The last time I took formal classes at a university was over 20 years ago after graduating from the University of Manitoba in Mechanical Engineering. I never thought I’d return to school after being out and working in the “real world” for so long but after learning about the UBC High Performance Coaching & Technical Leadership (HPCTL) graduate certificate program and how taking it would challenge me to grow and develop, I applied last minute and was thankfully accepted into the program.

As I mention in my home page, I’m a life-long student and constantly looking to challenge myself to grow mentally, physically, and spiritually so I was excited to return to academia again. I was also very excited and keen to make new connections in my cohort and to interact and learn from them as well. I wasn’t excited that I’ll eventually have to write research papers. I’ve read many research studies since becoming a full-time strength coach and I always found them very dry and not that inspiring. I also didn’t know what an APA citation was and I had to ask my eldest daughter what it was. She told me she could help me and show me how to use Zotero (which of course I didn’t know about either). I also haven’t been in a library for as long as I can remember. All I know academically is how to problem solve, do calculations, design and build cool stuff, manage projects and programs, and write technical reports. What did I get myself into?

Needless to say, I found myself a little nervous going into the in-person orientation week at UBC.

I live in Port Moody which according to Google, takes over an hour to drive. The commute would kill me so luckily a family friend of ours who live a 15-minute bike ride away from UBC was away on her book tour the same week of orientation week so I got to house sit for them while they were away. I arrived to their house Sunday evening and didn’t sleep very well at all. On Monday morning I woke up, made breakfast, packed my things, and rode to day one of orientation week.

Day one started off as expected where we went around the room introducing ourselves with some ice-breaker questions. It was really cool to hear each student’s answers and I was excited and honoured to be in the same room of such an accomplished and experienced group of coaches and leaders. Shortly after introductions, we were joined by Learning Design and Digital Innovation (LDDI) who had planned to help us set up technology to support our online learning experience (e.g. orientation with canvas, creating and uploading videos, and designing our UBC blogs). We were told that since UBC had switched to a new student registration system and were still working out the kinks, none of us were officially registered into the HPCTL program. The result of that was none of us had access to the Campus Wide Login (CWL) setup or anything else. After lunch, UBC library came to assist us in how to access online research but again, that didn’t work for us either because no one had access to UBC library.

Being a “tech guy” I was a little annoyed that UBC hadn’t figured out their new registration system to get each of us set up into the HPCTL program before orientation week started. I felt all the in-class troubleshooting that was going on took away from the learning experience we could’ve all had together on day one. We then ended off the day listening to two masters students who each presented their research question over Zoom but by that point, I remember feeling discombobulated from the first part of the day so I was disconnected from the presentations. I knew I needed to lift some heavy shit to reset my mind so I hit the UBC gym and got in a great training session before riding home.

The remaining three days of orientation was a significant step up from a learning, interacting, and engaging perspective compared to day one as we spent the time learning from each other while being taught and guided by Dr. Taylor in KIN586 and Dr. Van Nuetegem in KIN515. The topics taught were relevant and interesting and the breakout sessions allowed us to get to know each other and connect. This slide in particular that Dr. Taylor put up really caught my attention and I was happy to hear that she applies this Indigenous Holistic Model into to her practice.

I made a point to talk with Dr. Taylor at the lunch break to express my gratitude to her for sharing this and to share what I ultimately want to accomplish with the graduate program (and eventually the masters).

My main reason for joining this program is to challenge myself and the status quo with how sports, health, wellness, and fitness have been viewed and taught since I as long as I can remember. I really believe we’re looking at the whole thing through the wrong lens and this is why the same problems exist today. In some cases, from the research I’ve read and from being on the front lines of youth sports in my community, the problems have only gotten worse (e.g. youth sport participation dropping, youth injury rates increasing, burnout, etc.).

Interacting and connecting with each of the experienced coaches and leaders in my cohort during orientation week confirmed that we’re all facing similar challenges in our respective communities and roles. It would seem from our collective experiences, I’m not convinced we’re going to solve those challenges with more technological advancements (like AI or wearables collecting data) or striving for even higher performance excellence.

I believe we need to learn how to decolonize the entire process and look at developing a pathway that teaches people (starting with the youth), how health, wellness, fitness, and sport are simply vehicles that are used to develop an individual’s mind, body, and spirit and how everything (and everyone) is connected to each other in the universe. As Dr. Taylor said in one of her lectures, we need to interact with the person first and the athlete second. I know from my coaching experience from martial arts, weightlifting, basketball, and strength & conditioning, the most influential impact I’ve had on my students wasn’t from me providing a fancy new technical coaching cue. It was from being fully present with my student and interacting with them on a deeper level. Interacting with each of my colleagues and professors in and out of class during orientation week was definitely the highlight.

I don’t know exactly what the solution is or how that system or learning pathway looks like yet of course but I believe, as Dr. Van Nuetegem said, by asking the right questions, we can remove known barriers to entry for everyone, we can help people learn to understand how to develop “growth mindset”, and help them figure out how they fit in to the whole process. If people are striving for high performance excellence in sport, they’ll be better prepared for that journey as they will have the capacity (mind, body, spirit) to contribute to their success even after they retire from competition, become coaches themselves, or simply be happy being “active for life”.

I’m looking forward to continue to learn from my colleagues and teachers in the program as we challenge each other to move the needle in the direction that will make a positive change for the collective.

Let’s go!