Editor, The News:
Re: Hall-of-fame Pitt Meadows basketball coach ‘fired.’
I am a former Canadian Olympic athlete and I can tell you that people like Rich Goulet are the best thing that can happen in a young athlete’s development.
In fact, mentors like this man can change young lives for the better.
I experienced this with a coach much like Mr. Goulet and he made me an Olympian.
I went to Simon Fraser University from 1972 through ‘74 and I met Michael Cairns, who took enormous amounts of time and energy to help me become the national champion in the hammer throw.
Mr. Cairns was a Canadian national champion in the late 1960s in hammer throw and was the record holder for the country at the time.
He saw me and challenged me many times the way that Mr. Goulet apparently challenged some of his young athletes, and those challenges and the care and attention he took over five years took me from being an average junior to a national champion a world-class hammer thrower who competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics for Canada.
That’s what I’m talking about. I’m talking about someone who took the time and effort for someone else’s kids.
I think Mr. Goulet deserves respect and the over-protective, babying, helicopter parents should be thankful for him.
Murray Keating
Surrey