Ottawa, Ont. – Softball Canada is pleased to announce that Doug Allin (Peachland, B.C.) has been named Head Coach of the newly formed Canadian U23 Men’s National Team program for the 2021/2022 cycle, with Dean Holoien (Melfort, Sask.) and Mark Quinn (Mermaid, P.E.I) joining his staff as Assistant Coaches.
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) announced the addition of the U23 Men’s age category to the international softball calendar in 2018, and in 2020 awarded the inaugural World Cup to Argentina to be played in 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event has been postponed to 2022 with regional qualifiers being planned in 2021. The WBSC Americas U23 Men’s Pan American Championship is expected to take place in Barranquilla, Colombia in October/November.
Doug Allin (Peachtree, B.C.) becomes the first U23 Men’s National Team Head Coach after spending the last five years on the coaching staff with the Men’s National Team program. He was a video analysis scout with the team for the 2015 and 2017 WBSC Men’s Softball World Cups and was added as an Assistant Coach for the 2019 World Cup cycle, earning a Gold medal in 2015 and Bronze medals in 2017 and 2019. Allin played at the Senior Men’s level from 1995 to 2013 in Squamish, Victoria, Vancouver and Portland, competing in several Provincial, Western and Canadian Championships. He has a lot of experience coaching minor girl’s and senior men’s softball at the local level and is currently the Head Coach of Team BC Men’s Softball Team for the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games. Allin has also run a number of softball camps in the Okanagan region. He is an NCCP Competition-Development Certified coach and won the Sport BC Coach of the Year President’s Award in 2020.
Dean Holoien (Melfort, Sask.) was a member of the Canadian Men’s National Team program from 1998 to 2009, competing in a pair of Pan American Championships (4th in 1998 and Silver in 2002) and two WBSC World Cups (Silver in 2004 and Bronze in 2009). He played his minor ball with the Melfort 222’s winning a pair of Canadian Championships, followed by an outstanding Senior A playing career from 1992 to 2015 during which time he won a total of four Canadian Championship Gold medals (1999, 2004, 2008 and 2009). He added a pair of Gold medals at the 2018 and 2019 Master Men’s Canadian Championships. Holoien has been involved in coaching at the minor level for 15 years and served as the pitching coach for the Team Saskatchewan Canada Games team in 2013 and as an Assistant Coach of the Canadian Men’s National Team at the 2017 WBSC World Cup. He is currently a Competition – Development Trained coach in the NCCP program.
Mark Quinn (Mermaid, P.E.I) had a distinguished playing career at the club team level, competing in several Canadian Championships and he served as an assistant coach with the Junior Men’s National Team from 2015 to 2020 before being named head coach of the U18 Men’s National Team for the next cycle. He helped Canada to a bronze medal finish at the 2016 WBSC U19 Men’s World Cup followed by a fourth-place finish in 2018 and a seventh place result in 2020. Quinn began his coaching career at the U13 level in New Zealand before moving back to P.E.I. in 2008, holding various coaching positions at the Men’s, U21 Men’s, U16 Girl’s, and Intermediate School levels. Quinn was the pitching coach for Team P.E.I. at the 2013 Canada Summer Games in Women’s Softball and Head Coach of P.E.I.’s Men’s Softball team at the 2017 Canada Summer Games. He is a Competition – Development Certified coach and a Master Coach Developer who was awarded a Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) Community NCCP Coach Developer award in 2018 and is currently a member of Softball Canada’s Coaching Committee.
Softball Canada and the new coaching staff will now turn their attention on the athlete identification and selection process.
