Joan McDonald ChPC, is making her fourth trip to the Summer Olympic Games as Team Canada’s Archery Coach. Joan will be leading a talented group of four athletes to Beijing. The Men’s team is comprised of John David (J.D.) Burnes, Crispin Duenas, and Jay Lyon. “We have our first full men’s team at the Olympics since 1992. They are all young and terrifically talented – anything is possible,” comments Joan. Team Canada will also have one female archer at the Games but that athlete will have to be the top archer at the qualifier this weekend.

2008 marks Joan’s 50^th year in the sport of archery. She was Canada’s top female archer for many years and she competed internationally for 32 years (between 1962 and 1994). Joan couldn’t leave the sport when she could no longer compete at the highest level in the sport. She decided to take her knowledge and experience and share it with other athletes within the sport. Joan coaches over 30 athletes with the Archers of Caledon and Bullseye Buccaneers in Ontario. In 2000, before she left for the Olympic Games in Sydney she made the decision to further her coaching education and enroll in the National Coaching Institute Ontario, 2 years later she emerged as a fully certified Level 4 coach.

“I was pretty close-minded about what I thought I knew. It never dawned on me that I would learn so much from coaches of other sports. It opened my mind to be more creative, to always look for other ways to do things, to be more inquisitive. It gave me resources, confidence and courage.”

Coaches of Canada wish Joan and her team all the best in Beijing.