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KARATE CANADA GROWS ITS TEAM WITH A NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND SPORT TECHNICAL LEADER

May 16, 2022
Chris Bright and Rodney Hobson announcement
MAY 16 – Today marks a new day for Karate Canada as Chris Bright fully steps into his role as an Executive Director. With the recent appointment of Rodney Hobson as the Sport Technical Leader, Karate Canada can look forward to a new era for the organization, while keeping the athletes and members at the forefront of management decisions.
“Leadership, accountability, strong fiscal stewardship along with strong communication skills are the qualities that make an effective Executive Director. With this in mind, Karate Canada is pleased that Chris brings these skill sets to our leadership team. Chris not only understands the world of high performance but has a proven track-record in effective operational leadership. I know that Karate Canada will benefit greatly with Chris at the helm and I am excited for our future.”
– Craig Vokey, Karate Canada President.

As the new Executive Director, Chris Bright will be counted on to play a critical role in the operations and strategic direction of Karate Canada (KC). This will include growth in participation, collaboration with the Provincial & Territorial Sport Organizations (PTSO), alignment with sponsors, funding partners and governing bodies, as well the support for all athletes, para-athletes, coaches and officials and the premier events KC will host or compete at.

About Chris Bright

Prior to joining Karate Canada, Bright’s background in martial arts comes from his most recent role as the High Performance (HP) Consultant with Taekwondo Canada (2020 – 2021). Bright helped lead the successful Own the Podium adoption of their High Performance Plan, supported the Athletes Assistant Program carding for HP athletes and their Sport Canada funding, and spearheaded Gender Equity education and Safe Sport initiatives like the Responsible Coaching Movement for the Taekwondo board of directors, PTSOs and clubs.

With a broad background in the Sport Industry, Bright spent over a decade with Hockey Canada’s business operations (2009 – 2020). Here he held Director positions in Grow the Game and Recruitment Programs (2015 – 2020), in these roles he worked with international corporate partners on program design & development and with PTSOs on national recruitment & retention strategies. From 2011 to 2015, Bright was the Executive Director of the Hockey Canada Foundation (HCF), helping govern both a Canadian and US HCF and their philanthropic initiatives.

Preceding Bright’s career in the Sport Industry, he played 18 years of professional hockey, representing Team Canada at the World Championship level and had stops in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Bright joins the organization just after Rodney Hobson has been announce as the permanent Sport Technical Leader.
About Rodney Hobson
As the interim High Performance Director, he has already made a big difference to the Karate Canada High Performance programs in increasing communication and rebuilding the coaching team and various structures. In this new role, he will be responsible for implementing the strategic objectives of Karate Canada and lead the day to day operations of the sport, technical and High-Performance (HP) programs.
“I’m excited to start this journey with Karate Canada and eagerly look forward to working with the outstanding network of athletes, high performance coaches, club coaches, Provincial/Territorial Sport Organisation representatives, and administration to ensure alignment towards our shared goal.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me in my karate career to eventually lead me to this position and I commit to ensuring all athletes are supported, represented and provided the platform to achieve their goals. I’m proud to represent Canada, and our National Federation.” -Rodney Hobson, Sport Technical Leader.
Prior to his role at Karate Canada, Hobson was the Karate BC Head Coach and Team Director (2017-2022), where he helped British-Columbia athletes achieve their goals of performing higher on the national stage. He was involved with the Karate Canada LTAD Committee, the BC HP Committee and the BC Coaching Development Committee. He also worked closely with coaches as a certified Karate Canada NCCP facilitator/evaluator since 2016.
A long time karateka, Rodney Hobson is a certified WKF Kata and Kumite coach. He obtained his 6th dan from O’Sensei Masami Tsuruoka.