Duncan Fletcher
Duncan has a deep background in sport and particularly hockey. Duncan played Junior A in the CJHL before competing at the University level at both Carleton University and the University of British Columbia. After his playing career concluded Duncan acted as a player development specialist and scout for the Victoria Salsa of the BCHL, contributing to winning a provincial championship.
He then went on to coach Division I men’s hockey at Quinnipiac University and to scout on a part-time basis for the Vancouver Canucks.
Professionally, Duncan is an athlete development specialist. Currently, he is the Executive Director and a founder of the Professional Association of Athlete Development Specialists (PAADS), an umbrella group of major North American sports organizations (see here) seeking to improve and professionalize the field of athlete development. Mr. Fletcher also founded Game Change Athlete Development Services & Consultancy, which works with major professional sports organizations including the NHL, NHLPA, NBA, NBPA, ATP and several major DI athletic departments to address the organizational and individual challenges associated with creating elite athlete development related services.
To date, he has worked with hundreds of active and retired professional athletes in a variety of capacities.
Shawn Putnam
Shawn grew up in Potsdam, New York and attended the State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam graduating Cum Laude with a degree in biology. He was a four-year member of the Men’s Ice Hockey team and acaptain his junior and senior seasons. His senior year, he was awarded the ECAC Robbin Scholar Athlete for outstanding academic and athletic achievements of student athletes representing ECAC Division I, II and III.
He played on the 1995-1996 SUNYAC Championship team giving Potsdam its first ever berth to the NCAA Tournament, eventually losing to national runner-up RIT. Shawn’s 1995-1996 Men’s Hockey Team was inducted into the SUNY Potsdam Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
He then attended Springfield College and received a Master of Science in Exercise Physiology. While at Springfield College he was the head coach of the Men’s Ice Hockey team. He next worked at Boston College as a Strength and Conditioning coach. Shawn was a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist working with all the various teams.
In the summers, he led a strength and conditioning camp for high school athletes. He earned a Master of Science in Nursing with a Family Nurse Practitioner focus at Boston College in 2004. For the past 10 years, he has worked in Pain Management diagnosing and treating a variety of acute and chronic pain conditions.
He is married with three children
Chris Cahill
Chris spent 7 years training under Dr. Yasha Smushkin. He mastered Smushkin's hockey agility system. Chris played hockey at Phillips Academy and at the US National Team Development Program before joining Yale University.
While at Yale, Chris was the two-time David Noyes Award Winner given to the team member that most inspired his teammates. He was an all-ECAC and all-IVY honor winner. The Yale teams Chris was a part of won three Ivy League titles and two ECAC championships. Yale was ranked number one in the nation for the first time in school history during his senior season. Chris graduated with a degree in Political Science.
He went on to play professionally in North America and Europe.
Chris is the creator of the Cahill Challenge which reorganizes how two way hockey is played with a skill development program that broadens Smushkin's agility system.
