Racquetball Canada is pleased to announce Michel Gagnon of Longueuil, Que., and Loren Prentice of Saskatoon, as the National Team coaches for the 2011 Pan American Racquetball Championships and 2011 Pan Am Games.
This will be the 11th time Gagnon has been coaching the Canadian team at the Pan-American championships. Gagnon recently served as a coach for the Canadian team that placed second at the 2010 world racquetball championships in Korea. It was the seventh time Gagnon was a coach for the Canadian team at the world championships. He has also coached Canada in two previous Pan American Games, in 2003 and 1999. As a head coach at one of Racquetball Canada's training centres in Brossard, Que., plus through his participation as a Quebec coach at numerous levels, Gagnon has helped develop several athletes who are vying for spots on the Canadian team, including Vincent Gagnon and Frédérique Lambert.
Prentice has also helped develop several of Canada's top racquetball players, including Tim Landeryou and Brandi Jacobson Prentice, while overseeing a Racquetball Canada training centre in Saskatoon. Prentice coached Canada's junior team for 12 straight years, beginning in 1996, and led Saskatchewan's junior squad to 17 consecutive national titles, a streak that started in 1992. He has coached Canada's National Team five previous occasions, including the 2009 Pan American Championships.
The Pan American Championships are scheduled for April 15-23, 2011, in Managua, Nicaragua. Canada will send a team of four females and four males to the event, which is used as a qualifying event for the XVI Pan American Games slated for October in Guadalajara, Mexico. Canada's eight-member team is selected through qualifying events; the next Selection Event is scheduled for February 4-6, 2011, in Brossard, Que.
Canada's Pan American Games team will be announced following the Canadian racquetball championships, slated for May 22-28, 2011, in Antigonish and Port Hawkesbury, N.S.
For further information contact:
Darrell Davis
Vice-President, High Performance
Racquetball Canada
