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Dru Marshall

Field Hockey Builder - Inducted 2013

Dr. Dru Marshall coached field hockey at the University, National and International levels.   A strong technical coach, she also wrote extensively about coaching, and contributed significantly to its evolution as a respected component of sport in Canada.  During her tenure at the University of Alberta, the Pandas won six CIS medals.  She was a five-time Canada West Coach of the Year, a two-time CIS Coach of the Year and a 3M Coach of the Year (all sports).  Dru was the assistant coach of the Canadian bronze-medal 1986 World Cup team, and the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games teams.  

While coaching the Canadian National Women's Field Hockey Team, Dru maintained her duties as a full-time University of Alberta coach and professor - later it would take three full-time employees to do the same work.  Her dedication to her teams, along with her incredible technical and tactical abilities, resulted in many team victories even when the odds were not in a team's favour.  Fifteen Pandas players went on to play for the Canadian National Team. 

Her stated mission as a coach was to develop leaders and citizens, and she succeeded, as many of her players went on to coach, and become doctors and teachers.  Her tireless work ethic was a lesson for her students and teams, and she became an important mentor to many of them. 

Dr. Marshall was awarded an Olympic Torch Relay Legacy Fund Coaching Scholarship in 1988.  She was named Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union "Coach of the Year" in 1992 and 1996, Canada West University Athletic Association "Coach of the Year" in 1986, 1992, 1993,1996, and 1999, 3M Canada Coach of the year for Women's Team Sport in 1994, and Field Hockey Canada's "Elite Coach of the Year" in 1992.  She won the Alberta Coaching and Officiating Recognition Award in 1992. 

She received the University of Alberta Alumni Honour Award in 2003.  In 2004, she received Global TV's Woman of Vision award, the CAAWS Most Influential Women in Sport and Physical Activity award, the Marion Lay Herstorical Award, and the Premier's Award of Excellence. 

Dr. Marshall was awarded the 2010 Geoff Gowan Award by the Coaching Association of Canada, the highest honor for an amateur coach in Canada. She was inducted into the University of Alberta Sports Wall of Fame in 2011.

After Induction

Marshall led UCalgary’s crisis management team through many challenging times including the 2013 flood, the 2014 Brentwood massacre, the 2015 Fort McMurray fire and, most recently, the first year of the COVID-19 global pandemic.