Mission resident Linda Price is familiar with hitting difficult targets. The nationally-renowned archery coach is currently shooting for a role as an Olympic coach.
Price has already come close to hitting her target - she was the backup coach for the 2020 Olympics for both the Paralympic and Olympic national program, but didn’t get to go to Tokyo.
“I have coached Olympic athletes, but I’ve never been to the Olympics, so I can’t call myself an Olympic coach,” Price said. “That would be my big dream.”
She has been coaching for 14 years and was only an archer for a year before she became a coach. When her daughter switched sports in 2006 and took up archery, Price followed suit and picked up the bow and arrow.
“We originally joined up in Maple Ridge, and my daughter, myself and my husband all started shooting together,” Price said.
Maple Ridge Archery Club needed some assistance with judges and coaches so Price volunteered.
“My husband and I got our provincial judging certification and then they asked if I’d be interested in taking coaching courses,” Price said.
She completed her training in 2008 and since then has become a decorated, nationally-renowned coach and archer. Price received the 2018 Coach of the Year Award from Archery Canada, a Petro Canada FACE grant in 2019, and the 2021 Volunteer of the Year Award from Archery Canada. Price says a highlight of her coaching career thus far is helping to earn an Olympic spot for the Canadian national team.
“I have worked with some amazing athletes over the years and their personal dedication has been very inspirational to me,” Price said. “Coaches have the ability to make positive changes in people’s lives and I hope to keep volunteering as a coach and have that opportunity.”
READ MORE: Mission’s Likness and McBride building UFV women’s volleyball into Canada West threat
Price worked with Fraser Health in laboratory informatics and retired in 2020. However, she still works three days a week as a casual.
“The biggest challenge is just how busy it is,” she said. “Between work, trying to run an archery program, and then the commitment that I have to BC Archery and Archery Canada — it’s very time consuming.”
Price says her coaching style is focused on working with the athletes to develop a training plan based on what is happening in their lives at that time.
“It’s an interactive coaching style,” she said. “We want everybody to feel like they’re part of the solution and part of their progress. Winning or losing does not define us. Believing in ourselves is what makes us strong and resilient.”
In 2013, Price sought an archery club in Mission instead of Maple Ridge, so she teamed up with Susan Lemke and founded Starr Archery.
The Mission-based archery club offers programs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings with the indoor season running from October to April and the outdoor season from May through September.
After years of not shooting, Price decided to loose some arrows again in 2020. By the end of the Outdoor season, she broke a Canadian record in the women’s Barebow category at 50 metres.
Her role as an archery coach has taken her around the world from continent to continent. She has served as the head coach for the national team on several occasions and earlier in 2022, she went to Dubai with the Paralympic national team for the World Championships. In November, she went to Chile with the goal to earn Canada’s quota slots for the Pan Am Games.
Next, Price will travel to Prince Edward Island at the end of February as the head coach of BC Arhcery for the Canada Winter Games. She will also be coaching at the BC Winter Games in Vernon at the end of March.
@dillon_white
dillon.white@missioncityrecord.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.