Log in & Sign up
You are not logged in.
Most Commented
With The Coach:
A dynamic force on local soccer scene
The Gazette
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Bernard Le Jour enjoys being out on the field. (Gazette photo)
With the Coach is a weekly series featuring a conversation with a local coach.
Coach: Bernard Le Jour, 54-year-old Pierrefonds resident and head of a software firm
Team: John Abbott College women’s soccer team
Years coached: 4 as head coach at JAC. Also coached at Triple-A club level with Lac St. Louis Lakers and Laval, and for Pierrefonds youth-league teams. Also coached girls’ hockey.
Coaching tip: With hard work and belief, everything is achievable eventually.
For a guy who never played soccer while growing up, Bernard Le Jour has certainly poured himself into the West Island’s most popular sport.
The self-taught Le Jour is now considered one of the region’s top innovators, heading up the successful Pierrefonds 3-vs.-3 summer tournament and the new Futsal indoor winter league.
When did you start coaching soccer?
Le Jour: In Pierrefonds in 1988, with my daughter Marie-Josée’s U-11 team.
How have you grown as a coach since then?
Le Jour: It’s two different persons. Coaching for me back then was yelling and encouraging people and trying to control the game from the bench. Now, it’s much more about trying to stay calm and giving good instructions, not just ‘Go, go go!’
What type of athlete makes the best coach?
Le Jour: Students of the game make the best coaches. When you are not gifted (as an athlete), you have to concentrate on what you’re lacking so you can do better. That’s what makes you an observer. Just because you’re an excellent player or an all-star doesn’t mean you’ll be a successful coach.
Do you have your provincial coaching certification?
Le Jour: I had to work hard to get (it). I started trying in 2003 and only got it in 2006. The passing rate is about 40 per cent, but I believe in it.
What’s the biggest challenge at the CEGEP level?
Le Jour: Trying to have all your players together at once. All the players work and there is overlap with their club teams, so they have to adjust their schedules.
Has playing recreational soccer for 20 years made you a better coach?
Le Jour: Definitely. If you’re always sitting on the sidelines or in the stands or watching TV, you don’t see everything because the game is so subtle.
Any other level you’d like to coach?
Le Jour: Maybe one day university.