AC contracts Ron van der Hoff as Interim National Coach Advisor
OTTAWA, ON – After the departure of Shawn Riggs from the role of National Recurve Coach in late November, Archery Canada is pleased to announce an interim technical leadership contract has been confirmed with the former Netherlands National Coach, Ron van der Hoff. The interim agreement with Van der Hoff will run through the 2023 World Championships in Berlin.
Our Canadian program has known Ron for some time and has worked closely with the Dutch team in camp and competition environments since before the Rio Olympic Games. “With Ron’s familiarity of our athletes and program strategy, he is a perfect fit to help guide us through the first stage of Paris Olympic qualification” suggests High Performance Director Alan Brahmst, adding “Ron will work closely with myself and Junior National Coach Dr. Soha Mahmoud to reset the short-term program direction and provide overall technical guidance for the Senior group in 2023, including World Cup competitions. His deep leadership experience in the areas of competition strategy, planning, programming and team building will be a great asset for our team”.
Van der Hoff has significant experience at the World Championship & Olympic levels having won multiple medals and earned Top 8 spots at both competitions while leading the Netherlands’ program. As an Olympic archer himself (Athens 2004), he has had sustained success as a national coach reaching all levels of the World Cup podium while consistently producing Top 5 ranked individuals and teams. Most recently, Van der Hoff won an Olympic medal for the Netherlands at the Tokyo games in the first Mixed Team competition with Steve Wijler and Gaby Schloesser.
“It is an honor for me to be asked to lead the Canadian recurve archery team up until the Berlin Archery World Championships.” says Van der Hoff. “In my experience, the archers will be able to do well in especially the team events as they can always bring a little bit extra when they are in it together.”
The interim engagement will begin in February with Van der Hoff’s arrival for an indoor camp at the Peel Archery Club, followed by a warm-weather camp in Medellin with the Colombian team in March, then April’s first 2023 World Cup in Antalya, World Cup stage #3 in Medellin in June, and the Berlin World Championships beginning in late July.
The technical leadership for the recurve Olympic program will be further reviewed over the course of the next few months to define the longer-term plan for the program as Archery Canada continues to prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games and beyond.
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For more information, please contact:
Zoe Meil, Communications & Safe Sport Coordinator
(613) 260-2113 ext. 3