For 25 years of his 42-year–long career Mr. Jonathan Kinman, better known as “Coach,” has called SJS home. Since he joined the school in 2001, the athletics program has evolved to incredible heights, but his legacy extends far beyond the court. SJS News sat down with Coach to learn more about his journey with SJS, the power of student sports, and why he has no plans on stopping.
Thank you for joining us, Coach. Where did your journey to teaching begin?
My mom was a teacher, and I knew early on that was what I was going to do. I grew up in Saskatchewan, did my schooling in Alberta and in Nebraska for a few years, and then had my first teaching job at the Se-Se-Wa-Hum School on the Big River Indian Reserve in northeast Saskatchewan. I’ve always played sports growing up, and I started coaching high school basketball that first year as well.
What brought you to SJS?
I taught at a First Nations school on the west side of Vancouver Island for six years and loved the coast. I took a brief detour teaching Calgary but wanted to come back to Vancouver. I found the listing for SJS, and that was that. Back then we were only the Junior School building, and where Gunn Gym is now was an auto shop. I taught Kindergarten to Grade 12 PE. I remember on Friday afternoons that first year I had a K class and a Grade 12 class back to back.
What are some of the differences you’ve seen in how students train and play today compared to 25 years ago?
The big difference is back then we had nine players on the team and they played just because it was fun and it was a thing to do. Nowadays students are more prepared. The love is still there but they want more from it; they’re actively pursuing athletics more. And once you get a little success as a school, which we first started to see starting back in 2011, that keeps growing and growing.
Focusing on Basketball, last year’s provincial win and the sheer amount of trophies collected over the last few years has been incredible. What is the secret to keeping our teams so competitive even as players graduate and move on?
I think that’s the advantage of being a smaller school: the program keeps rolling because students can learn from and be inspired by one another. We talk to the older students about the responsibility they have as role models and how they act on and off the court matters because the younger kids are looking up to them. Many of our top players developed their passion for the game by growing up watching those older students compete, and our successes just fuel that drive even more.
What makes you the proudest of your players when a season wraps up?
That’s easy for me. It’s all about the process of helping students grow over the years. In bigger schools, students who want to play are likely to still get cut from a team and the chance is if they get cut, they never play for real again. But here, by the time they get to Grade 11 and 12, they could play on any team in the province. And when I see that, I am only ever a winner.
You know it’s great to win, but it’s beautiful when you lose. The losses hurt, but it shows just how much the students cared. They cared about the game, they cared about the people in the room and about playing for their school. And I think that’s what high school sports is all about.
What does it take for a student to go from just being a talented athlete to being considered a true leader?
That is something Mr. Ikiw and I are always thinking about. It’s about learning how to handle adversity, which is at the core of the student’s progression to young adults. To do that, you have to understand the integrity of the game. Whether you’re a player or a coach you have a duty to maintain that integrity and the dignity of the other players on the court at the same time. That mindset is why our students consistently stand out for their sportsmanship and are leaders in these spaces, regardless of outcome.
What do you hope a student-athlete takes away from your program long after they graduate?
There are three things that my athletes have to understand are important. First is always family, second is your academics and third is the sport. This is how we complement the academic world, by teaching our athletes accountability. Having something at stake, understanding that if they want to play at this level their academics have to be taken care of, teaches them how to be prepared. And that translates back into academics and into all aspects of their life. We often see our athletes getting better marks during the season, because they know they’re accountable. It’s a myth if anyone thinks that they can’t do the IB programme and be an athlete at the same time.
What advice would you give to a teacher or anyone getting started in coaching?
You have to love it. Coaching takes so much of your time and your time outside of what you do professionally, that it has to be a love affair or you’re not going to last. I can, so therefore I feel I should, and so I do. And I love it.
After 25 years, what still gets you excited to come to work and step into the gym every day?
I still am excited. It’s all about building the program. Before the provincial finals last year, we were sitting in the locker room and I listed about 30 names of previous students who were the reason we were there now. All of those athletes were a part of what led to those students being there in that current moment.
We got to celebrate this year’s success with the team one day, and then the next I’m here in the morning with some Grade 8s shooting hoops and I’m thinking I’m excited to see what this next group is going to do. In about two years our basketball program will likely be moved up to AA because of sustained excellence, and things are going to get tougher. I’m excited for that. It keeps growing, evolving and I’m still having fun.
SJS News reached out to Viv Anderson-Francois ‘25, co-captain of the Senior Boys 1A Provincial winning team in 2025, to ask what Coach meant to him. Here is what he had to say:
Coach Kinman’s ability to work, when no one else will, the effort he puts in every day and how he is always thinking about the welfare of his students and athletes shows how much he genuinely cares. Having the privilege to be around someone like that is infectious. When he shows up two hours early every day and stays four hours late to get better, you can not help but want to do the same.
Ultimately, the most important thing I learned from Coach did not come from anything he said, but instead from his actions. I’ve learned from him that whatever I decide to do with my time, I need to have a passion for it, I need to care deeply about it, and most of all I need to love it. Coach Kinman embodies all those attributes in his work to the highest degree, making his 25 years of service thus far infinitely impactful, and I am sure that he will continue to do so for every student and athlete that he teaches.
Thank you Coach, for 25 incredible years and hopefully many more. Here are a few of our favourite photos of Coach from over the years.
