2009 - Melody Davidson

Melody Davidson

MELODY DAVIDSON - One of Canada's Most Influential Women in Sport

Melody Davidson was born in Coronation, where she attended Grades 1 to 3. She completed her schooling in Oyen, Alberta. Melody graduated from the University of Alberta in 1986 with a Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education and is a graduate of the National Coaching Institute holding Level 4 certification within the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP). She holds other coaching certificates and received a national coaching diploma from the University of Calgary. Melody worked as the Recreation Director with the Town of Castor for over 9 years, and she also coached volleyball at Gus Wetter School. While in Castor she spent time coaching the Calgary Midget AAA Northstars and the Stettler Junior B Lightning. Melody was part of the original ownership of Shooting Star Hockey School in Stettler, which operated form 1994 to 2008 starting with 20 participants in the first year and increasing to over 200 participants in the last year.

Melody coached Team Alberta at the Canada Winter Games in 1995 and she served as an assistant coach with the NWHL's Edmonton Chimos in 1996-97 when the squad won a gold medal at the 1997 Esso Women's National Hockey Championship. She also served as the Head Coach of women's ice hockey at Connecticut College from 1997-2000. She worked with Hockey Alberta, one of Hockey Canada's 13 Branches in 2000-01 as the coaching development coordinator. Melody was based at Cornell University as Head Coach for three seasons before joining with Hockey Canada to lead its women's High Performance Programs.

Since May 2004, Melody has continuously served as head coach of the National Women's Hockey team. She won gold medals at the 2007 IIHF World Women's Championship, 2006 Olympic Winter Games, 2005 Torino Ice Pre-Olympic Tournament, and the 2004 and 2005 4 Nations Cups. She also won silver medals at the 2005 IIHF World Women's Championship and at the 2005 Worlds. Melody won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics as an assistant coach. Melody was the head coach when the team captured the 2000 world championship. While serving as an assistant coach, she also won gold at the 2000 4 Nations Cup, the IIHF World Championship during the 2000-01 and 1993-94 seasons, and the 1996 Pacific Rim Championship. As head coach of Canada's National Women's Under-22 Team, Melody won a gold medal at the 1998 Christmas Cup.

Melody was named three times as one of the most influential women in Canadian sport by the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women's Sport and Physical Activity. She is one of only four women associated with hockey in Canada to be named to the annual list and a three-time recipient of the Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award. Melody was awarded the 2006 University of Alberta Alumni Association Award of Excellence, the 2006 Red Deer College Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the 2007 Hockey Alberta's Centennial Award. Melody was appointed the head coach of Canada's National Women's Team for the 2009-10 season, including the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.