Longtime teacher, coach Ian Moore retiring from DCVI

Ian Moore, pictured, announced his retirement earlier this year. Moore served as a teacher, coach, athletic director, and administrator at St. Marys DCVI for over two decades.

By Spencer Seymour

One of St. Marys DCVI’s longest-tenured teachers and coaches, Ian Moore, announced that this past school year would be his last, with Moore retiring from the school after over two decades.

Moore explained the people around him made his career a special journey.

“What stands out to me is just what a great school DCVI is,” said Moore. “I thoroughly enjoyed what I did on a daily basis. The kids, the staff, and the families, it all made me love coming to work every day. I looked forward to going to work, I enjoyed what I did, and I liked the people I worked with, and I think when you can say that about your career, that’s very special.”

According to Moore, who came to St. Marys after starting his career in Big Trout Lake and Moose Factory, the reason he found DCVI to be a special school was because it reflected the community in which it was located.

“It’s just such a wonderful community,” Moore told the Independent. “My wife Tracey and I moved here in 1999, and it was the best decision we ever made. It’s such a nice community that it can’t help but create an incredible school because you have good families with good kids. For a teacher, that’s the type of place you want to work.”

Moore’s career was highlighted by a tenure as the school’s athletic director, which naturally coincided with a devotion to high school sports. Moore was heavily involved in numerous sports programs at DCVI, and noted he saw immense value in all forms of extracurriculars.

“It’s another way of connecting with kids,” said Moore. “School can be tough for kids, but when they have things to do outside of the classroom, it creates opportunities that they may not get anywhere else in their life. We have a lot of kids who play high school sports who have never played volleyball, basketball, soccer, badminton, or cross-country skiing outside of school.

“When I look at the success of my own kids and their lives now, I think, in large part, it is because of the teaching and coaching staff and the extracurricular opportunities that they received at DCVI. And it doesn’t have to be sports, it can be band, it can be student council, it can be drama club. Those are the things that kids are going to remember.”

Moore’s commitment to athletics at DCVI didn’t just stop with the sports he had an interest in. Moore was often known to take up the mantle of running sports outside of his comfort zone, just to ensure there would be someone to run those sports.

“There were times when there wasn’t someone who could run a certain team, and I didn’t want that program not to happen, so I would do it,” Moore explained. “I ended up coaching badminton, soccer, and track and field. A lot of things that I wouldn’t say were in my wheelhouse, but there was a need, and I enjoyed doing it. It was good learning them, and it was important to me to create those opportunities for kids to do something they may not otherwise do.”

With that said, Moore was a constant in several sports that he was most passionate about.

“Volleyball was definitely my passion. That was always my first love. That’s what I played in high school, and I went to OFSAA two times. I always really enjoyed the purity of volleyball. You have to pass a certain way. There is a very clear etiquette in terms of how everyone behaves. Volleyball to me has always been very pure.

“I also really enjoyed badminton,” Moore continued. “That was in between the winter and the spring seasons, and the type of kids who came out for badminton and the atmosphere around badminton was always very light. There wasn’t the intensity that sometimes comes with volleyball or basketball.”

DCVI has always punched above its weight when it comes to both the number of athletes and their success, something that Moore has never failed to appreciate about the school’s sports culture.

“We are the second smallest school on the board and probably one of the smaller schools in WOSSAA, and yet, we’re typically in the top three in our board for number of athletes. I think it comes back to how we created an atmosphere where kids could go and do something, and felt like they had such good coaches who coach the skills well, but even more importantly, they created an environment where kids wanted to go and have fun.”

Moore noted the culture of DCVI athletics stemmed from prioritizing fun and personal growth over the end result of each game.

“If you look at my win-loss record, you would see that it was absolutely skewed higher in the loss column than the wins,” Moore admitted. “But for me, it was always about the process. I just loved being in the gym. I loved going to games. I just loved the atmosphere of being involved in sports, and winning and losing wasn’t the priority for me. If we lost every game but the kids had a great time, I didn’t care about those losses.”

Of course, Moore did have plenty of success, as evidenced by the number of banners lining the walls of DCVI’s large gym from teams who finished in medal positions at countless Huron-Perth, WOSSAA, and OFSAA events. Annette Wrigley, a longtime coworker in the school’s athletic department, talked glowingly about Moore in a speech delivered at the school’s athletic awards night earlier this year.

“If you stroll through the large gym, you will see countless HP and WOSSAA banners from championship teams that Ian has supported,” Wrigley noted. “He cares deeply about students and has high expectations of himself and of his athletes. His success is attributed to enjoying every aspect of coaching, from the practices and games to travelling with the teams.

His involvement in high school sports didn’t just live inside the walls of DCVI, however, with Moore being an active member of the regional bodies that govern secondary school athletics.

“I did a lot of stuff with Huron-Perth, WOSSAA, and OFSAA throughout my career and the transformation from being this rookie coach who just got to the board, to having a leadership role, was something I was really happy about. Those roles gave me the opportunity to have an impact on athletics around our region, and the fact that I get to continue doing that with OFSAA as the Director At Large, it makes me very proud.”

As Moore approaches the end of his teaching career, he can’t help but take a moment to reflect on his incredible 29 years in the education field. He’s so grateful for all the amazing experiences he’s had in every school he’s been in, especially at St. Marys DCVI for the past 24 years. Whether he was in the classroom, coaching an team, or leading athletics, Moore can say with absolute certainty that he’s loved every minute of his journey, experiences, and career.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude to all the students, staff, families, and community members who have made the past 24 years at DCVI such a joy and privilege. It truly is a ‘small school with a big heart’ indeed.”