Ozzie Sawicki has been named the Don Watts Coach Developer of the Year as one of eight outstanding Albertans receiving 2022 Alberta Sport Recognition Awards for demonstrating great achievement and contributions to sport.

Sawicki, whose coaching career dates back over 30 years, says being nominated for the award by his peers in the national coaching certification world holds great meaning. The award is named after Don Watts, who was one of his greatest mentors.

"Don was the chair of the phys ed department at Mount Royal College at the time and was heavily involved in developing a lot of the NCCP certification courses over the years. He became one of the lead facilitators and coach developers in Canada. I got to work with him and learned a tonne from him, so it meant a lot that the award was named after him."

"It's been an interesting journey," he says. "I was very lucky to have met good people along the way."

Sawicki started his coaching career in 1989 and since then has coached all levels of athletes, from youth to high-performance competitors at the Paralympics and Olympics.

In 2000, he had begun to transition to the Paralympic side of coaching.

OzzieOzzie represented Canada as Chef de Mission for the Canadian Paralympic Team at the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games.

"That's where I really got involved in the international side. I ended up coaching the national team for Canada and Alpine skiing for five years, and then the track and field team for Canada for three years, and then did a lot of work with para-equestrian and the Olympic three-day eventing program and equestrian."

"I've been very privileged that I've gotten to work with multiple sports and what fascinates me is just seeing how we do things. We make the same mistakes and do the same things well, regardless of what the sport is. So I think there are learnings that you can have from sport to sport."

Most recently, he was Alberta's para-alpine skiing sports coordinator at the Canada Winter Games, where Kalle Erikson won gold for Alberta in the giant slalom para event. Erikson trained at the Cochrane-based Canadian Para Snowsport Training Centre, which Sawicki played a major role in establishing and serves as program director.

He says some important strides were made at this year's Canada Winter Games.

"It's the first time that the para-athletes through their factored time are now ranked amongst the able-bodied athletes. So in terms of where he came in the overall field, he was fourth out of all the able-bodied guys, which is nice that we're starting to track those athletes as part of that process.

"It gives another added piece of credibility that the quality of adaptive athletes is right up there with all the able-bodied programming." 

He says para-sport is still quite young and he believes the recognition had to be earned.

"It's now getting to the point where the quality of coaching is much higher. The expectations of the athletes are growing. By understanding that they need to be well-rounded athletes that are physically, mentally, and technically no different than any other athlete carries a lot of weight."

Sawicki continues to serve in many key roles in sport at the national and international level. He is an internationally recognized professional speaker and member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS), having presented throughout North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom.

Sawicki is a Canadian Chartered Professional Coach, a Canadian Paralympics Hall of Fame coach, and is also president and CEO of CoachAbility (Pozitive Results Sports Strategies Inc./LLC), which provides international consulting services focused on planning, performance, and leadership in sport and recreation.

He's also president of the Cochrane and District Chamber of Commerce.

Triathlete Stefan Daniel, who had strong ties to Cochrane, was named 21 and over Male Athlete of the Year. He attended St. Timothy High School and swam with the Cochrane Comets.

Other recipients were: Luc Goertzen, diving, Calgary, U21 Male Athlete of the Year; Kaiya Ruiter, figure skating, Calgary, U21 Female Athlete of the Year; Harry Ainlay Titans, high school football, Edmonton, U21 Team of the Year; Kelsey Mitchell, cycling, Sherwood Park, 21 and over Female Athlete of the Year; Larry Steinke, track and field, Lethbridge, coach of the year; and Kimberly Daniels, canoe slalom, Calgary, officials of the year.

Sports awardThe accomplishments of eight outstanding Albertans were recognized. Ozzie is left in the back row, and Stefan Daniel is third from the left. (Photo/AB. Gov't)