Christine Stapleton - 1
0 (0 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
- What made me wanna join
the Western Mustangs
is the challenge of leading
one of the biggest institutions
and this biggest Sport and Rec
programming offering in Canada.
It was very exciting for me to be
given that opportunity.
There's a great tradition of excellence
at Western
and I thought that it would be a great
challenge to come into Western
and continue on that pride
and tradition,
and the spirit of the Mustangs
on campus and in the community,
as well as overseeing 48 teams,
1100 student-athletes, 22 sport clubs,
we have 16,000 Intramural
participants,
we bring over 100,000 community
members through our spaces.
It's really an unbelievably busy,
bustling, thriving department
and I feel very challenged
and humbled to be leading it.
Obstacles and challenges that I've
overcome they happen to everybody
and the more that you can embrace
them and work through them,
the higher chance that you are going
to be successful.
So those are some of the things
that I learned as a student-athlete
was how to persist and pursue
and be resilient when things
didn't go my way.
You stay positive, you go back
to the things that you value the most
and then you make decisions
based on those values.
When I was working with the national
team, I was on maternity leave
and due to budget cuts, my job was
no longer there.
I'm on leave and I have no job
to come back to.
So how do you manage that?
You use your network.
That was a turning point in my
career was losing...losing my job,
but then gaining that opportunity
to pursue...the career change
and get in as Associate Director
of Athletics at Waterloo
and then continuing to build
on the opportunity that I earned
and building it into the career
that I have had now...
that went through Calgary
and now at Western.
My advice for women who are
looking to continue their journey
is to find something that they're
passionate about in sport.
And doesn't have to be an athlete,
doesn't have to be a coach,
doesn't have to be an administrator, can be an official,
can be a statistician, it can be
a volunteer.
Find what you're passionate about
and pursue and persist,
and be resilient because the pathway
won't always be clear.
Women that are finding
ways to persist
and really lean into your network
to get to where you wanna go.