{"id":59146,"date":"2019-07-08T15:07:34","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T19:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=59146"},"modified":"2019-07-08T16:08:26","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T20:08:26","slug":"badgers-welcome-new-womens-rugby-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2019\/07\/badgers-welcome-new-womens-rugby-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Badgers welcome new women\u2019s rugby coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brock Badgers women\u2019s rugby team has a new face at its helm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark Smerdon began his time as the team\u2019s head coach on Monday, July 8, taking over from Stefanie Pavlovich (BPhEd \u201910, BEd \u201910, MEd \u201911), who has accepted a job as the Physical Education Program Leader and Athletic Director at Eden High School in St. Catharines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pavlovich served as the women\u2019s rugby head coach for three seasons, which included multiple playoff berths and a recent promotion to the OUA\u2019s Russell Division.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Pavlovich will be missed on and off the field, Smerdon brings significant and valuable rugby experience to the Badgers, said Associate Director of Brock Sports Emily Allan.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are extremely excited to bring Mark on board,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has an immense rugby background, and a wealth of knowledge to share with the players and coaching staff. The team is very excited to work with him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to his new role at Brock, Smerdon will continue on as Director of Rugby for the Mississauga Blues and head coach of their men\u2019s team. He is also the Director of Women\u2019s Rugby Upright Rugby Rogues Sevens.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like to play a fast, creative style of game,\u201d he said. \u201cMy vision for this team is to medal over the next couple of years. The style should be fun for the players, and it certainly doesn\u2019t hurt if it\u2019s exciting to watch for the spectators.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The recently retired school teacher is also head coach of Rugby Ontario\u2019s U18 Girls West squad, a World Rugby coach educator and head coach of the Streetsville Secondary School senior girls rugby team in Mississauga.<\/span><\/p>\n

In her time with the team, Pavlovich guided the women\u2019s rugby program to a 10-3 regular season record during three years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bittersweet to see Stef go,\u201d Allan said. \u201cShe has been such a powerhouse coach for the past three years, really driving and elevating the program, but we\u2019re also thrilled for her in her new opportunity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Named Brock University\u2019s 2018-19 Coach of the Year, Pavlovich said she is leaving the program in good hands and looks forward to attending Badgers\u2019 games in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a part of Brock women\u2019s rugby as both a student-athlete and a coach has been an incredibly rewarding experience,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is bittersweet to be stepping away when the team is at the top of their game. I look forward to seeing their success with Mark. He truly is an asset for this program as they take on some of the nation\u2019s best.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Badgers begin training camp on Aug. 21.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Brock Badgers women\u2019s rugby team has a new face at its helm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":59147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,7,1,4,58],"tags":[112,8066,256,4341,8067,640,5852,1691],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59146"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59153,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59146\/revisions\/59153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}