Danielle Hennig named “Champion” of Game Plan program
PHOTO: 2017 Women’s World League Round 2 West Vancouver. Canada Women’s National Team vs Trinidad and Tobago. 12-0 Win. (By Blair Shier, April 4, 2017)
Women’s National Team defender Danielle Hennig has been named Game Plan Champion along with five other Canadian athletes across the country.
Hennig joins swimmer Benoit Huot, canoe/kayaker Michael Tayler, cyclist Monique Sullivan, kayaker Una Lounder, and fencer Joseph Polossifakis.
Game Plan is a program, created in partnership between the “Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC), Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network (COPSIN), and Sport Canada to provide the best resources this country has to offer” to National Athletes, and aims to help them live holistic, successful lives on and off the field of play.
“They offer a lot of really valuable services that help you in life outside of sport,” says Hennig, a 26 year-old native of Kelowna, British Columbia who has played 132 games for Canada’s senior women’s field hockey team.
“I’ve definitely used some of their services to help with my professional development,” she adds. “I’ve been in contact with the Game Plan adviser to do some career exploration and got help with my resume. And then also just done some workshops through them to build other skills, like public speaking.”
As Champion for the coming months, Hennig will act as an ambassador for the program in the community and on social media, spreading the message of what the program can offer to athletes.
First and foremost, Hennig says she can start by doing that ithin her own sporting community.
“I know when I first came into the team there was lots of things that I didn’t know about what we had access to and ways you could find help,” Hennig explains. “If I can do that a little bit and promote the program within our own field hockey community, within the National Team, and then if it’s beneifical to some other athletes too then that’s great.”
Athletes can access resources for support in areas include career, network, education, skills development, and health. For more about Game Plan, visit the website here.
