Two members of Synchro Canada’s staff will be heading to PyeongChang, South Korea to take part in the Olympic Winter Games.
Both will be volunteering with the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) in different capacities.
Julie Healy, Synchro Canada’s Chief Sport Officer will be attending her 5th Olympic Games. With Hockey Canada, she acted as the Team Leader for the Canadian Women’s Hockey Team in Torino and Vancouver and with the COC, she was a Manager of Team Services in London and Sochi.
This time around Julie will lead the onsite delivery of the COC’s Emerging Leaders Familiarization, a program that will provide a small group of summer sport NSO coaches and team leaders with the opportunity to see all aspects of the COC operations at Games, which includes everything from ensuring snowboards, skis and skates arrive, to making sure each athlete has creature comforts from Canada during their stay in a foreign land.
“I’m really looking forward sharing with my summer sports colleagues all that I learned from my experiences as a team leader and as a member of the COC onsite team,” said Julie. “It will be valuable for them see all the operations that the COC delivers at the Games and their attention to the details that are so important in creating an environment that supports athlete and coach success. I clearly remember my first Games as a team leader when this type of familiarization didn’t exist and I can say with certainty that a program like this one would have better prepared me for my first Olympic Games”.
Isabelle Lecompte, Synchro Canada’s High Performance Manager will be taking in a winter games after being with the duet team at the Olympic Summer Games in 2016 in Brazil. She will be on the COC’s mission staff, working in transportation. “After being in Rio, I understand just how much stress can be on the athletes and coaches to get from one place to another,” said Isabelle. “I’m looking forward to making sure we have vans and drivers ready to transport people, and or equipment, to the right places, and taking away all the stress that other team managers might be feeling!”
Synchro Canada’s CEO, Jackie Buckingham, supports these professional development opportunities for the staff, as well as the linkage between summer and winter sports. “We know both Julie and Isabelle have a lot to offer and will assist the COC in creating a wonderful atmosphere for the athletes and coaches. We feel it’s an important aspect of our sport family in Canada to continue to learn through these opportunities and to share the experience our team has gained with others.”
The Olympic Winter Games run February 9-25 and will hold competition in 15 different sports.