MANAGER, NATIONAL ACADEMY PROGRAM / National U20 Head Coach
Michael Shelley
 

The Manager, National Academy Program involves a commitment to aspects of male high performance player development and talent identification.  This position focuses upon the progression of talent-identified players from club, school and/or university participation into Rugby Canada’s men’s national and international level programs.

The Manager, National Academy Program will provide leadership to Rugby Canada’s National Academy program and National Age Grade Teams for males, provide oversight to the programs operating in the Regional Academies as well as perform specialist coaching functions as required.  The role is viewed as being an integral and significant element of the high performance player pathway process as outlined in Rugby Canada’s Long Term Rugby Development framework.  The person involved in this role is required to coach, manage players, plan programs and manage high performance programs.


Mike Shelley joined Rugby Canada as the National Rugby Academy Manager and National Under-20 Men’s Team Head Coach in 2011, and is now employed as Manager, National Academy Program.  Born and raised in England, Mike has a life of experience in rugby.  Mike was a professional player from 1996-2006 and has 244 appearances as prop for Leeds Tykes RUFC.  He spent four years with Leeds Tykes as Team Captain and another three as Club Captain and won the Powergen Cup in this role.  While with Leeds, Mike served as Player Representative to the Professional Rugby Players Association.  He went on to represent his country after being selected to England A from 2002-2005, visiting Edmonton for the 2005 Churchill Cup.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and an MBA from the University of Bradford with specialization in Human Resource Management.  His work experience includes a placement with KPMG during his MBA and more recently as HR Advisor for WinSport Canada (Canadian Winter Sports Institute).  

Mike met his wife while playing for England A during the Churchill Cup and spent a year in Edmonton following his retirement in 2006 before moving to Calgary. He has  coached the Calgary Saints RFC to two Provincial Championship titles (2007 and 2008) before beginning work as Director of Rugby for Rugby Alberta. In that role, Mike's responsibilities included coaching U20’s, Academy Manager, management of age grade teams and was involved in developing junior programs.  In 2010, Mike was appointed Head Coach of the Prairie Wolf Pack and led the team to the Canadian Rugby Championship Final. 

Mike currently resides in Victoria, BC with his wife and his son.