UPEI Women’s Soccer head coach sets winning example for team
Michael Redmond, head coach of the UPEI Women's Soccer team, has been named the AUS Coach of the Year and was awarded the PEI Association for Newcomers to Canada (PEIANC) Outstanding Individual Award for his and his team's work with the community at the organization's annual general meeting.
The PEIANC Outstanding Individual Award recognizes an individual in the community who has shown leadership and dedication to welcoming and integrating newcomers to PEI.
The father of three runs soccer programs all year long during the winter, spring and summer for children whose families have just moved to PEI. The team also gets involved and has hosted a sports game day and barbecue for the newcomer families. Redmond gets all the equipment donated or purchases it himself, takes care of transportation for many of them, and treats a busload of the players to a Panthers hockey game every year.
'We believe as a university soccer team that we have a bigger global responsibility to not only make our community a better place to live but also to make the world a better place,' says Redmond. 'We accomplish this goal one child at a time.'
The UPEI Women's Soccer Team has a long history of giving back to their community as well as beyond Island shores. In 2009, the program received a $5,000 award from the national True Sport Community Fund for leadership in community sports development work in large part due to Redmond's encouragement and his 'lead by example' style of coaching.
Team activities in the past included hosting the annual 12-hour SOS Children's Villages soccer game; organizing a Valentine's Day teddy bear drive for the pediatric ward at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and indoor and March Break soccer programs; visiting seniors' homes; participating in the Alzheimer's Society of PEI's Christmas house tours, the Tim Horton's Food Drive and several other food bank initiatives, and the IWK Hospital Radiothon. Redmond and his UPEI team have also organized and conducted fitness sessions twice a week to engage Tremploy clients in physical activity.
'Community engagement, and appreciation in return, provides a wonderful experience for student-athletes, and helps enhance team spirit and success,' added Ron Annear, director of Athletics at UPEI. 'We are inspired by Mike's leadership and dedication to community, and his ability to instill these great qualities in the members of the Women's Soccer team-- they truly exemplify what means to be a student-athlete at UPEI.'
Redmond has high hopes that his winning streak continues as the team heads into the AUS championship this weekend at Acadia. UPEI finished in first place during league play and is a legitimate contender for the CIS title when they host the CIS Women's Soccer Championship, November 11-14.
