York’s Marcelle, Cape Breton’s Disipio headline 18 participants selected for 2021 U SPORTS Female Apprentice Coach Program

In celebration of International Women’s Day, U SPORTS is proud to announce 18 former student-athletes have been selected for the 2021 U SPORTS Female Apprentice Coach Program.

Leading this year’s class for the program’s second season are a pair of former national award winners in 2013 U SPORTS Female Athlete of the Year Shanice Marcelle – who played women’s volleyball for the UBC Thunderbirds and is now coaching with the York Lions – and two-time U SPORTS Top 8 Academic All-Canadian Ciera Disipio (2017-18 and 2018-19) of the Cape Breton Capers women’s soccer program.

The program aims to increase the number of females in coaching positions across Canadian universities, by matching apprentice coaches who have recently graduated, with a head coach in one of the 11 U SPORTS-sanctioned sport offerings for female-identifying student-athletes.

“We’re excited to continue to build our Female Apprentice Coach Program. Despite the unprecedented challenges faced in the program’s inaugural year, this initiative is already opening new doors, providing the tools for further coaching development and education in Canadian university sport and fostering success to our proud alumnae who aspire to become coaches themselves in the near future.”

Lisette Johnson-Stapley – Chief Sport Officer, U SPORTS

In addition to Marcelle and Disipio, this year’s class also includes several other national and conference champions, major award winners and All-Canadians or All-Stars, as well as national team athletes and Olympians. 

A total of 46 applications were received for the 2021 edition of the program, nearly double from the inaugural campaign, with 18 apprentice coaches selected for the second consecutive year. Nine of the 11 sports are represented – including rugby, soccer, cross country, hockey, basketball, volleyball, swimming, track and field and wrestling – as well as all four U SPORTS member conferences, in addition to the BIPOC community.

All participants in the program will be a member of the coaching staff at their respective schools and where possible, will provide feedback to colleagues as well as student-athletes, while taking part in team activities. Job duties may vary due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Each apprentice coach will also attend at least one National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP), with the option to also take additional professional development courses and seminars in the field of coaching.

The 2021 U SPORTS Female Apprentice Coach Program begins on Apr. 1.

2021 U SPORTS Female Apprentice Coaches

Laura Taylor, Memorial



Savannah King, McGill



Sara Miller, Moncton



Jamie McCarron, StFX



Kayli Sartori, Fraser Valley



Winta Desta, Ontario Tech



Nicole Barnard, Queen’s



Chanel Ramcharran, Ryerson



Savannah Newton, Dalhousie



Taylor Kezama, Alberta



Erica Porter, Concordia



Catherine Dubois, Montreal



Carolyn McEwen, UBC



Sammy Nadeau, Trent



Ciera Disipio, Cape Breton



Kendra Finch, Thompson Rivers



Shanice Marcelle, York



Natassya Lu, Guelph