Faculty of Kinesiology

Christena Curry (BRSS 16’, MASRS 22’)

Christena Curry was chosen for April 2024 Spotlight on Women in Kinesiology, Recreation and Sport. Christena completed her Bachelor of Recreation and Sport Studies (BRSS) in 2016 and her Master of Arts in Sport and Recreation Studies (MASRS) in 2022 from the Faculty of Kinesiology at UNB.

To begin, Christena is a Pictou Landing First Nations community member, where she was the youngest of four kids. Growing up in a family of sports enthusiasts where Christena’s mother played softball, her father was a track and field and basketball athlete, and all of Christena’s siblings were involved in sports is where Christena was first exposed to sports and fostered a love for competing. This led to Christena competing in multiple North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) across Canada.

“I played four sports in high school, so I did soccer, cross country, track and field, and I played basketball all at a Division One high school in Nova Scotia.”

Unfortunately, Christena’s athletic career was cut short after a career-ending hip injury in university (St. FX University). Then, Christena realized there were other ways to continue participating in sports and recreation without necessarily becoming an athlete. She describes her thoughts around transitioning out of being an athlete by thinking, “I was like, hey, maybe this is another way that I could give back to the community that's giving me so much. Because of sports, I travelled across the country and participated in multiple North American Indigenous Games as an athlete and coach.”

Because of the rehabilitation that Christena was going through for her hip, she decided to become a registered massage therapist (specializing in sports rehabilitation). After completing her education as a registered massage therapist, Christena started her own business but always felt like something was missing.

Christena looked to further her education by taking a recreation leadership course at NSCC. In addition, to attending NSCC Christena was also coaching, which started in 2007 with track andfField. Coaching has led her to be the head coach of Team NS for the NAIG.

Christena describes the experience as “full circle” and so rewarding, “So as a coach, I always made sure that my kiddos were fed, they knew that they were loved. They knew that they were appreciated”; as a coach, it was important for Christena to give back to her community, and that was the reward of being a coach. Christena continues to coach to this day. Her dedication to sports as an athlete, practitioner, administrator, and coach was one of the primary reasons that Christena was inducted into the Mi'kmaq Sports Hall of Fame in 2023 this past year.

“I've coached over 50 kids and all of my kids graduated high school and a lot of them went on to post secondary. A lot of them are athletes today.”

In 2015, Christena started her journey at UNB in the Bachelor of Recreation and Sports Studies program. After completing her undergraduate degree, she was recruited by Dr. Jonathon Edwards to complete a MASRS with a focus on sports and recreation delivery systems. As part of the graduate program, Christena completed an internship with Halifax Regional Municipality Recreation.

When asked about what it meant to attend UNB and Faculty of Kinesiology, Christena said, They [the Faculty of Kinesiology] genuinely care, Leslie and Jamie genuinely cared about me. They wanted to, you know, learn personal anecdotes about me and make sure that I wasn't just doing well academically, but, like, how are you doing? Checking in on mental health but not in, like, a mental health kind of way more of, like, a motherly auntie kind of way, like how you are doing? And so just knowing that meant a lot to me.

Upon completing the MASRS, Christena began working as the Manager – Parks, Recreation & Youth- Millbrook First Nation, Nova Scotia. Christena is very passionate about her position and her valuable work. When she was asked what the future holds, Christena responded that she was going to continue coaching and working for her current place of employment.

I'm just excited to continue to support our communities in whatever capacity that needs to look like. And it's really up to the community to tell me what they need. I'm just the one who gets things done. They have to tell me what they want done.

Christena went on to say that she is excited about the future and that she will continue following her passions and conducting meaningful work.