Megan Magid
Head Coach

My Coaching Philosophy
By Megan Magid

I see sport as a vehicle to teach life skills which will ultimately enable my athletes to become meaningful contributors to society. I seek to help my athletes develop self-awareness through open and honest communication and reflection. I foster a supportive environment which encourages growth and personal exploration. I look for ways to help my athletes overcome any physical and mental obstacles with the aim of building confidence and a strong sense of self. I guide my athletes to push themselves using maximum effort on a daily basis helping them to realize a personal sense of fulfillment through hard work and perseverance. I am tough but fair. I am consistent and reliable. I look for new ways to keep things fresh and innovative.

I believe that the challenges of being involved in competitive sport will enable my athletes to develop fast thinking good decision making capabilities. I endeavour to create a rewarding, supportive, collaborative learning environment that fosters self esteem through setting goals; achieving them and pushing beyond one’s own personal limits. I believe sport should enhance school, social and family life and not be at the expense of that. I embrace the whole person and ultimately seek to encourage and enable leaders for tomorrow rather than champions for a day. Coaching for me comes down to a very simple tenet – I truly want to make a positive and life affirming difference in the lives of others.

MORE ABOUT MEGAN….

As far back as I can remember I always loved to dance. As a young girl I would constantly create elaborate dance routines complete with music and costumes and of course an audience (my parents and their friends). My parents decided to channel my dancing energy, so they enrolled me in ballet at the age of five. I danced until I was 12 years old at the Stanley Holden Dance Centre in Los Angeles. Then, at the age of 12, I began to get a little bored, dreams of sugarplums were no longer dancing in my head, and I felt that ballet wasn’t nurturing my desire to be a creative, expressive individual. My best friend was enrolled in artistic gymnastics and it looked so dynamic and exciting, so I decided to join the Los Angeles School of Gymnastics. It turned out that artistic gymnastics was definitely not the sport for me, I was too tall, graceful and lithe. Luckily, on the other side of the gym, one of the rhythmic coaches had noticed the same thing and she invited me to join the Los Angeles School of Gymnastics competitive rhythmic gymnastics team. Now this was a sport I could relate to…the combination of dance, athleticism, grace, femininity, creativity, expression and competition was just what I craved. I was hooked and there was no turning back. I competed and I loved it, I made many friends and I had inspirational coaches. I advanced to National Level competitions and at my first U.S. Nationals I placed 2nd in the Free Event. When I look back, I was rather oblivious to my achievements. I was more interested in learning cool new moves, designing new body suits and traveling with my team…in retrospect I think my ability to be process oriented rather than winning oriented helped me to have a long competitive career. In 1987, my family decided to move away from Los Angeles (where I’d lived for fourteen years) and back to Canada, but I was addicted to rhythmics. It gave me focus, a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, it kept me out of trouble and opened up a whole new world to me, which set me apart from all my other friends at school who just hung out at the malls. So, when my family was choosing a place to move to, finding training was imperative to their decision. They chose Vancouver and my coach became Lori Fung, who had won the Gold Medal at the ’84 Olympics in L.A. Lori was still training as a gymnast, but she also took on coaching responsibilities of a few gymnasts, myself, Camille Martens, Trisha Gilmore, and Laura Eward. We were a small, but happy team and our name was the Vancouver R.S.G. Club. After a few years, though, we parted ways. Unfortunately there were no other high level coaches in British Columbia, so I moved to Toronto to train with Kalev Rhythmic Gymnastics.

Back at home, it turned out that my mom was able to find two coaches who had just relocated to BC and as well, two other gymnasts left Lori’s club, so I happily moved back home. It was springtime 1990 and Club Adagio was born. I christened it Club Adagio because I thought it was an appropriate name…Club, where many people join in pursuit of a similar goal and Adagio, a slow graceful movement in the middle of the carpet. The club started out small with only 5 gymnasts, but it grew rapidly. I competed in Canada until 1994. During that time, I was Senior Provincial Champion 6 times, I won numerous medals at the Coast to Coast Championships and the Canadian National Championships, and in 1994, I became the Senior Western Regional Champion. I enjoyed traveling to International Competitions and was proud to represent Canada. I competed in Rhythmic Gymnastics for 10 years.

During those years I had many coaches, good and bad. I made many friends/team mates… some wonderful (who remain friends today) and some rather difficult. This experience of working relationships itself taught me much. I was able to see many parts of the world at a young age. I have many trophies and I have tons of medals and ribbons tucked away safely in a box… but what really made a difference in my life was being involved in a beautiful sport that I fell in love with. My experience in Rhythmic Gymnastics taught me to never give up or give in to obstacles, it taught me to persevere and show grace under pressure, it taught me that good things don’t come quickly or easily and it gave me confidence. It taught me to be compassionate and hard working, it taught me that there are times to be gentle and times when you have to get tough. It taught me how to deal with stressful situations and how to cope with fear and anxiety, and it taught me to do things for ‘the love of it’, but most of all it taught me to bring my heart and soul to everything I do. And that is what I hope to impart to all of the young women that I teach.

• Former U.S.A. and Canadian
National/International Level Competitor (1984-1994)
• 6 time winner of the BC Athletic Award Scholarship (1988-1994)
• 6 time BC Senior Champion
• Western Canadian Senior Champion (1993)
• Gold Medallist, Level 6 Senior, Canadian National Championships (1993)
• Recipient Petro Can Olympic Scholarship for university (1994/95)
• Graduate University of British Columbia (1997) (English Literature Major)
• National Coaching Certification Program, Level 3 Certified National Coach
• Gymnastics Canada National Team Coach (2005-present)
• Brevet IV Rhythmic Gymnastics Judge, Continental Judging Course (2009 - present)
• Coach of innumerable Western Regional Champions in both group and individual (1993 to present)
• Personal Coach for Canada’s Junior National Team Group (2005)
• Personal Coach for Canada’s Senior National Team Group (2005-2007)
• Coach of Junior and Senior National Team Members
• On-air co-host for CFUN radio's "Passion for Fashion" (2004-2007)
• CDC Committee Chairperson, BCRSGF (2008-present)
• Member of Gymnastics Canada Brevet Judges Council (2012-present)
• National Coaching Certification Program, Level 4 Coach - Coaching Association of Canada (2012)
• Member of Gymnastics Canada Judges Working Group (2012-present)
• 19th Annual Sport BC President's Award Recipient for volunteerism, dedication, energy and commitment to development for BC Rhythmic Gymnastics
• Designated Regional Coach for BC Team (2013)
• Panel Judge for Pacific Rim Championships - FIG Event - (2014)
• Pacific Rim 2014 Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Advisor - (2014)