Christine Miles spent 10 years coaching in the Greater Toronto Hockey League.  

And most of those years meant a double-carded role (two benches) for Miles – all of which were spent with the Ted Reeve Hockey Association.  

A mom of three, Miles admits the journey on the bench wasn’t without some self-proclaimed insanity.  

“I have three kids, I have a full-time job, at one point I had a newborn,” Miles reflected, all with a smile that could be felt from the other end of a phone call. “But I think, there was definitely a bit of insanity there – now I look back and have no idea what I was actually thinking.”

Perhaps it wasn’t thinking, but rather an inspired passion that pushed the now GTHL Board of Director to hold the goal of coaching one day.  

“Oh gosh no,” Miles joked when asked if it was the desire to coach her kids that led her to the bench. “The truth of this is, it’s going to sound cheesy, but when I played varsity [at the University of Guelph], I had a really good coach [Dave DeBerger].”  

Miles, originally a ringette player growing up, shared that she was always one of those players that had to work that much harder to play and remain at the varsity level.  

“We didn’t have hockey [in Guelph] when I was growing up – I didn’t make the switch until high school and then I played as much as humanly possible, trained like crazy to make the varsity team… it wasn’t a natural thing for me.”  

Miles recalls distinctly watching DeBerger instruct a drill at practice one day.  

“I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to coach, I want to be a coach,’” Miles said, adding that DeBerger and everything she learned at the time developed her passion for the sport and coaching – something she appreciates now more than ever. “He was so good – he knew the game so well, but he could barely take a slapshot. He just knew how to coach the game with such an impact and because of that, I learned the game so well and I used all of that to my advantage.”  

Miles put up her hand to coach her eldest son first. But, stepping up to the bench wasn’t without its immediate challenges. 

“It was difficult – the amount of people that asked me if I had played hockey before…” Miles recalled, adding that the assumption that a woman could never be the head coach took a toll. “It was just the effects of what everyone has always known and then it becoming my way – but I did notice a change.”  

“With the [referees] and coaches and others – there has been a shift, a change,” Miles continued. “Just with the exposure of having more girls and women in the game… people are having their thoughts and behaviours about women in the game challenged.”  

Within the assumptions of others, Miles also had to learn how to channel her own expectations.  

“I had such high expectations of myself because I wanted to prove everyone wrong. I was questioning so much as a woman coach and I think that may have fallen on the kids at times,” Miles reflected on what she would tell herself as a first-year coach now. “I am uber competitive and I just knew what the team was capable of – I wanted everyone to feel that. But I would maybe take a breath, be a little more laid back, and remind myself that it’s not the end of the world.”  

From there, Miles’ love for coaching kids only grew – as did her determination to spread her time as a coach equally among her kids.  

“First of all, I love, love, love coaching kids – my biggest joy is bringing out the best in the individual. What can I bring out in this little guy or girl? Building their confidence and then when those stars align, watching them become the player they’re supposed to be – that’s like magic for me.”  

“17 teams of that,” Miles shared, adding that she never thought anything of it – she just did it. “Maybe it’s the twin disease – I am a twin so you have to do everything the exact same for all of your kids. I was determined to give them the same number of years of coaching. Maybe because they didn’t know that not everyone has their mom coaching them, they wanted me as their coach.”  

Miles thinks back to many parents who shared that sentiment, that having someone’s son be coached most of their minor hockey career by a woman, is impactful. 

“It was never something I thought about in that light until people brought it to my attention, but again, [those kids] didn’t know any different,” Miles continued. 

For other women thinking about taking a spot on the bench – what’s the message?  

“You can do it. You can. You’re stronger than you think and the rewards of passing on your knowledge and passion for not just the sport but for seeing young kids prosper through sport, far outweighs the workload – or else I wouldn’t have done it,” Miles said. “You have something to offer. There’s a certain tone and touch – and I hate to generalize this – that women bring to the sport that all kids, girls and boys, can benefit from.”  

“It’s the smiles on kids when they do something you’ve been trying to teach them all season,” Miles continued, offering a memory of a young kid who finally stopped on his right leg mid-game after a season’s worth of work. “I remember him doing it without even thinking and I cried I was so happy – it’s a hundred thousand memories just like that, that you can help make a reality.”