The National Recurve Coach, Shawn Riggs, will be leaving full time employment with Archery Canada as of December 2 to pursue new opportunities outside of the sport. We are thankful for Shawn’s commitment to providing significant leadership to the high-performance recurve program in all the years that he has been at the helm.
Shawn first stepped into the role in September 2017 to lead the program ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He had been working as a coach for many years before that, leading teams at the 2015 World Championships and Pan American Games, bringing that experience into the position. Over the last five years, he has led the team at three World Championships, two Pan Am Championships, countless World Cup events and the 2019 Pan Am Games. Shawn was also integral in bringing the Archery Canada Centre of Excellence to fruition in Cambridge, Ontario.
Shawn’s career in archery started out as an athlete, with appearances at the 1999 and the 2001 World Archery Championships, as well as the 2006 Pan Am Championships. He medaled in the men’s recurve team event at the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg.
“Shawn has been instrumental in leading the national recurve program for five years now, and his impact will carry on for many more,” comments Karl Balisch, Executive Director of Archery Canada. Alan, Brahmst, Archery Canada’s High Performance Director noted “I have worked closely with Shawn since I arrived at Archery Canada some years ago and am particularly sad to see Shawn go. He was an anchor and a driver for moving our high performance program forward and upward over the past decade to where it is today, and can most certainly be proud of his contribution to Archery in Canada.”
Archery Canada expresses our gratitude to Shawn and looks forward to continuing to collaborate with him as he plans on staying involved in archery. The development of a transition plan is already in progress and Archery Canada’s immediate objective is to provide stability for the national training squad through to the early part of the Indoor season and in preparation for the early August World Championships in Berlin, Germany.