This week marked National Coaches Week across Canada. One of Collingwood’s favourite coaches says he’d like to see a new multi-use recreation facility in town and is hoping everyone can come together to make it happen.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Dave Epp, 53, OPP officer and president of Collingwood Minor Hockey Association.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in Waterloo.
I went to Laurier University for biology.
Q: Where did life take you after you graduated?
A: Funny enough, the plan was to get into physiotherapy. As a random shot in the dark, I applied to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
I became a police officer in 1998. I started up north near Thunder Bay, in Armstrong.
I came to Collingwood in 2000.
Q: What made you want to come to Collingwood?
A: I was looking for somewhere that had the water, and the mountains and was still an urban centre that wasn’t too far away from home. My folks were still in Waterloo, so it’s only a 1.5 to two-hour drive.
I didn’t know too many people here in Collingwood, but it didn’t take long.
I met my wife here. I moved here the day before New Year’s Eve of 2000.
I met her at a New Year’s Eve party the next night. There were about 30 people at a ski crowd party. She and I were the only single ones.
She had no choice. I was the only single dude there. (laughs)
Q: When did you decide you wanted to be a police officer, and why?
A: I had a couple of friends who were with Cambridge OPP at the time. They said they thought I would be a good cop. I don’t know if it was common sense, decision making or people skills, but they said to apply.
It was very simple and random.
I’ve been with Collingwood OPP for 25 years. I think I’m the oldest guy in the office still working the road.
I worked as part of the emergency response team for 15 years.
Q: What sports have you been active in throughout your life?
A: Growing up in Waterloo, I went to school at Kitchener Collegiate Institute. In my high school days, I was big into sports – like basketball and volleyball.
I grew up playing minor hockey for Waterloo.
Sports has always just been an important outlet for stress relief and it’s a feel-good mechanism. I think, even back in high school in the 1980s, I don’t think it was really recognized.
Now, 30 or 40 years later, we recognize the benefits of getting our heart rates up and how beneficial activity is for the mind and body.
I’ve always been a big advocate for sports, and multi-sports in particular. I’ve always seemed to migrate toward sports teams.
Q: When did you go from playing sports, to wanting to coach sports?
A: When I first got to Collingwood, I think it was a means to meeting people. It doesn’t take long in a small community if you’re active and involved in groups to meet people.
I coached some basketball and volleyball at the high schools when I first moved up here.
When my wife and I had our kid, I got back into hockey around 2012. It kind of rejuvenated my love for hockey. I coached, but I also played recreationally.
For the past 12 years I’ve been involved in minor hockey. Last year was my son’s last season, but I still love it.
Q: You’re currently the president of the Collingwood Minor Hockey Association. What made you want to go from coaching to running the association?
A: Nothing really just happens. It morphs into more over time, especially in the volunteer world.
I started out coaching in the younger age groups. Then, I got more involved on the board. Then, I became vice president, then acting president and now president. It’s been about five years since I became president.
Q: What makes a good coach?
A: I think coaching is a very natural thing – it’s either in you, or it’s not.
You don’t really go to school to be a coach.
You need a desire to do it. It’s largely volunteer, so you need that commitment. You definitely need people skills, and you have to love kids.
It’s very rewarding a lot of the time, but it can be completely thankless at other times.
With being an OPP officer too, it’s good for the kids to see a real face and not just see a uniform. They know that “Epper” is approachable, and a lot of police officers are.
I love the fact that the kids I’ve coached can text me or reach out to me through their parents to ask for advice. It happens a lot. They know I’m not going to judge them. At the end of the day, we’re all just human and make mistakes.
Thankfully, here in Collingwood, it’s a great community and we have great sports teams here.
I find we cross over into multiple sports.
What’s been really great is, because so many families are multi-sports oriented – like kids aren’t just playing one sport – we all get to know each other.
We joke around because, like, a kid won’t be able to make a soccer game because he has a hockey try-out in the middle of the summer.
We’re lucky that way that we offer so many sports because they just get better at each one and they appreciate the sport for each season.
Q: You’ve been vocal about the need for more recreation facilities in town. What does Collingwood need when it comes to sports?
A: There is one last piece of the puzzle that Collingwood needs to be complete, and that is a multi-use recreation facility.
It’s so obvious. I’m grateful that the town is taking the steps they’re taking. We’re getting some traction. But we can’t let off the pedal right now.
Securing land is probably the most important thing right now aside from the feasibility study.
The seven presidents that make up the alliance – we are united. We don’t argue about what we need. Our message to the town is, we need something, and it needs to be big and able to grow over 50 years. It needs to be in Collingwood.
Q: What does the future hold for you?
A: I’m going to hang in there. I really like the kids. The sport of hockey is still growing massively in Collingwood, both for the boys and girls. I think our combined membership is about 800. We’re adding teams every year.
We need ice. We’ve been saying it for a long time.
There are still a lot of things I want to do with being president and assisting all our coaches.
Q: Is there anything else you want people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: We, along with other like-minded coaches and our associations, would like to just keep things positive.
Enough of the complaining.
Solve the problem. Offer a solution. Let’s move on and continue developing our kids in sport.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we speak with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature runs on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
