Women’s basketball head coach Michele Bélanger is in her thirty-fifth season coaching the team this year at the University of Toronto. The milestone is another great achievement for her to add to a long list of accomplishments, both as a coach and as a player.
Bélanger’s career in basketball began by chance at an eighth grade tournament, but she was soon competing at a high level, playing with her high school team at the first all-Ontario basketball playoffs for women.
She continued her career at Laurentian University, where she was a starter for all of her four years on the team, winning four consecutive national championships. For her fifth year of university, Bélanger transferred to the University of Victoria. There, she lost the Canadian Intercollegiate Sport (CIS) championship to Laurentian in double overtime, bringing her CIS medal tally to four golds and one silver.
“As for personal awards,” said Bélanger, “I don’t like to think about those. It’s all about team awards.”
In 1979, after graduating with a Physical Education degree and being cut from the Canadian National team, Bélanger was unsure of her next step.
“With no plans I was asked to apply for [women’s head coach position at U of T]… got an interview and voila, never left.”
Despite starting at U of T with no prior coaching experience, Belanger has proven herself to be a great leader of the Blues’ women’s basketball team. Over her 35 years as head coach, Bélanger has been named Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Coach of the Year eight times, earning the honour for the first time in just her second season. She has also coached the team to eight OUA championship wins, 15 CIS championship berths, and one CIS gold medal.
“It’s really about players and experience they gain while playing university basketball,” she says.
Bélanger not only coaches for the Blues, but also for the women’s Canadian National Student team. In the past, she has also coached at the junior and senior national levels.
On top of these achievements, Bélanger, a fluent French speaker, has acted as an interpreter at the 1976 Montréal Olympics, has spoken at and given coaching clinics both nationally and internationally, and has had a tournament named after her.
“I fell into coaching, but what keeps me going is the daily encounters with the players, seeing their personal development within the game, and, more importantly, seeing them grow into outstanding women who will make great contributions to our society,” she said.
“My team is great; they work extremely hard, they believe in each other, they want to succeed, they are supportive, encouraging, and gutsy.”
According to Bélanger, the future is bright for athletics at U of T. “We are well positioned as an Athletic Unit, with the new building opening up in the fall of 2014. The future is an extremely bright one. We will have a state of the art athletic facility where athletes can train on and off the courts to excel. We will regain our place as leaders in sports.”
As for Bélanger’s future: “This is my dream job! Every day I wake up and look forward to coming to work.”
