s her,” Healey says of Chaulk. “She spends her whole life devoting herself to rugby.”

The University of Ottawa coaching job is the only one Chaulk gets paid for, and “nine times out of 10” she ends up putting the money back into the program. Her expenses as coach of the national university sevens team – including an upcoming trip to the United Arab Emirates – are self-funded.

Chaulk says she would like to coach a national women’s sevens team one day – ideally in Canada, but potentially elsewhere – because of the challenge and fun she gets from her “second” job.

“I love it. I loved playing when I played and I love coaching now,” explains Chaulk, who began coaching when she was one of the more experienced players on a coachless team. “There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing one of your players do well and knowing that you might have contributed to it.”

Others from the east end honoured at the Ottawa Sports Awards included 2008 Olympic sprinter Richard Adu-Bobie as well as former Henry Larsen Elementary School teacher Denis Landry, who passed away this past year and won a sports volunteer lifetime achievement award in 2007.

Winning awards in their respective sports were Patrick Biggs (alpine skiing), Jillian Taylor (softball), Ivanie Blondin (short track speed skating), Joseph Azzi (taekwondo) and Gabriela Dabrowski (tennis).