National Team Coaches

 

Peter Cookson - High Performance Director

Originally from St. Catharines, Ont., Peter Cookson became RCA's High Performance Director in early 2009.  He has more than 30 years of involvement with the sport of rowing at national and international levels.

Cookson, who coached South Africa’s women’s single sculler at the 2008 Olympics, began his coaching career in Canada in 1985 and was a leading coach for several prominent Canadian university programs - University of British Columbia, University of Western Ontario and the University of Toronto.  He has since coached in the UK, South Africa and Zimbabwe, and has been involved with the FISA (the international rowing federation) Development program in Africa. 

Cookson, a University of Western Ontario graduate, has also worked in coaching education for many years and produced the 2005 DVD called Effective Sculling Technique.

 

Mike Spracklen - National Heavyweight Men’s Coach

Mike Spracklen, who led the 2008 Canadian men's eight to a gold medal in Beijing, has coached at the national level in Canada, the U.S. and his native Great Britain. He has led the Canadian men's eight to wins at the World Championships (2002, 2003 and 2007) and was named 2002 FISA Coach of the Year.

In the early 1990s, he also coached the Canadian men's eight to a gold at the 1992 Olympics and was Silken Laumann's coach for both the 1992 and the 1996 Olympics. In 2000, he served as chief coach (women) in Great Britain - coaching the women's quad to a silver in Sydney.

Spracklen, who was named British Columbia Coach of the Year for 2007, is based in Victoria.

 

Al Morrow - Centre Lead and Senior National Women's Coach

For many years, Hamilton, Ontario native, Al Morrow, has played a key role in the success of Canada's women's rowing program - coaching World and Olympic medallists including Marnie McBean, Kathleen Heddle, Emma Robinson, Alison Korn, Lesley Thompson and many other talented women.

In 1999, the London, Ontario-based coach was recognized by the world rowing federation (FISA) as Coach of the Year.  He was  inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

Morrow is now concentrating on the development of the lightweight women's program. In 2008, Morrow coached the lightweight women's double that picked up an Olympic bronze medal in China.

 

Terry Paul - Senior National Coach (Men)

As a cox for the 1992 men's eight, Terry Paul helped the crew bring home gold for Canada from the Barcelona Games. Since then, he has gained much experience as a coach in Canada with the men's program and with the Swiss National Team.

Terry coached the 2002 World Cup gold medallist lightweight men's four, and women's double, and has been in charge of the Under-23 and non-Olympic programs. In 2006, he coached the Under-23 men's eight to a gold medal and the senior coxed four to a silver medal at the World Championships.

In 2008, Terry coached the men's pair to Olympic Silver in Beijing.

 

John Keogh - Senior National Coach (Women)

John is an Australian who was a National Team athlete and coached in that country. Keogh was more recently a High Performance Rowing Coach in Great Britain working with its women's program at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

He is now the Senior Coach for the National Training Centre in London, ON, overseeing women's crews as they prepare for the World Championships and the 2012 Olympics.

 

Michelle Darvill - National Women's Development Coach

Olympian Michelle Darvill competed for Canada and Germany - winning World Championship gold in the LW 1x, LW2x and LW4x.

She has been involved in coaching since 1992 at the university, club and international levels. She has been an assistant coach with the Women's National Team, and 2007 Pan American Games women's team coach. Recently, she has served at the women's U23 coach, and in 2011 the women's U23 women's eight won World Championship gold.

 

Jeff Powell - Assistant Coach (Women)

Olympian and two-time World Champion (2002 and 2003, men's eight) Powell is now an Assistant National Coach, Women's Program.
Powell began rowing in 1996, and was part of the men's eight leading up to and including the 2004 Olympics. He has been coaching in Manitoba since retiring as an athlete after the Athens Games. He was based at the Winnipeg Rowing Club and served as the VP High Performance for the Manitoba Rowing Association. Most recently, he has been coaching a small group of athletes in a Talent ID and Development program in partnership with RCA.
He holds a BA (hons) from the University of Manitoba and a Master's degree in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

 

Allison Dobb - Assistant Coach (Men)

Allison Dobb has been an assistant coach at the Victoria Training Centre since May 2009, and has worked with RCA in summer contract positions since 2003. She has coached crews that competed at CANAMMEX, Commonwealth, World University Championships, PanAm Games and several world championship teams. In 2007 and 2008 she received the Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award for a bronze and gold respectively in the coxed pair. Allison has a Level 4 diploma from the National Coaching Institute in Victoria.
At the 2010 World Championships, Dobb coached Canada's single sculler, Malcolm Howard.

 

Paul Hawksworth - National Development Coach (Men)

Paul began rowing at the Delta Deas Rowing Club in 1992 and rowed on Canada's U23 Team in the late 1990s.
He started his coaching career in 2000, and has since coached club and university programs in Canada and the US, and coached for Canada at the 2004, 2005, and 2010 U23 World Championships. In 2004, the lightweight four earned a bronze and in 2010 the pair earned a silver medal. In 2001, he was awarded Rowing Canada's "Coach of Male Club Crews" award.

He attended the National Coaching Institute in 2004 and trained under Mike Spracklen, and has completed a Bachelor of Science studying Psychology, as well as a Master of Business Administration.


Jeff Dunbrack - Lead Coach National Adaptive Program

Jeff holds a degree in Physical Education from Brock University where he was an athlete and coach from 1998 to 2005. In early 2005, he became the Head Coach of the St. Catharines Rowing Club.
From 2006 to 2010, Jeff served as the High Performance Coordinator with Wheelchair Basketball Canada. He was the Team Leader for the Silver Medal winning men's wheelchair basketball team at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. His experience in the Canadian Paralympic community combined with his rowing background and coaching skills serve him well in his current position with the adaptive program.
This year, Jeff oversaw the first-ever World Championship gold for adaptive rowing in the LTA 4+.

 

Chuck McDiarmid - Development Coordinator-  bio to come.

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