OTTAWA – Mike Goyette of Sherbrooke, Québec has attained another of his many coaching dreams. In fact, he has become only the fifth baseball coach in Canada to earn the High Performance Coaching Diploma from the National Coaching Institute (NCI) in Montreal.
By earning his NCI Diploma in High Performance Coaching, he also earned his level 4 certification from the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP).
It is with a lot of effort and determination that this qualified coach earned these recent achievements, and he did it only 14 months when it takes most coaches enrolled 16, 18 and even 24 months to accomplish.
“I had to make a lot of sacrifices to reach my goal and I’m very happy to have accomplished it,” says Goyette. “Since August 2008, twice a week I would wake up at 4 AM to get to my classes for 8 AM at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. It wasn’t easy, especially in the winter months. I also had to juggle that with my sport-études, as well as coaching Midget AAA and my several baseball schools.”
"It was a pleasure for me to serve as his mentor coach through this journey," says André Lachance, Baseball Operations Manager with Baseball Canada. "Mike is truly passionate about the game of baseball and he is a great asset for baseball in his region and his province. I am sure Mike will be able to integrate this new acquired knowledge into his practice and programs."
“Over the last year, I have had the chance to share ideas and gain lots of knowledge from renowned national and international coaches,” adds Goyette. “They would ask me questions about the way I coach my athletes and I think I impressed them with my passion as well as change some perceptions about the development of the sport. I was able to show them how baseball has evolved and that it’s a multi-facetted sport at the technical level, as well as tactical and physiological.”
“With this new knowledge, I hope I can be used as a valuable resource and help guide my region out of a difficult period in terms of membership and development. I am now recognized at the national and international levels and I can bring a lot to the heads of our regional associations.”
And if that was not enough, Goyette is working on other projects.
“I’ve already completed one level 5 course and I want to continue to pursue this avenue so that I can achieve what is considered the pinnacle of coaching. I still need to complete seven courses to get it and I hope I can get there within two years.”
“I would also like to continue my work as a baseball consultant over in Europe and try to solidify the sport-études programs, which should have more students involved than it does presently. Unfortunately, many of the local associations don’t promote these excellent programs which develop great athletes and great people who will give back to baseball within a couple of years. It’s hard to understand and we can’t let these opportunities slip away before it is too late.”
To earn his NCI Diploma in High Performance Coaching, Goyette had to complete some very comprehensive courses including Energy Systems, Physical Preparation, Nutrition, Recovery and Regeneration, Mental Preparation for Coaches, Mental Preparation for Athletes, Program Design, Athlete Long-Term Development, Leadership and Ethics and many more.
While completing each of those courses, he also had to produce multiple assignments as well as pass many written and oral exams which demanded several hours of work to complete.
“There were many sleepless nights and I sacrificed a lot,” admits the passionate Goyette.
The culminating point of the year and the part which confirmed he would receive his diploma was his portfolio presentation for a panel of experts.
The presentation lasted an hour and 30 minutes, taking from excerpts of a book he is currently working on and hopes to have on bookshelves within a couple of years. The working title in French is “Le joueur de baseball et son développement.”
It was with a great sigh of relief that Goyette was notified officially that he would be receiving his diploma after his portfolio presentation.
