Message from Athletics

It is hard to believe we are already at the end of February 2021. I want to wish a happy (albeit belated) New Year to all our Athletic Alumni.

The new year and the vaccine rollout across Canada gives me real hope for the possibility for competitive sport in 2021-22. But I am also excited about the current innovation and collaboration that I am seeing in Western Sport and Recreation during this time. We are running many diverse virtual events, which are seeing great engagement, and offer new and different ways for our community to connect.

We ran an incredible Virtual Homecoming back in October 2020. Our staff and coaches worked extremely hard to provide an engaging interactive digital experience featuring past alumni, current coaches and student athletes. You can view interviews with Greg Marshall (Head Coach Mustangs Football), Lirim Hajrullahu (former Mustangs Football player, recruited to the NFL), myself, and many more Mustangs contributions to Virtual Homecoming here: Virtual Homecoming 2020 - YouTube

This year, our Mustangs Rowing Gala is virtual and offers the opportunity for the Western Rowing community to continue to come together. And I am so excited that this year’s gala will feature a private presentation, and the Canadian premiere of the film A MOST BEAUTIFUL THING and a Q&A with Arshay Cooper (Manley Crew Captain – Film Protagonist, A MOST BEAUTIFUL THING).

Our Mustangs Men’s Hockey team is running an incredible Hot Stove event for 2021, that will raise money for the team. This series will showcase a number of interesting and engaging individuals from the sports world. The guests will include well known SportsNet journalists, a current NHL captain and head scout, a former NHL head coach, and a former NHL player agent. It just started mid-February and there’s still time to check out some of these great speakers live: Mustangs Men's Hockey 2021 Hot Stove Series - Western Mustangs Sports

Western Mustangs are also hosting a Track and Field 50km Virtual Run Challenge to raise money to create a Black, Indigenous and Racialized student athlete scholarship for the Mustangs Track and Field program. 2021 — Western Mustangs Track and Field 50km Virtual Run Challenge — Race Roster — Registration, Marketing, Fundraising.

As well, our Football team has a Virtual Mustangs Football Huddle event, with Head Coach Greg Marshall, coming up in early March, that I would encourage you to attend if you are interested. If you are interested, click here.

I want to give a big shout out to our Mustangs Women’s Basketball Team who raised over $3,500 for Shoot for the Cure this year. Our Head Coach Nate McKibbon worked hard to bring the team together, and to post tons of archived women’s basketball games onto our Mustangs YouTube site. I encourage you to check some of the games out: (204) WesternMustangs - YouTube.

In addition, we have been running a Mustangs Rewind Series, where we showcase past games and interviews with coaches. You can find past Rewind games at: Mustangs Rewind - YouTube and watch for future games, every 2^nd Saturday at 1pm until the end of March. Games and links are promoted on our @WesternMustangs social media, and I would encourage you to follow us if you are on any of these platforms.

Last, but definitely not least, we have an incredible virtual conference coming up: Stay in the Game: Pathways for Women in Sport. This free virtual event takes place on Saturday, March 27, 2021. It is aimed at Western women student athletes, and promoting the growth of women in sport. The Keynote Speaker is Jayna Hefford, a multi-time women’s hockey medal winner at the Winter Olympics and IIHF World Women’ Championships. Stay in the Game: Pathways for Women in Sport - Western Mustangs Sports. I am super excited about this event, and all the different sessions it offers young women, to help them understand the different pathways they have to staying in Sport.

In addition to our many virtual events, we have offered a wide array of digital programming since last March, including: digital fitness classes for our students to take at home (with live instructors), Kinduct individual strength & conditioning training for our student athletes, team Zoom meetings, esports intramurals, support for the first ever Mustangs esports OPSE team – who are currently undefeated in their league Western U Legends, representing the Western Mustangs, undefeated so far in the inaugural OPSE season - Western Mustangs Sports. And we have offered in-person team training when permitted, following and often exceeding guidelines set out by the province and our local health unit.

We have learned to be nimble, and I am super proud of our staff, coaches and student athletes, for how they have adjusted quickly and worked hard to connect to our community, within constantly changing circumstances. And I am very thankful for our amazing Athletic Alumni, who continue to support us through these challenging times.

I miss seeing many of you at our in-person games, and look forward to what 2021 will bring.

Christine Stapleton