Coaching at Mcgill
Sean McCaffrey returns for his 10th year as Head Coach of the Redmen Rugby
team. During this time he has transformed the program from a social club
side to the premiere Varsity Rugby program in Quebec. Coach McCaffrey’s
recent successes include 5 time defending QSSF League Champions and 2002,
2004, 2006 QSSF Cup Champions.
While coaching at McGill, he has remained very active within the Quebec
rugby community, holding various positions on the FRQ Board of Directors,
founding the Montreal Menace of the RCSL, founding the Montreal Touch
Rugby League, Chairmen of the RCSL, and assistant coach of the 1997 Macabiah
games.
Assisting Coach McCaffrey with the forwards are Eric Van Sickle, Craig
Beemer, Dylan Kennett, Dan Furlong, and Jean-Philippe Lavoie. 3 new additions
will be assisting with the backs: Daniel Kolek, Neil Houston and Craig
Paxton. Michele Brown will return as Head Athletic Therapist and Strength
& Conditioning Coach.
Eric Van Sickle returns for his 3rd year as assistant forward coach. Eric
won a Championship with McGill in 2004 while completing his degree in
Physical Education and will commence his masters degree in Adaptive Physical
Education at McGill this fall. He currently is club captain of the Montreal
Barbarians and played for the Quebec Caribou of the RCSL.
Craig Beemer is also returning for his 3rd year as assistant forwards
coach. Craig like Eric is a past McGill player and holds a degree in Physical
Education. He is currently a Captain with the Montreal Wanderers.
Dylan Kennett is returning for his 2nd year as assistant forwards coach
for the Club side. Dylan a former player won QSSF Cup Championships in
2002 and 2004. He graduated from McGill with a B.A. in History. An experienced
2nd row, Dylan played both Rugby Union and League in Australia. Upon his
return to Canada he played with the Quebec Caribou of the RCSL and is
a current member of the Montreal Wanderers.
Dan Furlong returns for his 2nd season with McGill as Lineout Coach. Dan
has been consistently one of Quebec’s best players over the past
10 years and has helped his club the Montreal Barbarian win 6 of the last
7 FRQ Championships. He has been club captain of the Montreal Barbarians
and The Quebec Caribou.
JP Lavoie begins his first year coaching at McGill. A native of Quebec City, JP as he is known to most, has a multisport background and is currently the Executive Director of the Fédération de rugby du Québec (FRQ). He is presently the manager/front row coach of the Canada Under-17 Men’s team.
JP started playing rugby at age 18 in Quebec City and is now a member
of the Montreal Barbarians. He has also played for the Caribou in the
Rugby Canada Super League. For the last 8 seasons, JP has been coaching
high school rugby and has been Quebec's Men’s U18 coach for the past
3 years. JP is a fully certified level 3 coach and is working towards
his level 4 certification.
Most recently JP was part of the Canadian Men’s U17 coaching team
for the November tour to Wales, the Millfield selection Camp at Shawnigan
Lake in February, the Millfield Festival in March, and the National Championships
in Newfoundland
Daniel Kolek is from Sydney Australia where he coached and played 1st
grade for Lindfield Rugby Club of NSW. Daniel holds a degree in Education
and is a certified Australian level 2 coach. During the 2003 World Cup
Daniel, worked with the Australian National Squad helping them with game
and video analyses.
Neil Houston is from Montreal where he has taught and coached Rugby for
the past 5 years at Loyola HS. Previously Neil was the Head Coach at Royal
West Academy for 2 years. A longtime player for the Montreal Wanderers
and former Quebec Senior Provincial player Neil has a wealth of knowledge
and dedication to the sport.
Craig Paxton is Canadian by birth, but a passionate Springbok supporter.
Craig has coached rugby for a number of years at the high school level
in Cape Town, South Africa. He teaches Science and Math and intends spending
the year teaching in Montreal before continuing his studies in education
at the Masters level in 2008/9. In the meantime he is keen to get stuck
in and learn how rugby is played in Canada!
In January 2007 he captained the South African Touch Rugby side at the
Touch World Cup, a skillful, fast-flowing version of the full-contact
game. His experiences coaching and playing have created a strong belief
in the need for vision, awareness of space and high-quality ball handling
skills, particularly among the backs.
Michele Brown is returns for her 4th season as the teams Head Athletic
therapist and Strength and Conditioning Coach. She works full time at
the McGill Sports Medicine Clinic and is the Coordinator of the McGill
Varsity Clinic. Michele is also the Head Athletic therapist for Montreal
Wanderers RFC.
QSSF League Champions the last 5 years and Cup Champions 3 of the last
5 years, Redmen Rugby look to uphold their past success. The addition
of Craig, JP, Neil, and Daniel will insure that our athletes are provided
the best possible environment in which to develop and continue to achieve.
Redmen Rugby opened training camp for returning players on August 20th.
Training camp for new players begins on Monday August 27th 5pm room 408-409
with team registration then training on Molson from 7pm – 9pm. They
depart Saturday September 1st for Dartmouth College to play US Military
Academy and then Dartmouth College. Their first league game is away to
ETS on September 9th. First home game is September 12th vs Concordia.
For additional information please visit www.mcgillrfc.com .