coaching, athletes, personalized, amiri, houshange, connor, victoria

Houshang Amiri

Master Coach
PCC-NCI (National Coaching Institute)

Qualifications: Level 4 Coach,
Disciplines: Road, Mountain, Track, Triathlon, Xterra, Cross

Houshang Amiri has developed his coaching skills and philosophy over a 37-year career as both an international competitor and coach.

Notable Accomplishments and Awards

2010 Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award (Coaching Association of Canada).
Coached Erinne Willock, Svein Tuff, Max Plaxton to Road Worlds, Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Podium finish at Track, Road and MTB Championships.
2009 coached (Devon Smibert /Brain Cowie) to achieve 3rd place finish at UCI Paralympics Track World Championship.
Coached Erinne Willock to two top 7th finishes at UCI Women’s World Cup and World Championship.
Coached and guided Svein Tuft throughout 2009 Pro tour, UCI Road World Championship.
5 National titles in Road, Track and MTB.
2008 Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award, Coaching Association of Canada.
Coached Svein Tuft to a 2nd place finish in the Individual Time Trial at the 2008 UCI World Championship and a 7th place in the Individual Time Trial at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Coached Svein Tuft to the overall win in the 2008 Tour de Beauce.
Coached Brian Cowie and Devon Smibert to a 5th place finish at Track pursuit in Paralympics games in Beijing.
Coached Svein Tuft to win the 2007 Continental Pro Team Title in road cycling - a first in Canadian history
Coached Max Plaxton to a podium finish at the 2006 UCI MTB XCO U23 World Championships.
Coached Seamus McGrath to a podium finish at MTB XCO Commonwealth Games.
4 time winner, Ken Shields Coaching Award.
Coached and helped Peter Reid to win the Hawaii Ironman.
Coached Melanie McQuaid to win 3 Xterra World Championships consecutive title.
And many other coaching awards, 1999 3M best coach of the year, 1998 cycling BC best coach of the year

Background

As a young cyclist, Houshang had the privilege to train with some of the most experienced coaches from Italy, Russia and Germany. Houshang has always been grateful to have worked with both the eastern and western powerhouses of cycling in the 70s and 80s. Through these relationships, Houshang learned that to be an effective coach you have to be acutely aware of how each individual athlete’s body and mind works, and how they react to training and competitive situations.

During his cycling career, Amiri won several national championships and Continental medals. He went on to captain the Iranian National team (in multiple disciplines including road, ITT, TTT, and individual, team pursuit and points race on the track) In the mid 1980s, he left Iran and began a successful professional career with the HRC Team in Hanover, Germany.

In 1989, Houshang immigrated to Canada and coached privately in Ontario before moving to the West Coast in 1995. By 1998, he was coaching over 45 athletes who were achieving national and international successes. In Vancouver BC, he coached the Atomic Cycling club. One of the first athletes he coached was Murray Solem (from 1996 -2005.) Murray made the National team and the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games. Between 1997 and 2002, Houshang’s athletes won over 47 National titles in road , track and MTB

Houshang was a volunteer Provincial coach for Cycling BC from 1996-1999. He fondly remembers taking the BC Provincial team to Track National in 1998. There was no money for his accommodations, so he had to find space to put a sleeping bag down on one of the race volunteer’s floors. That year the BC pursuit team missed the Canadian record set at the 1994 Commonwealth Game by a very small margin. They beat the second placed team by over 10 seconds which included some of Canada’s current top cyclists.

In 1999, the Canadian Cycling Association offered Houshang a coaching position at the PacificSport National Cycling Centre in Victoria, BC. Houshang was gratified to discover that: “when I took the job with CCA I had to leave my volunteer position at Cycling British Columbia and move to Victoria. About 10 of my athletes followed shortly after and relocated themselves (Murray Solem was one those athletes).”

Houshang continued to develop his credentials as a coach and completed his NCCP Level 4 at the National Coaching Institute at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (1998-99). Bill Thomson, former Director of the Institute described Amiri as a: “tireless worker with high personal standards and an unassuming personality."

