OTTAWA- The Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association has revamped its national coaching model and hired two full-time national coaches for its men's and women's freestyle national teams. 

The newly appointed national coaches are Leigh Vierling of Calgary for the women's program and Dave McKay of Port Moody, B.C., for the men's program. Their appointments are for a four-year period through the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing where Wrestling Canada Lutte looks to build on the success of the past four Olympic Games at which Canadian wrestlers won at least one medal.

The national coaches will lead the senior national team and U23 national team programs and work with the strong network of clubs and personal coaches in the country to help develop Canada's top wrestlers into world contenders. 

They will also be responsible for the implementation of the performance enhancement programs for the respective team members and work with performance enhancement team members, personal coaches and national team athletes to ensure that Canadian wrestlers receive optimal support in their training and preparation.

McKay served as the head coach of the men's team at the 2004 Olympic Games and as an assistant coach at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney where he coached Daniel Igali to a gold medal. 

"I'm excited about the challenges ahead for our association and for myself," said McKay. "We are not only looking at improved performances but also putting improved programs in place for the long term. With a full time high performance coach, there'll now be leadership in the program to help the individual coaches throughout Canada develop their athletes."

The 2004 Olympic Games were the first for women's wrestling and Vierling served as the head coach of the Canadian team in Athens. The women's team finished the Games with a silver medal (Tonya Verbeek of St. Catharines, Ont., ) and two top-five finishes in the four Olympic weight classes.

"I'm very excited to be in this position," said Vierling. "I've seen how far the women's program has come along in Canada since 1994 and we're fortunate we can improve it even more. This will have a significant impact on our best athletes." 

Both national coaches will lead their respective teams to the world championships in Budapest later this month.