ATHLETICS
One thing that hasn’t changed at StFX during the pandemic is the theme of leadership. It remains a core value to the Athletic Department as it seeks to develop, inspire and nurture leadership in studentathletes, staff, coaches and administrators. StFX student-athletes have many opportunities to develop their leadership skills, be it through the multitude of societies and community service organizations at the university, through volunteering or coaching in the local community, or at home right in the Athletic Department.
The StFX Leadership Academy was developed by Director of Athletics & Recreation Leo MacPherson ’89 in 2012 as the first of its kind in Canada and continues to provide comprehensive leadership training and development for StFX student-athletes. The participants progress through four levels during their time at StFX including the LAUNCH Leaders, RISING Leaders, VETERAN Leaders and ELITE Leaders programs. Mr. MacPherson delivers the content of each course along with StFX human kinetics professor and StFX Teaching & Learning Centre Coordinator Dr. Angie Kolen.
The StFX Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is a committee made up of two student-athletes from every varsity team, and has been revamped for the 2020-21 season to provide for 12 leadership board positions in the areas of communications, sexual violence prevention, diversity, equity & inclusion, community service, student-athlete mental health, along with two co-chairs. SAAC provides insight on the student-athlete experience while offering input on the regulations and policies that affect studentathletes’ lives at StFX, and working to enhance the student-athlete experience.
Second-year X-Women basketball student-athlete Aliyah Fraser took leadership to the next level when she was awarded an inaugural racial justice leadership grant with the StFX Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership. One of six to receive the grants, the New Glasgow, NS native will add her voice to wider discussions around systemic and institutional racism and enabling change. Aliyah, an AUS all-rookie basketball player on the court, and a health science student off the court, works on the Black and Indigenous Athletes’ Association (BIAA) – an initiative aimed at collecting information from Black and Indigenous athletes, including their struggles. Her focus of research is capturing experiences of Black and Indigenous student-athletes in the AUS, while providing social support for these marginalized groups with monthly meetings.
A pair of X-Women Hockey student-athletes provided a championship performance both on and off the ice this year. Antigonish, NS native Patti-Anne Tracey and teammate Amy Graham, from Nepean, ON, skated to an AUS championship banner last March. In the off-season they created a sexual violence awareness training package that they hope will become a mainstay with sport programs across Canada, aiding in the prevention of sexual violence in sports. Both in their fourth year at StFX – Ms. Tracey in business and Ms. Graham in human kinetics – they applied for and received a prestigious Wallace Family Entrepreneurship Fund internship this past summer. As part of their research initiative, they launched a comprehensive website TEAM in SVP (Together Everyone Achieves More in Sexual Violence Prevention), designed for coaches, athletic directors, educators, sport administrators, mentors and leaders. The website aims to educate coaches and their local sport associations on sexual education and prevention and they have received a great deal of positive and encouraging feedback to date. StFX ALUMNINEWS l DECEMBER 2020
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