Coons, Donald '82 - Squash

Donald Coons from the Class of 1982 ran with the Harriers for four years, serving as team captain and representing the school at OFSAA. As captain of First Squash, he led his team to four ISAA championships, won the prestigious Bulldog Trophy and represented Ridley on tours of England and the USA. He captained the cricket team and fondly recalls winning the ISAA championship in 1980, followed by a tour of Bermuda with the team in 1981. He moved on to Princeton University where he was a decorated member of the varsity squash team – while also playing rugby, varsity football, club wrestling and hockey. His obvious love of sport kept him active in national and international squash competitions in years that followed; his well-honed leadership skills led to positions as a coach, administrator, and coordinator of junior development, ensuring that new generations could experience the plethora of opportunities sport can provide. He recalls his Jesters squash tour of South Africa in 1990, a transformational time in that country. He reveled in five weeks of exposure to sport, fellowship, dramatic geography and experiencing a new world.

His greatest lessons learned through sports? “Discipline, work ethic, overcoming adversity, perseverance, learning how to lose gracefully and win even more so.”

P.O. Box 3013, 2 Ridley Road St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 7C3 Canada 905 684 1889

With more than 700 students from 60 countries, the largest boarding programme in Ontario and the third largest in Canada, Ridley College is a truly international, co-educational, day and boarding school of the world that prepares students for the world. It has provided enriching learning and life-shaping experiences focused on the arts, academics, and athletics since 1889. Ridley’s Lower School offers JK-Grade 8, its Upper School consists of Grade 9-PG, and Ridley graduates attend some of the top universities and colleges around the world. Ridley is the only co-ed independent boarding school in Canada and one of only three in North America authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum programme.