LANGLEY, British Columbia. Trinity Western University Director of Athletics Murray Hall announced Thursday that Basketball Manitoba High-Performance coach and current Red River College head coach Cheryl Jean-Paul will lead the TWU women’s basketball team into the future as the new head coach of the Spartans.
Basketball Manitoba is currently working on replacing Coach Jean-Paul as its 15U Girls Provincial Team Head Coach and is expected to have announcement on this in the coming week.
"I am extremely excited and
humbled to be joining the Spartan athletics coaching staff, and the
Trinity Western University family, as the new head coach for the women's
basketball program,” commented Jean-Paul on her choice to join TWU.
“The vision of the athletic department and the intentional approach to
the complete athlete is something that I value and look forward to
developing within our basketball community. I have felt more than
welcomed by the vibrant and youthful coaching and support staff and
anticipate a great working environment.”
With over ten years of
coaching experience Jean-Paul brings a wealth of basketball experience
to TWU, which includes three years as head coach at Red River College
where she won an MCAC conference title in 2009 with the Rebels, three
consecutive conference championships and a provincial bronze medal with
River East Collegiate’s junior varsity team, and two years as an
assistant coach with the University of Manitoba Bisons women’s team.
“Trinity
Western's stock rose when Cheryl accepted our proposal to join a great
staff who already know how to develop student-athletes holistically,”
said TWU’s Murray Hall. “Cheryl shares our vision for developing
complete champions on and off the court - she will turn our basketball
program around and into a perennial contender – it is just a matter of
time.”
She has also been the head coach for Manitoba’s 2009
Canada Games U17 girl’s team, Manitoba’s 2011 Western Canada Games U15
15U girl’s team, and the women’s head coach for the Manitoba Region
of the Centre for Performance program.
“This is great news! With
so many recent hires being male, of female teams, we have lost the
experience of so many of our female players. Cheryl has taken this
experience as a player and combined it with her dedicated study of the
game to become an excellent coach. She has so much to offer young women
not only from the basketball the perspective, but from being a positive
role model. Given time I know she will succeed,” said Basketball
Canada’s Manager of Coaching Education and Development Mike MacKay.
Jean-Paul,
who is a Level III NCCP certified coach as well as a Master Learning
Facilitator for the NCCP Intro to Competition basketball coaching
course, has been recognized for her coaching abilities by being awarded
the Jim Bulloch award by the Manitoba Basketball Coaches Association as
well as being a Finalist for the Coaching Manitoba High Performance
Coach of the Year award.
"Cheryl has been a great coaching
ambassador for us in Manitoba! Her tireless commitment to the game in
Manitoba across all levels of the game will be missed greatly! We are
very excited on her move out west to TWU and wish her nothing but
success - except of course when her team competes against any Manitoba
school!,” commented Basketball Manitoba Executive Director Adam Wedlake.
In
2009, the native of Winnipeg, traveled to Zambia and Rwanda to observe
and to help their national sporting organizations in developing their
programming and their pursuit of athletic excellence and traveled to
Baker Lake, Nunavut to provide clinician work and guest-speak at the
BLYAA awards banquet. She has also been a clinician at a number of
clinics including Basketball Manitoba Super Coaches Clinic, University
of Manitoba Elite 60 Camp, University of Manitoba Women’s Spring Camp,
University of Manitoba Mini-University basketball camp, St. John’s
Ravenscourt Sports Camp and Athletes in Action Spring Break clinic.
"Cheryl
is a fantastic person and a fabulous leader. In my mind, she is a
"blue-chip"; someone that can bring TWU to a National Championship,”
commented CIS silver medalist Windsor Lancers women’s basketball head
coach Chantal Vallée.
As a five year player with the University
of Manitoba Jean-Paul earned all-star and MVP honours (1999-2000) with
the Bisons, a CIS silver medal and a GPAC conference championship in
1998. Jean-Paul scored over 1000 points in her five year career and was
among the perennial conference leaders in free throw percentage and
steals. In 1999, she was involved in Athletes in Action European tour
team that toured Switzerland & Slovakia.
“I would especially
like to thank Basketball Manitoba, Basketball Canada and Red River
College for the support and opportunities that have been provided for my
coaching development in helping me prepare to take on this role. I look
forward to working with the athletes who have been representing the
Spartan program and plan to continue bringing in quality
student-athletes who will proudly wear the Spartan colours,” added
Jean-Paul.
Jean-Paul, who graduated from Manitoba in 2005 with a
Bachelor of Science degree, is also a level two basketball official who
has over eight years of officiating experience including refereeing in
the CIS, the Manitoba provincial championships and at the national level
for the 15U girls’ championships.
Jean-Paul, replaces former
head coach Kerby Court after a three year term with the Spartans.
Trinity
Western University, in Langley, B.C., is a provincially chartered,
independent Christian liberal arts and sciences university, enrolling
approximately 4000 students. TWU offers 42 undergraduate majors, ranging
from biotechnology, education, theatre and music, to psychology,
communications and biblical studies. TWU's 16 graduate degree programs
include nursing, counseling psychology, business, theology, linguistics,
and leadership, and interdisciplinary degrees in English, philosophy
and history. TWU holds Canada Research Chairs in Dead Sea Scroll
Studies, Developmental Genetics and Disease, and Interpretation,
Religion & Culture.
http://www.twu.ca/athletics