The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) is proud to announce its 2018-19 participant in the annual Female Apprentice Coach Program for the sport of Badminton.
George Brown Huskies, OCAA
Apprentice: Yunji Kim
Mentor: William Schram
As a result of her positive attitude, continuous yearning for personal improvement and focus, Yunji Kim established herself as one of the CCAA’s best after five seasons with the George Brown Huskies.
This season, she returns to the Huskies badminton program as an apprentice under her former head coach William Schram, who believes Kim will be a wonderful asset to the Huskies coaching staff.
“Yunji is an exceptional young woman and any athlete that is lucky enough to have her as a coach and a role model will benefit from their relationship without a doubt,” said Schram. “I couldn’t think of a better person to mentor.”
As a former high-performance athlete himself, ranked as high as No. 4 nationally in Men’s Singles, Schram brings an excellent playing pedigree to complement his coaching background.
“This makes him very relatable to the athletes as they demonstrate an added respect for the instruction and coaching he provides since he also has the elite playing experience to support it,” said Melanie Gerin-Lajoie, Manager of Athletics & Recreation at George Brown College.
In addition to multiple Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) medals, Kim is a decorated student-athlete at the National level as well. Last March, she captured a bronze medal in Women’s Doubles at the 2018 CCAA Badminton National Championships, hosted by Concordia University of Edmonton. She excelled off the court as well, twice earning CCAA Academic All-Canadian status as well as a CCAA National Scholar Award honour.
Kim recently gained coaching experience by assisting Schram at his weekend clinics. She worked with advanced and intermediate groups; assisting with feeding drills, positioning and basic strategy and playing faster paced competitive games with the members to enhance their game.
Now, Kim will get the opportunity to work with student-athletes at George Brown.
“Taking part in the Female Apprentice Coach Program will aid in shaping my abilities as a coach and improving my communication skills further to become an individual who can inspire and motivate people while also helping future athletes realize their dreams,” she said.
There’s no doubt how much female student-athletes will benefit in all aspects of their life from having a such a strong female role model such as Kim.
“It is tremendously important for us as a CCAA varsity badminton program to have both male and female representation on our coaching staff moving forward,” said Gerin-Lajoie. “Investing in a five-year graduate and multiple national and provincial medalist of our program is a perfectly timed opportunity to do so.”
FACP Profiles Release Dates
Wednesday, Sept. 12: CCAA Soccer
Wednesday, Sept. 19: CCAA Cross-Country Running
Wednesday, Sept. 26: CCAA Basketball
Wednesday, Oct. 3: CCAA Badminton
Wednesday, Oct. 10: CCAA Volleyball