Derrick Macleod has been a coach since he was a teen, he’s coached the Fredericton Speed Skating Club as a head coach since 1997, and has been the provincial High Performance Coach since 2009. Most recently he was the head coach for team New Brunswick’s short track speed skating team at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in P.E.I. As the head coach he spent two years helping to prepare the team for this year’s edition of the Canada Games. Derrick has a history in the Canada Games as an athlete as well as a coach. He served as an alternate at the 1991 Canada Games, and since then he has coached at every Winter Games since 2003.

When talking about the Canada Games experience, Derrick mentions that for most participants in the Canada Games (coaches and athletes alike) it will be the biggest athletic event of their lives. With that in mind it’s important to make sure that everybody takes the opportunity to enjoy every aspect of the experience, not just the competition. At Canada Games, athletes get the chance to represent New Brunswick and compete against future international and Olympic competitors, but they also get the chance to meet other athletes from around the country and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Derrick’s coaching philosophy has changed over the years, and it evolves with time. Over the course of his coaching career he’s picked up and left behind certain elements with each new generation that he’s coached. With that said, an element of Derrick’s coaching philosophy that stands firm is that coaches should be the most prepared and organized members of the team.

Moving forward Derrick is trying to decide how he wants to continue giving back to his sport. He plans on this being his final decade in sport and he wants to pass on as much of his knowledge and experience as possible to athletes and future coaches before officially retiring as a coach. Passionate about his sport, and his community, he has been a great supporter of speed skating in New Brunswick, and will continue to be from now until he decides to call it a career!