Blues Athletic Therapist and Centaurs coach honoured with award

June 21, 2018

share

Ontario Blues Athletic Therapist and Burlington coach Chris Kelly honoured with Burlington Sports Alliance Champion of Sport Award

On Tuesday evening, the Burlington Centaurs Rugby Club Senior Men’s Head Coach and Ontario Blues Senior Men's Athletic Therapist Chris Kelly was awarded the Burlington Sports Alliance’s Champion of Sport Award at their 15th Annual Sport Recognition & Awards Dinner.
The Champion of Sport Award is presented to a coach whose dedication and commitment has led a team or an athlete to a championship(s), or ‘high performance’ level of competition. Through his or her efforts, Burlington athletes and/or teams have achieved success and become champions.

From all of us at Rugby Ontario, we would like to congratulate Chris on the achievement!

Nomination Information (via Nick Manz, Burlington Centaurs)

Chris Kelly took over the Head Coaching duties of the Burlington Centaurs Rugby Football Club Senior Men’s Division in December of 2016 after serving as Assistant Coach for two seasons. Prior to this, Chris had been a player at the club for 15 years, beginning as an under-14 athlete. He is the first home grown member to fulfill the roll of head coach at the club after injuries cut short his playing career. 

As a player Chris not only represented the City of Burlington in the sport of rugby but also the regional and provincial rugby unions.

In 2017 in his first season as head coach, the Centaurs went on to a great amount of success compiling of the following accomplishments:

Fielding three men’s teams all season (very few clubs in Ontario can lay claim to this)

The 3rd XV/Berties finishing 3rd in the Niagara Rugby Union C Division (4 wins, 5 losses, 1 draw)

The 2nd XV finishing 1st in the Niagara Rugby Union A2 Division (7 wins, 3 losses)

The 1st XV finishing 1st in the Niagara Rugby Union A1 Division (9 wins, 1 loss)

The 1st XV winning the Monty Heald Tournament of Champions

The 1st XV winning the Abercairn Cup (Against Hamilton RFC)

The 1st XV winning the Roddy Allan Cup (Against Niagara RFC)

The 1st XV winning the Niagara Rugby Union Cup

The 1st XV winning the Rugby Ontario Intermediate Cup

The 1st XV earning promotion to the Rugby Ontario Marshall Provincial Championship for next season

Mr. Kelly oversaw the play of 92 registered Senior Men’s members, a large spike in registration numbers. He also formed the Burlington Centaurs Coaching Committee which has had 40 members sign up to help develop coaches and promote volunteering within the club and local schools. 

Chris further works to assist athletes through his job as a Certified Athletic Therapist at Elite Performance Center in Burlington. He is the Head Therapist with the Professional Rugby Team the Ontario Arrows in the Major League Rugby (MLR) and Provincial Ontario Blues Men’s Rugby Teams, where he provides immediate medical care as well as rehabilitation and athletic development. 

Previously Chris has also worked with the Burlington Cougars Jr. A Hockey team, and provided medical coverage for Halton high school athletics (including Football, Hockey, Rugby, Lacrosse, Field Hockey, and Soccer).

ABOUT THE ONTARIO BLUES

The Ontario Blues program is the high performance representative program for male and female rugby players in Ontario. Rugby Ontario is represented at the provincial level by the Ontario Blues. The program includes representative teams from Under-15 to Senior in both Women’s and Men’s Fifteens and Under-18 Men's and Women's Sevens. Specifically, the program is designed to develop and showcase rugby players for Canadian representative national teams.


ABOUT RUGBY ONTARIO

Rugby Ontario is the provincial sports governing body responsible for the organization of rugby in Ontario. Our mission is to establish a stronger identity for rugby in Ontario by promoting the sport’s core values and by fostering a culture of inclusiveness and excellence on and off the field of play.

To learn more, visit https://www.rugbyontario.com/


WANT MORE INFORMATION?

Kevin Baxter

Communications Coordinator - Rugby Ontario

647-560-4790 x 1006

kbaxter@rugbyontario.com


JOIN THE CONVERSATION


© 2022 Rugby Ontario. All Rights Reserved. Powered by SportLomo