2018 Sport Awards: Get to know your Paralympic coach winners

Two of Canada’s most successful coaches were announced last week as recipients of the 2018 Canadian Paralympic Sport Awards. Robin McKeever is receiving the Tim Frick Paralympic Coach Excellence Award and the late Ken Thom has been honoured with the Development Coach of the Year Award. McKeever and Ken Thom’s son Curtis Thom will receive the awards at the 2018 Canadian Paralympic Sport Awards in Calgary on November 15. 

Robin McKeever
Robin McKeever is the head coach of the Para nordic team (cross country skiing and biathlon) for Cross Country Canada. At the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang his squad won 16 medals (10 in cross country skiing and six in biathlon). That was more than half of Canada’s record 28-medal haul at the Games.

McKeever saw veterans like his brother Brian McKeever and Mark Arendz produce record-breaking performances at the Games and also guide newcomers such as Natalie Wilkie and Collin Cameron to multiple medal performances.

Did you know?
–    McKeever is a Paralympian, Olympian and 11-time able-bodied Canadian national champion in cross-country skiing. 
–    He raced for Canada at the 1998 Olympics Games
–    He guided his brother Brian at three Paralympics (2002, 2006, 2010) and the pair earned seven gold, two silver and two bronze.
–    In 2016, Robin and Brian received the prestigious Meritorious Service Medal awarded by the Governor General for remarkable contributions to society.
–    Robin and Brian were also inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame in 2011.

Ken Thom

Ken Thom was an instrumental part of the track and field program with Cruisers Sports for the Physically Disabled in Mississauga where he produced star athletes for the Canadian national team. He coached his son Curtis to appearances at the 2004, 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games, as well as the 2006, 2011, 2013 and 2015 World Para Athletics Championships. Thom was also a personal coach to national team members Austin Smeenk and Isaiah Christophe.

‘’He built an environment where athletes of all abilities had the opportunity to reach their potential. His legacy will remain for many years,” said Rick Reelie, Athletics Canada Wheelchair Coach. “His mark on the sport will be ever present.”

Thom died Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa, as a result of a scuba diving accident.

Did you know?
–    Thom worked for 26 years with O-Two Controlled Ventilation in International Sales as a marketing manager. 
–    Was on the Bermuda Para athletics coaching staff at the 2012 Paralympic Games
–    Was also a football coach at Streetsville and Meadowvale High Schools in Mississauga.
–    Wheelchair racer Jessica Lewis dedicated her Achievement Award at the Bermuda Sport Awards in 2018 to him.