Alumni Helping Students

As a guy who is involved with a university radio station that broadcasts university sports, I get a unique insight into how university varsity sports programs are funded. Yes, there's always going to support from the university itself, but it's rather amazing to hear of the selfless donations made by alumni and supporters of these programs. While some donations come by way of scholarships and endowment funds meant for sports scholarships, there are other people who want to see their money go to something specific that will benefit more than just one student. Today's announcement from McGill University regarding a gift from two former McGill athletes will go a long way thanks to the purpose of this gift.

From the McGill release today, "McGill alumni and long-time Athletics benefactors Sheryl Kerr (BCom'67) and David Kerr (BSc'65) are chalking up another important 'assist' for Team McGill with a $3.5-million gift to create the Kerr Family Women in Sport program. This 'WIS' initiative aims to advance the role of women as athletes, coaches and decision-makers by increasing the number of full-time female coaches and helping female athletes become future leaders."

First off, that kind of gift in terms of the financial number is literally pennies from heaven when it comes to funding any sports program. Finding $3.5 million anywhere for university women's sports is a longshot at best in this country, so getting that kind of windfall to assist McGill's women's sports programs is huge. On top of that, the fact that Sheryl and David Kerr - whose generosity will not go unmentioned here - designated this money for the hiring and development of women as coaches and mentors for the female athletes at McGill is pretty awesome.

This isn't the first time that the Kerrs have done something amazing for their alma mater. As the release states, "[i]n 2007, the Kerrs established the Kerr Martlet Hockey Coach Endowment, which created a permanent source of funding for a full-time coach for the women's team. The impact was remarkable, fuelling the Martlets to incredible success in recruiting and developing top players, as well as capturing four national championships – the most of any U SPORTS program in McGill history."

I'd say that endowment fund is working pretty well as its allowed Peter Smith, former head coach of the Canadian women's national team, to remain as the head coach. Smith would probably have offers from some of the professional women's teams and perhaps a few NCAA programs if he were ever to step away, but his work with the Marlets over his 17 years there has made them into one of Canada's finest university hockey programs. It should be noted that since the Kerr Martlelt Hockey Coach Endowment was established in 2007, all four of those national titles have been won within that time frame. You might say coincidence, but I'm say relevance. Good head coaches have great staffs with them, and I'm sure that Peter Smith - with all of his international and Olympic coaching experience - still needs some help behind the bench.

The new gift, on behalf of the Kerrs, has already been put into motion by McGill University as they hired Sylvie Béliveau, a former national team coach and women's sports advocate, as senior advisor to McGill's varsity program and as a key steward of the WIS initiative. Béliveau's contributions as a leader in women's soccer in this nation started in 1985 when she was named head coach of the Canadian national team and continued through to 1999. Following that, she's been a member of several Technical Study Groups with FIFA which reviews trends within the game to spark discussion among FIFA's governing body.

McGill also went out and added a couple of new assistant coaches through the WIS initiative as Kelsey Wilson was brought on as an assistant coach with the Martlets soccer program while Rikki Bowles joins the women's basketball program. There is still an assistant coaching position for the women's volleyball team that is open, but McGill is currently reviewing applicants for that spot. Needless to say, McGill is already putting their affairs in order with this WIS initiative!

In today's day and age, it's hard to ask people to support university sports when their entertainment dollars are already stretched so thin. We see this at the University of Manitoba, and we're always in a state of disbelief that there isn't m,ore support for the reigning National Women's Hockey Champions. That being said, we're completely aware that the Bisons aren't the only hockey team in town as the NHL's Jets, the AHL's Moose, the many MJHL and MMJHL teams, the MFMHL, the WHSHL, and many other leagues all play the same days and times that the Bisons do. What does make me proud of my local team is that there are a number of female coaches who work behind the scenes with the team - Venla Hovi, Addie Miles, and Lisa Peters - and all have made important contributions to the program to get them to the top of the mountain.

Seeing McGill's newest initiative come to life before our eyes? That's awe-inducing because they're actually creating positions within their sports programs for women. These coaches who have been hired could be the next head coaches for these programs and more. And it's all made possible by the generous gift provided by Sheryl and David Kerr, a couple of alumni who played hockey at McGill.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!