Houshang started his time at the Centre as second coach with 11 athletes. He was the mastermind and backbone for Centre’s development programs. By 2003 Houshang was one of three full time coaches at PacificSport and was running the Centre’s Silver and Bronze programs. There were over 50 athletes in the program. During this time Centre’s athletes dominated in domestic, continental and international racing. One of the Centre’s cyclists, Roland Green, won two consecutive MTB World Championships. Based on the Centre’s success athletes began moving from all over the world to Victoria in order to be part of the Canadian success and train with the best athletes and coaches.

Following the 2004 Olympic Games, Houshang was appointed Head Coach & Director of the Centre and began planning for the 2008 Olympic & Paralympic Games. In 2005, Houshang became the Head Coach of the Canadian Cycling Association’s six National Training Centre’s and was tasked with developing a vision and strategic plan that spanned one of the strongest periods in Canadian cycling. During this time, Canadian cycling saw multiple athletes racing in the highest level events like the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, podium finishes at the World Championships, and a Canadian winning the UCI America’s Cup.

In 2007 Amiri was named Head Coach for the Canadian Mountain Bike and Track teams. Under his direction Canadian cyclists won 14 medals in World Cup competition. In the same year, Houshang coached Svein Tuft to a Silver Medal performance at the UCI Road World Championship in the ITT. “This result, the first for Canada in 24 years, shows the true combinations of trust, risk and commitment between coach and athletes. It takes a long time to build,” says Amiri.

From 2008 - 2009 he continued to coach the Canadian Mountain Bike Team taking his team to the Beijing Olympics in 2008. In 2009 he founded the Pacific Cycling Centre in Victoria, BC specializing in personal online and local coaching. He creates yearly and quadrennial plans for PCC athletes, and coaches National Team and pro tour multi-sport athletes to optimize their performance and planning. He also develops and runs a Talent Development Program.

Says Amiri "coaching is what I love to do. If your goal is to get rich from coaching, you're in the wrong profession. It's not about the money; it's about doing something you love. Every moment is worth a lot to me."

Testimonials

"There are two kinds of coaches, those that care about you only as an athlete and those that care about you as an athlete and as a human being. Houshang Amiri is not only a world-class coach, he also cares deeply about each and every person he coaches. He takes the time to get to know you and creates programs that are specifically catered to your needs as an athlete. Most importantly, he helps you to believe in yourself and to understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. For me, Houshang not only helped me to succeed in cycling but he also helped me to truly love what I was doing."
- Erin Carter

"I have been working with Houshang Amiri since 2003. During this time I have won nine National titles on both Road and Track as well as several top 10 finishes at International competitions. Houshang has coached me through 2 Paralympic Games with a 6th place finish in 2004 and more recent 5th place finish in 2008. I attribute my increased performance directly to my association with Houshang Amiri. I am not getting any younger but I am getting faster and stronger, so Houshang must be doing something right."
- Brian Cowie

"I have had the opportunity to work with Houshang over the last 9 years as both a coach and as a manager. He has been in the sport a long time and has years of experience working with cyclists from juniors to world class athletes. By working with Houshang, he has helped me improve many aspects of my training and racing. I am now more focused during my training sessions and able to train specifically for certain key races. There aren’t many coaches around with the knowledge and experience of Houshang and he is someone you can really be confident in."
- Cam Evans

"Houshang Amiri, without a doubt, has been key to my success as a top level cyclist. I have never met a coach with such dedication and passion towards his athletes. Before I started working with Houshang I would always have an up and down season peaking at the wrong time and often getting burnt out. He knows exactly how to get into top shape and maintain that shape throughout the race season with proper recovery and key workouts."

"A testament to his coaching abilities was his taking me on as an athlete prior to the 2006 race season, It resulted in a podium in the U-23 world championships race in New Zealand as well as winning the 1st of my two Continental Championship titles. Fast forward three years later to 2009, and I am having my best season ever having taken my first US National Series win and leading the overall."