Faculty of Kinesiology

I first met Andrea, a member of the graduating Class of 2021 and originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, when she was a student in RSS 1213 (Leisure, Recreation and Sport Concepts). I quickly became aware of her passion for sport, coaching, and her interest in  women in sport. I’m thankful for the opportunity to highlight Andrea, as a recent graduate, in this edition of the Spotlight.

Sport has been a part of Andrea’s life from a young age. She has been swimming competitively since the age of 9. She is someone who chose to be involved and gain experiences in a variety of sports beyond swimming including archery, soccer, frisbee, gymnastics, and volleyball. At the age of 13, while still participating in sport she began her career as a coach when she started volunteering in this capacity with her local swim club. At 16 she started becoming a certified coach through the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP), obtaining her Level 1 certification. She continued her coaching with the Fredericton Aquanaut Swim Team (FAST) and further continuing certification upon coming to the University of New Brunswick.

During her tenure in the Bachelor of Recreation and Sport Studies degree program (she did a minor in Business), Andrea was involved in residence life, helped merge two basketball organization as part of her work in a directed study, helped with sponsorship for the 2019 Ringette Provincials and was also part of the conference planning committee for the first UNB Women in Sport conference. The conference was set to take place in April 2020. COVID foiled those plans, but Andrea came back as co-chair of the first, highly successful UNB Women in Sport Conference held virtually a year later. In the final term of her degree program (Winter 2021), Andrea did her professional internship with Aboriginal Recreation and Sport New Brunswick (ARSNB) serving as a program coordinator.

Following graduation, Andrea joined Coach NB in partnership with ASRNB as the Next Gen Project Manager. Her work brings awareness of coaching pathways to older youth and young adults, offering opportunities to take coaching courses and identify their interest beyond being athletes to give back to the community. A large part of this is also to be able to connect culture back into sport in a meaningful way. Andrea is also a project assistant on the Envisioning Sport initiative which aims to strengthen the sport system to make New Brunswick a leader in Canadian sport.

Andrea shared some aspects of her BRSS program that have been helpful to her in the early stages of her career. “There have been many experiences throughout my education at UNB that helped me to grow and develop my love for sport beyond being an athlete and a coach. For me, it was the experiences of working closely with individuals who cared and were willing to help one another to find success. From classmates to professors and staff to people in the community, I owe a great deal of thanks to each and every one who made my experiences so meaningful.”

I appreciate Andrea’s dedication to advancing the conversation about women in sport on our campus, in New Brunswick and beyond, and for the being an example to our current students of internships providing women in Kinesiology with opportunities to make connections with organizations leading to jobs following graduation that allow for exciting and meaningful work in the field.

Written by Dr. Charlene Shannon-McCallum