The Lethbridge Volleyball Club Received a National Coaching Grant

Oshawa (Ontario), Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - General Motors of Canada and Murray Chevrolet Cadillac Lethbridge announced today that the Lethbridge Volleyball Club will receive a $2,000 grant for coaching skill development.

"Community-oriented sports play an important role for youth in our region and well trained, dedicated coaches are a key component for the success of the program and the athletes," said Chris Murray from Murray Chevrolet Cadillac Lethbridge. "We partnered with General Motors of Canada to ensure that three of these grants would be awarded to deserving clubs in our local community."

"Olympic dreams begin at the community club level and that is what GM's Making Dreams Possible Program is all about" said Marc Comeau, GM of Canada's vice-president of sales, service, and marketing. "With support from the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC), these grants were designed to invest in coaches in communities across Canada. We believe that ongoing coach development at the grass roots level is the cornerstone to building our elite athletes of the future."

"The CAC is pleased to be partners with GM through the Making Dreams Possible Program. In its first year, the program's direct support of coach development touched over 5,000 coaches and nearly 70,000 athletes in 115 community clubs across the country. This program immediately impacts coach development and education and will ultimately benefit Canadian sport as more coaches are introduced to the National Coach Certification Program (NCCP)," commented Jean-Marie De Koninck, Chair, CAC Board of Directors.

"The Lethbridge Volleyball Club is pleased to be named as a recipient of the GM Coaching Grant. With our club growing every year it is necessary to train our coaches on a regular basis. We will use the money awarded us to help certify our coaches as NCCP Level I & II volleyball coaches. Being able to train our coaches will help to enhance their ability to train the athletes within our club. Qualified coaches always bring the best opportunities to enhance young athletes. With the growth of volleyball in Canada it will also help the athletes develop a love of the game that we hope will carry them through their lives." commented Vicki Hawkins, Administration Director for the Lethbridge Volleyball Club.

Making Dreams Possible is a program developed by GM in cooperation with the Coaching Association of Canada, the governing body of Canada's coaching education program and is designed to support coaches of Olympic and Paralympic Sports at the high performance and community levels.

Over the next three years, GM's Making Dreams Possible program will provide a minimum of 100 grants of $2,000 each annually for coach development in local communities, and ten grants of $10,000 each annually to high performance athletes and their coaches. These grants will be used to fund special projects that develop the skills and abilities of elite and community level coaches.

About GM Canada
General Motors of Canada (GMCL) is engineering and manufacturing advanced environmental technologies ranging from Active Fuel Management (cylinder deactivation) and hybrid systems to E85 biofuel and fuel cell vehicles - more than any other auto company right here in Canada. Headquartered in Oshawa Ontario, GMCL employs more than 19,000 people nationwide. GM of Canada manufactures vehicles, vehicle powertrains, and markets the full range of General Motors vehicles and related services through 759 dealerships and retailers across Canada. Vehicles sold through this network include Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, GMC, Saturn, Hummer, Saab and Cadillac.

About the Coaching Association of Canada
The Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) is a not-for-profit amateur sport organization with the mandate to improve the effectiveness of coaching across all sports and at all levels of the sport system. With a mission of enhancing the experiences of all Canadian athletes through quality coaching, the CAC and its partners deliver a leading edge coaching system that has a goal of reaching 100,000 NCCP-trained coaches who will impact 1,000,000 athletes each year by 2010. Visit www.coach.ca for more information about coach education and training.

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Contacts:
Patty Faith
GM Canada
(905) 644-2728

Sandra Gage
Director, Marketing and Communications
Coaching Association of Canada
(613) 235-5000 ext. 9-2378

Lethbridge Volleyball Club
Vicki Hawkins
403-320-8868