Adam Ingle was a speed skating parent, an adult skater and president of the Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club, but he wasn't a coach.
Not until he watched his son James race and noticed his coach was nowhere to be seen.
"He didn't get a lot of attention from that coach and that coach missed his races a few times," said Ingle." I got a little annoyed and had to get in the box myself, before I was a coach, to make sure he had somebody to cheer-lead him and that's what started the whole thing."
Ten years later, Ingle is the BC. Speed Skating' Association's choice for coach of the year for 2014. Club president Ariadne Hiller presented the award to him on Wednesday.
"It was a nice surprise for me," said Hiller, 41. "When athletes have success it certainly brings more attention to the coach."
The Blizzard's older and most experienced group of skaters have blossomed under Ingle's watch. That group includes Lucas Hiller and twins Nicolas and Carolina Hiller. Carolina was a gold medal in the 500-metre event at the Canadian age class short track championships at Kin 1, Lucas was a silver medalist in the short track national 1,500m event, while Nicolas focused on long track skating and finished the year with a top-10 national ranking.
Other Blizzard athletes who have thrived working with Ingle include Samara Thew, a bronze medalist in the 1,500m event at the long track age group nationals; Callie Swan, who won four gold medals at B.C. Winter Games; Eric Orlowsky, who won bronze at the age class long track nationals and gold at the B.C. long track championships; Sylvia Masich, who won provincial gold in long track and provincial bronze in short track; and B.C. short track bronze medalists Landon Young and Josh Hawkenson.
"It can be very rewarding watching them come to realizations about things they learn about themselves, particularly when they're going through difficult challenges, and maybe that provides them with a tool they use later in life," Ingle said.
Ingle started out coaching a novice group that included his foster son Jared. Oldest son James is now the club announcer and wife Sandy comes from a skating family. Her brother Kevin Galloway was a Blizzard skater and her grandfather Raye Miller was one of the first Blizzard club coaches. Many of the provincial- and national-calibre skaters Ingle now coaches were part of his intermediate group several years ago.
Speed skating is a technical sport that requires hours of repetition in practice and subtle changes to skating stride and race strategy can make huge differences in finish positions.
"Sometimes you have to be really picky and I have to explain that to the athletes," he said. "Particularly with the older, more talented athletes, you look for smaller refinements than you do with the younger athletes, who are still making big changes. If it gains you half a second over 500 metres, that's quite a bit at the end of the day."
Ingle, who works full-time as a team leader in administration for Revenue Canada, puts in 20-25 hours per week of volunteer hours coaching the Blizzard and he's on the job 11 months per year.
Ingle is now a Level 2 coach. Blizzard coach Corine Masich says his knowledge of the sport and his low-key approach makes it fun for the kids and brings out the best in them.
"It doesn't matter which athlete it is, he's got the time for all of them," said Masich. "He's enthusiastic and he's so organized he can tell the athlete right after the race if they've set a personal best for the season or even for that venue.
"He's in it because he loves to do it and he really enjoys the group of athletes we have. It's a really neat cohesive group of athletes and adults and you don't see that very often and you look towards the leadership of the coach, and he brings that inclusiveness to the group. I couldn't ask for a better mentor."
Jamie MacDonald of Fort St. James won the award as provincial female skater of the year
