Women in Kinesiology, Recreation and Sport Management: Spotlight Series - Sabrina Durepos
Author: Charlene Shannon MacCallum
Posted on Nov 4, 2022
Category: News
Sabrina Durepos is currently serving as the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Sport New Brunswick (SNB) – the provincial non-profit organization that advocates for and supports the development and promotion of the amateur sport community that consists of over 60 provincial sport organizations and other sports-related organizations in New Brunswick. It is quite a portfolio to lead!
I first encountered Sabrina in 2005 when she was one of the keynote speakers at the Go Girls! Festival - an event aimed at supporting girls in grades 9-12 to pursue sport and an active lifestyle. At that time, Sabrina was a member of the National Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team and had won 2 gold medals and 1 bronze across three Paralympic Games (1996, 2000, and 2004 respectively). She was an inspirational speaker and her involvement in that event was a foreshadowing that years later she would play an important role in the development of the She is/Elle est Active NB initiative that has become a voice for reducing barriers for girls and women in support of physical activity and sport engagement.
In 2009, Sabrina became a student in the KIN 1001 class I was co-teaching. In addition to her resume as an athlete, she entered the BRSS program with educational and work experience outside of recreation and sport. And, across three other courses, I benefited from those lived experiences and perspectives that Sabrina brought into the classroom. I experienced her as curious, open-minded, creative and persistent – all qualities which tend to serve recreation and sport professionals well.
Sabrina began at the Sport and Recreation Branch within the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture (THC) in 2011 as an Intern. She was hired in 2012 after graduation and moved from being a program coordinator to a regional sport and recreation consultant working at the community and then at the provincial level working with Provincial Sport Organizations. Sabrina shared, “I really enjoyed my work at the community level and getting to know the different groups. Some of the projects and areas I am proud of is the work I did with the Go NB Bilateral agreement, the facilitation on Strategic and operational Planning and the work I did just before leaving [for Sport NB] on Governance”.
Shortly after Sabrina was hired as interim CEO (August 2021), Sport NB launched the Envisioning Sport Project in collaboration with THC’s Sport and Recreation Branch. That project has involved an examination of the sport sector including key players, the structure and funding models. “I really enjoyed discussing and engaging with members on Sport NB's current programs and services and working at making adjustments and improvements. One of my roles was to bring member comments and concerns forward to help make necessary improvements to the sport system as a whole. The ultimate goal is to make their work easier and provide them with the tools they need to do their very important work.”
Finally, a spotlight on Sabrina would not be complete without talking about coaching. Those who know Sabrina best will attest to her passion for coaching and for wheelchair basketball. In 2015, she was head coach of the New Brunswick’s Canada Games Wheelchair Basketball team. That same year, she received Wheelchair Basketball Canada’s “Leadership Excellence Award” and was also recognized by Coach New Brunswick with the “Everyone Matters” coaching award (read her full Coach NB profile here). She also coached the 2019 NB Canada Games Wheelchair Basketball Team.
We are proud to have Sabrina Durepos as an alumnae. She offers an example of how one’s sport passion and experience can merge with one’s professional work and result in contributing to and leading change in recreation and sport.