A former Olympian from Thunder Bay will be coaching Lebanon’s women’s national hockey team with the goal of getting them into the 2026 Olympics.
Katie Weatherston tells us she received the offer “out of the blue” about two weeks ago when she got a call from a member of the team’s board of directors who told her they are looking for a new coach and ‘would she be interested?’
She and her assistant coach Fay McLaughlin then met with the president of the Lebanese Ice Hockey Federation and liked what he had to say and were “excited to get going.” The 36 year old Weatherston, who has been coaching since she was 15, explains “it’s been quite a whirlwind” ever since, and with the opening of training camp taking place next month she has a lot of work to do.
The Canadian women’s hockey star indicates there is no arena in Lebanon for them to play in just yet, so until then all training will be done in Canada. She is hoping to find some Lebanese-Canadians who might be interested in a tryout.
Weatherston’s international playing career began at the 2004 Four Nations Cup when she played for Canada and she donned a Team Canada jersey for the 2006 Winter Olympics, held in Torino, Italy.
