RMC HR team receives recognition from Ottawa
By: Lieutenant Cynthia Kent
Royal Military College of Canada
Public Affairs Officer
The Royal Military College of Canada has been recognized for outstanding work by the Assistant Deputy Minister (Human Resources-Civilian) with two Merit Awards.
The Human Resources team at RMC won the team 2011 ADM (HR-Civ) Merit Award for the work done by the team to bring on-site HR services to RMC for the Academic Wing.
Recognized were: HR Plans and Programs Officer Cheryl Hogan; HR Officers – Level III Sophie Gillespie and Robert Marriott; HR Officer/Generalist Debbie Batchilder; and HR Assistants/Multifunction Deanna Keenan, Lori Potvin and Joshua Sadler.
The award citation commended the team for its “exceptional contribution to the Integrated Human Resources Client Service during a period of transition for the Royal Military College of Canada.”
The team moved down to RMC from CFB Kingston in June of last year to provide services for RMC’s Academic Wing on-site.
Commodore William Truelove, Commandant RMC was also recognized for his work in integrating on-site Human Resources with the individual ADM (HR-Civ) Merit Award.
The citation recognizes Cmdre Truelove’s “exceptional leadership skills in the area of Human Resources Management as Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada during a period of transition.”
All recipients were in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 1st to receive their awards.
The Merit Award is considered the top or “Three Star” Award from ADM (HR-Civ). It is given to recognize individuals or teams who have made exceptional contributions to ADM (HR-Civ) successes.
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Rugby in New Brunswick will get a boost with Sean McDonaugh in Saint John to train the sport’s facilitators.
Sean McDonaugh rugby coach at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., and a trainer with the International Rugby Board is in Saint John this week holding clinics.
McDonaugh is the rugby coach at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., and a trainer with the International Rugby Board.
“The first part of our trip is to work with the Rugby New Brunswick program,” said McDonaugh, who begins clinics today.
In his role with the IRB, McDonaugh travels across Canada trying to elevate the level of expertise among coaches, athletes and officials.
McDonaugh will lead two courses. The first is the Rugby Canada National Coaches Certification Program Community Contact/Non-Contact course and the second is the rugby board’s Sevens Coaching Course. As opposed to traditional rugby that has 15 players a side, sevens rugby is a faster, more open game with only seven players on each team. With it being accepted into the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the push is on to develop the game in Canada.
“For certain unions, in certain parts of the country, an idea of a sevens game in high school is probably more palatable than having a 15s game for the fact that you don’t need as many people,” he said.
While there is some trepidation that 15s rugby may be overtaken by the sevens format because of its acceptance into the Olympics, McDonaugh believes there’s a place for both.
“I think that’s yet to be played out,” he said.
“I would suggest you look at rugby 15s and rugby sevens the same way you look at volleyball and beach volleyball, they’re different sports.”
Peter Fitzgerald, president of the Saint John Labatt Trojans Rugby Football Club, said such courses will raise the level of play in the province.
“This is for the long-term,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s looking down the road and it’s raising the bar in terms of coaching and the level of coaching.”
McDonaugh was in Saint John last year, but he was only working with the Trojans.
“From that Rugby Canada identified that it would be good to come back here to work with coaches and players alike,” Fitzgerald said.
McDonaugh won’t be scouting for the next Chauncey O’Toole, but if he sees one he’ll make a call.
“My (job) is to come in there and lift the bottom of the game up in the country, develop the coaches and the people who provide coaching courses in the province and across the country.”
The sevens course will be a mix of classroom and field sessions with players from across the province being put through their paces as coaches turn theory into practice.
After taking a day off, McDonaugh will be joined by scrum coach Guillermo Gulli next Tuesday to Thursday as they work with the Trojans club and area coaches.
Born in Argentina, Gulli now lives in Montreal and runs the 300 Rugby Academy. Gulli has been in the sport for 30 years, more than half of that time in the first division of the Argentinean Rugby Union.
“For my money, he’s the top scrum coach in the country,” McDonaugh said.
Gulli’s passion is what makes him standout, he said.
“His real magic is that he gets people to believe that they’re doing something that no one else does and therefore they have a certain magic that no one else has. He instils in the players he works with that simple belief that it doesn’t matter how big or strong that other team is, you do something they don’t therefore you’ll be successful.”
Gulli believes in getting low.
“It’s all about being one inch off the ground and all eight players having all the muscles firing at the same time,” McDonaugh said.