Jules Owchar (born October 12, 1944, in Lac La Biche,

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

curler, curling coach, and golf coach from

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. Owchar is best known as the longtime coach of Kevin Martin, a retired Olympic champion, world champion, and Canadian champion. Owchar is also the curling coach of the

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) is a public polytechnic and applied sciences institute in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. NAIT offers approximately 120 credit programs leading to degrees, applied degrees, diplomas, and certifica ...

curling teams. He previously coached

Brad Gushue Bradley Raymond Gushue, ONL ( ; born June 16, 1980) is a Canadian curler from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Gushue, along with teammates Russ Howard, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, represented Canada in curling at the 2006 ...

's Newfoundland and Labrador team. Teams coached by Owchar have won eight Briers, one Olympic gold, two silvers, and one bronze; two world championships, 24 Slam titles and 34 conference championship gold medals, as of March 2019 when he was named to Curling Canada's Hall of Fame.

Career

Playing career

Owchar was officially listed as the alternate for the Kevin Martin team, which he coached, at the 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, and 1997 Briers. As the alternate, he won various medals with the team, including two Brier titles and a silver medal at the 1991 World Men's Curling Championship.

Coaching career

Owchar is a Level 3 certified curling coach by the National Coaching Certification Program.

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology

Owchar began his career at the

(NAIT) as a physical education instructor in 1969. Throughout his career, he has coached NAIT curling teams to 33 college championships. Along with the golf championships he has also coached his students to, he has over 40 provincial and national championships as a coach. Most recently, he coached the NAIT men's curling team to their first national college championship.

Coaching Kevin Martin

Owchar began coaching Kevin Martin when he enrolled at NAIT in 1984. Martin had enrolled at NAIT specifically to curl under Owchar, and he and Martin were together for thirty years. In their first few years together, Owchar coached Martin to a Canadian junior title and a silver medal at the

World Junior Curling Championships The World Junior Curling Championships are an annual curling bonspiel featuring the world's best curlers who are 21 years old or younger. The competitions for both men and women occur at the same venue. The men's tournament has occurred since 19 ...

. As they continued, Martin and Owchar made their first Brier appearance in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

representing Alberta, and won their first Brier title. Martin then lost the championship game in the world championship later that year. In the next six years, Martin and Owchar returned to the Brier four times, and finished within the top three all four times. However, Martin came up short at the world level, losing the semifinal at the world championship in 1997 and the gold medal game at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

, which had come down to a draw for the win. Martin also missed another opportunity to represent Canada at the Olympics in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. Martin returned to the Brier in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, but failed to advance in the playoffs. However, with a new team and with Owchar continuing to coach, Martin made the playoffs at the

2007 Tim Hortons Brier The 2007 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's men's curling championship, was held from March 3 to 11 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario. After losing in the final the previous season, Team Ontario skipped by Glenn Howard defeated 20 ...

, won the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Briers, and won a gold and silver medal at the

and

world championships, respectively. Then, the next year, Martin won the

2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials The 2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials were held December 6–13, 2009 at Rexall Place in Edmonton. The event is also known and advertised as ''Roar of the Rings''. The winner of the men's and women's events represented Canada at the 2010 Wint ...

and the right to represent Canada at his third Olympics, and won his first gold medal at the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

. More recently, Owchar coached Martin to a bronze medal finish at the

2011 Tim Hortons Brier The 2011 Tim Hortons Brier, the Canadian men's national curling championship, was held March 5 until March 13, 2011 at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario, London, Ontario. This event marked the 30th time that the province of Ontario has h ...

. Overall, Owchar has coached Martin to a total of ten provincial championships and four

Canadian championships Canadian Championships refers to a number of national-level competition in Canada. It may refer to: * Canadian Championship, the national championship tournament for professional soccer * Canadian Figure Skating Championships * Canadian Professiona ...

. As Martin's coach, he has also coached at three Winter Olympics and four world championships.

Heading East

After Martin's retirement at the end of the 2014 season, Owchar was recruited by 2006 Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue to coach his Newfoundland and Labrador team. Since coming on board, the team has achieved much success under Owcher's tutelage, culminating in an emphatic win at the

2017 Tim Hortons Brier The 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 4–12, 2017 at the Mile One Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. This marked the second time the Bri ...

on home ground in St. John's and going undefeated to win the 2017 world championship in Edmonton. They repeated as Brier champions in 2018. Owchar was named to Curling Canada's Hall of Fame at the

2019 Tim Hortons Brier The 2019 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 2 to 10 at Westoba Place in Brandon, Manitoba. In the final, Kevin Koe of Alberta defeated Team Wildcard skipped by Brendan Bottcher 4–3 by scoring ...

Awards and honours

*Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award: 2002, 2008, 2009 * NAIT Athletics Wall of Fame: 2003 *

Canadian Curling Hall of Fame The Canadian Curling Hall of Fame was established with its first inductees in 1973. It is operated by Curling Canada, the governing body for curling in Canada, in Orleans, Ontario. The Hall of Fame selection committee meets annually to choose indu ...

(2019)

References

External links

* * Video: {{DEFAULTSORT:Owchar, Jules Living people 1944 births Canadian curling coaches Curlers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Olympic curlers for Canada Curlers from Edmonton People from Lac La Biche County Canadian male curlers 20th-century Canadian sportsmen