Moose Jaw’s Taylor Follensbee fits that role perfectly, and it was announced Thursday that she is among 18 former student-athletes selected as participants in the inaugural USports Female Apprenticeship Coach Program. She’ll join her alma mater, the University of Saskatchewan, as an assistant under head wrestling coach Daniel Olver.
Follensbee enters the program with a resume filled with accomplishments. On top of provincial and national championships as a youth wrestler, the former Moose Jaw Kinsmen Wrestling Club competitor won three Canada West medals with the Huskies — including gold in 2017-18 — to go along with two USports national bronze medals.
Most recently, Follensbee put together a fourth-place finish in the women’s 76-kilogram division at the 2019 Canadian Senior Olympic Wrestling Trials, a division that included reigning Olympic champion Erica Weibe and world champion Justina Di Stasio.
“I am excited to have Taylor join us. Our goal is to build a USports championship-winning program and in order to do that we need to improve in all aspects, including our coaching capacity,” said Olver. “Taylor brings a recent perspective on having been an athlete and there is no doubt that she will help our program.
“Above all else I am happy for Taylor. Coaching is something that is in her future; she is taking this opportunity to develop herself as a coach and we are happy to support that in any way we can.”
The 18 participants in the program come from all aspects of the USports world, with nine having already having taken on assistant coaching roles. Follensbee herself has worked with the Huskies in practices since graduating, making the new step a perfect fit.
The program is funded through Sport Canada, with the aim of increasing the number of female coaching positions at Canadian universities by matching graduated athletes with a mentor coach in their respective sport.
All participants in the program will be a member of the coaching staff at their schools. They will take part in team practices and games or meets at both the conference and national levels, and will also have a chance to further develop their coaching skills through the National Coaching Certification Program.
If everything goes according to plan, it won’t take long for Follensbee to find herself back on a winning team — the Huskies men won the most recent Canada West championship back in February; the women’s team finished second, only four points back of the Calgary Dinos.
