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Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
2013.55.56 B |
Object Name |
Video Recording |
Title |
Ken Shields Interview |
Scope & Content |
Ken Shields interview, 3 November 2009. Digitized MP4 from Sony 40 Advanced ME DVCAM. Viewing time 00:33:55. 00:30Childhood: remembers listening to Foster Hewitt on the radio, dreamt of playing for the Leafs, played hockey on outdoor rink, baseball in summer 01:09When started basketball: family moved to Haida Gwai (Queen Charlotte's), no ice for hockey, only sport they played was basketball, learned to love the game, moved at Grade 6 to Prince Rupert 02:00When did you think of playing as a career: farthest thing from my dreams, did not make the high school team at first, in Grade 12 wanted to play with the good players, one day he realized he could make the team, "One of the biggest thrills of my life to get the Prince Rupert Rainmaker uniform", in grade 13 won BC High School Championships, tremendous thrill and huge impact on his life 03:38University: played for Mount Royal College, had a scholarship, then played at University of Calgary and University British Columbia 04:21 Decision to coach: decided while in Calgary wanted to be a coach, so went to UBC and took Physical Education, was then offered job coaching women's team 04:49Did coaching have a greater appeal than playing: had no more eligibility left, got a graduate assistanceship coaching the women's team, had a fantastic year and won the Nationals and 5/6 of the girls made the national team 05:49Difference between coaching men and women: don't believe you should make a distinction between men and women in coaching, game is still basketball, never coached a more dedicate group and had more fun coaching that year 06:27Career: was head coach at Laurentian University for 6 years, cherishes those years, had some fantastic players 07:22When did you decide coaching was your career: knew when I was playing the last couple of years that I wanted to be a coach, real love was basketball 07:54What was your philosophy as a coach: chance to impact people's lives through sport a tremendous opportunity; as a coach must be a good teacher, you must be a good leader, has innate ability to teach and learned how to lead which is the foundation of coaching in any sport 08:38How did you learn to lead: have to establish an environment where people want to excel and want to compete, establishing a competitive culture where people walk onto the court every day willing to give their best and are focused, give most their intense effort, is a challenge; where you set the bar for quality of effort, the players will be slightly below that bar, so if you set it low or high that is what you will get, compete with everything you have, hard to get all the players to compete with same quality of physical and mental effort is equally hard to do 10:07Why did you leave Laurentian: one of the most difficult things to do, in 1976 attended the Olympics in Montreal and went to all the games and practices and kept notes, the opportunity to go to Victoria came, thought it had great potential, hard to tell his players 11:48What did you bring to the programme: recruited local players, at Laurentian recruited players from Northern Ontario and same in Victoria, could be competitive provided we could establish the right culture 13:10Was there any one player you were the most proud of: so many good players, helped them to develop, "coaches get recognition due to the performance of their players and the only reason I am getting this recognition is due to the efforts and accomplishments of my players", he was able to produce good citizens, competed with the NCAA teams on an equal footing, most proud of his relationship with former players 15:15Why recruit close to home: common sense that it would be the case that the players would play better in their home, worked hard to recruit, worked with them individually, over the long term it is about developing players, not plays; his focus was on individual player development and competitive environment and developing a belief in them 16:27Who did the recruiting: did his own, had network; as the athletic director he did not have anyone telling him what to do, worked to develop a model programme for the other coaches to enable them, wanted to strive for high performance and be the best 18:09Define a Ken Shields coached team: teams were fiercely competitive, "I am competitive to a fault. Managing myself is one of the biggest challenges I had", to create a competitive environment in sports need to look after the defensive end, this is the foundation; trying to develop complete players who are competitive but have skills to be able to compete and understand the game, skills reached through practice and teaching them the principles of the game, skills that allowed them to execute 20:36Has Canadian University basketball improved: reality is not as many national team players, migration of the best players to the US, alarming, drain starting at high school level, have to stop the drain or we will lose the future leaders of our country because they will go the US and stay there 22:21What is the solution: don't know what the solution is but need to develop the equivalent of the NCAA Level 1, obligation to provide an opportunity for kids to stay in Canada and receive equal or better training than would get by going elsewhere 23:30Is there a way to develop a better system: If the will to do and it's important and it's the right thing to do, then we should do it, do what is right for youth of our country and provide development opportunities 25:28How can this be done: if 10 universities decide to develop a league that is the equivalency of the NCAA level 1, with corporate and government support, it could be done, a business model can be created 26:02Is this something you pushed for: been away from the University scene; hopeful to see Canadian kids staying in this country and receiving opportunities that match the US 26:49Other countries: European players are being developed at home and they are not going to the NCAA, Australia does send players because they have nowhere else to go 28:47What are the politics of it: biggest issue if we start the league those who are not in it are going to be against it 29:07Our universities have to decide, are we in to high performance sport or are we not; define the pursuit of excellence - is it international, national or intramural?, "why do we have to send our athletes away to get better. Team sports in this country are under siege. Our record of team sports competing internationally is woeful and partially because they have been treated as individual sports for years", the geography of the country make it difficult, all team sport, other than hockey, virtually all of our athletes have to go elsewhere to compete 31:07On success his teams had at the NCAA: on today's markets might not have been able to recruit those players, this is why it is so critical, they were determined to compete on an equal level with the US, coaches today need to develop confidence |
Date |
2009/11/03 |
People |
Shields, Ken |
Search Terms |
Interview Ken Shields Basketball Laurentian University University of Victoria 2004 Olympic Games Athens |