January 7, 2016

Michelle Turley Named Assistant Coach of Jr. Women's National Team

GUELPH, ON – "As far as professional development goes, it doesn't get much better than this."

GUELPH, ON – "As far as professional development goes, it doesn't get much better than this."

Those were the words used by Gryphons Field Hockey Head Coach Michelle Turley when asked about her upcoming assignment as the Assistant Coach of the Canadian Junior Women's Field Hockey Team. Turley has been named to the staff that will be leading a group of approximately 20 young women to Santiago, Chile for two weeks of training and test matches against the Chilean Junior Team. From January 12-22, Team Canada will play a total of seven exhibition matches against Chile.

For Turley, this marks her third coaching stint at the national level after having also served as an assistant for the National Team in 2005 at the Junior Pan Am Games; followed by an assistant role for the Senior National Team in August of 2014 during the Canada-U.S. indoor series in Pennsylvania.

"It is an honour to able to represent your country and I'm excited to be working with such a talented group of coaches and athletes. This is a big year for the Canadian Junior Program and I'm thrilled to be a part of it."

That 'big year' that Coach Turley is referring to is the 2016 Junior Field Hockey World Cup which is set to take place in November in Santiago, Chile. In order to get there, the Canadian team must first get through their qualifying stage which will get underway in March in Trinidad and Tobago.

Michelle Turley's assignment to the Junior National Team comes on the heels of yet another impressive season at the helm of the Gryphons Field Hockey program. Turley, who just recently completed her 12^th season as head coach at the University of Guelph, was named OUA Coach of the Year for the second time in her career after having led the Gryphons to an 11-1 regular season record, good for top spot in the OUA standings. In the playoffs, Turley would help lead the Gryphons to a pair of medals, claiming silver at the provincial level followed by a bronze medal at the CIS Championships in Victoria. Since being named head coach of the Gryphons Field Hockey program back in 2004, Turley has guided the Gryphons to a total of four OUA titles (2007, 2009, 2010 & 2013) with her highest finish at the CIS Championships coming in 2007 when the Gryphons took home silver. Over the course of her tenure, Turley has laid claim to a total of 17 medals at the OUA and CIS levels combined.

Note:

Although Turley is the only current Gryphon associated with the U-21 squad heading to South America, there is a U of G tie with one of the players named to the Team Canada roster: Adrienne Houle is the younger sister of current Gryphon Erin Houle. Erin has just recently capped her decorated Gryphon career by being named a CIS First Team All-Canadian for the 2015-16 season. Her younger sister, Adrienne, plays NCAA Field Hockey in Rhode Island where she is in her sophomore year for the Providence College Friars.