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With The Coach:
She gives her all to rugby
John Meagher
The Gazette
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Lee Bieber (centre in red) with the members of her Ste. Anne's team.
With the Coach is a weekly series featuring a conversation with a local coach.
Coach: Lee Bieber, a 42-year-old Beaconsfield resident and advertising agency consultant.
Team: Ste.Anne de Bellevue Rugby Football Club women’s junior program.
Playing experience: Ste.Anne’s RFC, John Abbott College and Quebec provincial team.
Years coached: 25 at high school, CEGEP, university, club and provincial U-19 slevels.
Best coaching tip: Teaching proper body positioning results in fewer rugby injuries.Few have given more to the sport of rugby in the West Ialand than longtime coach Lee Bieber.
Although she stepped back from coaching after the birth of her twin boys Jacob and Alex in 1996, she could never stay away from the pitch for long.
Bieber is back at the helm of a new junior program for girls in Ste. Anne de Bellevue this year.
Has the St. Anne’s rugby club changed much since you played in the 1980s?
Bieber: Not really. As far as camaraderie and the friends you make, the club really becomes your family. That’s really what’s alluring about it. What’s interesting now, though, is that there a lot more younger kids because of the junior and mini-rugby programs.
You no longer play?
Bieber: Good Lord, no. (Laughing.) I had the twins in ’96, and played one more year more after that.
Are your 11-year-old boys into rugby?
Bieber: They’re interested in it, but they’re more into swimming right now with the Beaconsfield Bluefins.
When and where did you start coaching?
Bieber: In 1984 at Mac, my old high school in St. Anne’s. It’s sort of progressed from there. I did a few years there, then I went to John Abbott. I was there for 10 years. Then, I was an assistant at McGill with Vince De Grandpre.
What is your favourite level to coach?
Bieber: I enjoyed CEGEP. At that age, they’re still kids but on their way to womanhood. But high-school is my favourite age group because they want to learn, they want to please and they’re just so full of energy.
Have the social aspects of rugby changed since you played?
Bieber: I think young people today still go out. Whether it’s soccer or rugby, there’s a social aspect. Even with lifeguards and swimming, there’s a huge party culture. Whereas we used to jump in cars and drive home stupidly, young people don’t do that as much anymore. They’re much aware about consequences and safety issues than we were at that age.
Are the Barbs still your main club rivals?
Bieber: There will always be a rivalry, but it’s not a hateful thing. The players are all friends outside of rugby. The Barbs hate us and that’s okay. Deep down we probably hate them, too, but in a healthy way. We both know we give each other really good games.
Do you have Mayor Bill Tierney (a longtime Ste .Anne’s rugby member) in your back pocket?
Bieber: Actually, we’re in his. (Laughing.) But Bill still comes out and cheers on our teams.
Did you meet your husband (musician Aidan Griffin) through rugby?
Bieber: Actually, I did. I was out one night with my rugby teammates. It was the summer Annie’s opened in 1987. He was playing in a band and I asked to be introduced. I told my friends, ‘Someday I’m gonna marry that guy.’ ”