Everyone Prospers With Cooper’s Addition

By Brian R. Johnston
Saturday, September 16th, 2006

When the Brampton Thunder appointed Donna-Lynn Rosa as their first ever Female Head Coach, they never knew that they were picking up over a half a centuries worth of talent and experience, until Carol Cooper was announced as the Defensive Coach and right hand of the one, two, punch tandem that will oversee and lead the Thunder into the future.

With the addition, everyone involved in the game will prosper!

Carol was born on July 15, 1964 in Fredericton, New Brunswick and she now resides in Guelph, ON.

She works full time for the Peel District School Board as a Physical Education teacher and is dedicated to bringing forward a healthy environment in her daily life.

She has amassed a tremendous amount of experience through her combined 31 years as a player, coach and hockey school instructor.

Her on ice participation includes 14 years at the highest level of competition playing in the NWHL or Senior AAA level with the Mississauga Ice Bear/ Oakville Ice Bears, Hamilton Golden Hawks, Guelph Eagles and the Missisauga Chiefs.

It is important for us to get to know a little bit about the individual so Carol was presented with a number of questions and responded accordingly.

What special characteristics am I bringing to the Thunder (strenghths & philosophical beliefs)?

Philosophical beliefs:

As I reflect on this one, my personal philosophy to coaching does not differ from my philosophy from my personal beliefs or my philosophy as a teacher.

I believe that you treat people whether as a friend, colleague, teammate, player you are coaching or a student the way you wish to be treated as an individual.

As a teacher / coach I strongly believe that you honour the game, which means you respect yourself, team-mates, opponents, officials and the rules of the game that you are playing.


Strengths:

This one is definitely difficult because it causes you to reflect on yourself.

My strengths would be that I can relate to the players as I was defenseman in the
Sr.AAA / NWHL for thirteen years.

My longevity in the league (I played until I was 38) was based on hard work, on and off the ice, so I hope I can bring this same work ethic to my coaching career as well.

I believe that I bring to the table a very good understanding for the game from a defenseman’s perspective. My strengths as a player, was that I was a defensive defenseman and would hope that I could pass on some of this knowledge to my defensive core.

How do you see your role?

I see my role as the coach of the defenseman. It will be my responsibility to help our players develop their skills both individually and as a group so we can continue to improve our team game on the ice throughout the year.

I'm also looking forward to working with our coaching staff to learn from them, as this is a new challenge for me going from a player on the ice to a coach off the ice at this level.

What is my view on team dynamics?

I believe that working together as a team is crucial to a group’s success.

Players and coaches all need to be on the same wavelength.

If we as individuals put our own personal agendas in front of the team’s goals then we are going to be fighting an uphill battle. As the saying goes there is no I in TEAM.

How will approach the defensive corp that you will oversee?

As it is so early in the season, I've only had a brief opportunity to work and be with the players.

My first thoughts are that I am looking forward to working with them and also learning from them.

These players bring a lot of experience to the table, so between them and myself I feel we have a positive place to start from.

I'm looking forward to challenge of working with the defence.

I'm getting the opportunity to work with some former teammates, opponents and new faces, which pleases me.

Thanks to Carol Cooper coming on board, the Thunder certainly will continue to flourish!

© Copyright Brian R. Johnston