CSC WCIP Goals

• Provide women intern coaches with ongoing mentorship from a qualified mentor coach, with a national or international coaching development opportunity, and enhanced professional development and learning opportunities
• Connect all participating women intern and mentor coaches in an ongoing supportive network
• Increase the number of high performance women coaches in Commonwealth sport in Canada

Intern Coach: Giselle Delgado

“ … this program is allowing me to learn more about high-performance coaching than I’ve had the opportunity to experience so far.”

Sport: Squash

Occupation: As a roving coach for Squash BC, covering Vancouver Island, Giselle visits facilities to provide coaching and programming advice and to mentor local champions and staff. She is a squash coach at Cedar Hill Squash Club and the Victoria Squash Club, a Canada Winter Games 2023 target coach, and a Canadian Sport Institute Pacific coach.

Since 2019, Giselle has been the sole proprietor of SquashLife (https://squashlife.ca/). The club’s programs include private coaching, group fitness sessions outdoors, women’s clinics, and exhibition matches. The club was a 2019 recipient of a grant from the Women’s Encouragement Fund and a 2021 recipient of a ViaSport “Bob Bearpark” bursary.

A co-founder of the Victoria Junior Squash League, Giselle is assistant coach at St. Michael’s University School.

Mentor Coach: Nicole Pirko

Athletic Background: Giselle, a competitive squash player, was the bronze medallist in women’s doubles at the 2019 Pan American Games and a two-time gold doubles medallist at Pan American Squash Championships in 2016 and 2017. Chilean-born, she has been playing for Chile’s national squash team since 2013. She placed in the top eight of the individual round at the 2015 Pan American Games, the 2018 Pan American Championships, and the 2021 Canadian national championships.

Born in Antofagasta, Chile, Giselle moved to Canada in 2002 and started playing squash at the age of 19 during her first year at Western University; she worked her way up to become a player on the varsity team and eventually secured the number two spot on the team’s lineup.

Growing up in Chile, Giselle played competitive tennis from the age of six to 12 when, experiencing burnout, she quit the game. She returned to tennis, playing for Western’s varsity team for one year before fully committing to squash. During her high school years in Red Lake, Ont., she was a standout soccer and badminton player.

Now a resident of Victoria, Giselle is training for the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, where she intends to win a medal for her native country.

Education: Giselle graduated from Western University with a Master of Science degree and an honours Bachelor of Arts degree, both with a speciality in kinesiology and biomechanics.

Coach Education: A National Coaching Certification Program certified squash instructor, Giselle is enrolled in the Provincial Coach certification course and is a Learning Facilitator and Coach Evaluator in training.

Why a Coaching Career? Giselle had a passion for sport, so kinesiology seemed the logical path for her to follow when she enrolled at Western. “I learned so much about the many aspects of exercise at the same time as I was mastering this new sport of squash. It all started with curiosity and the desire to know more and to share that knowledge.” Upon graduation, Giselle moved to Vancouver where her family was living. Inexperienced, she was unable to find a job in kinesiology or biomechanics but, having taken coaching courses while at Western, she got her foot in the coaching door.

Giselle loves to learn and help people improve their skills. Playing at the international level for the past 10 years has taught her how to prepare for competition, handle the psychological challenges of long-distance travel, and manage expectations and pressure, learnings she shares with her athletes.

Awards: Gisele is a two-time recipient of the Fair Play “Luciano Barbosa” award. And in 2019 won the Best Athlete Award (Squash) in Chile, which she shared with Anita Pinto, her women’s doubles partner.

Importance of the CSC WCIP: Giselle considers it an honour to have been asked by her national sport organization to participate in the CSC WCIP. She did not grow up in the squash world as a junior, so the program is allowing her to learn more about high-performance coaching than she has had the opportunity to experience so far in her coaching career.

After the CSC WCIP: “I am till training to see how far I can push myself as an athlete and will continue to learn by doing as much as possible as an athlete and as a coach for as long as I can. With the CSC WCIP, I expect to gain coaching experience that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible. I am looking forward to learning more from other coaches; hearing their stories and methods increases my knowledge and confidence in my own methods and enables me to contribute to growing the sport of squash in Canada.”