Reflecting on my 1st year

I read a Harvard Business Review article a few weeks ago which commented that most organizations

overestimate what they can achieve in a one-year plan, but underestimate what can be accomplished in

five years. This resonates – many days I go into the office and it’s hard to see the forest from the trees,

and it’s not until I sit down to reflect on what has been achieved in this first anniversary of being on the

job that, despite always wanting more, there is much to be proud of. What follows is a bullet-point list

of some ‘by-the- numbers’ highlights in year one:

• 39. The number of signed freshman entering UBC in September, 2016. 4 have represented Canada, and many medaled at the Canadian Junior Championships this year.

• $43,000. Dollars raised into our operational holding account through major donors or fundraising activities (our elementary meet, provision of officials for the BC High School Championships as examples). This excludes scholarship donations and monthly giving.

• 26. The number of seconds John Gay ran a personal best by in the 3000 meter steeplechase this year (from 9:15 to 8:49), enroute to an NAIA Championship and a 6 th place at the Olympic Trials.

• >1300. The hours that our volunteer coaching staff invested into the UBC Cross Country and Track and Field program this season. They do this for little more than gas money. A special thank-you to Mary Chewning, Gerry Dragomir, John Hawkins, Chris Johnson and Norm Tinkham for all that you have given to our program this year!

• 75, 80. Men’s and Women’s team academic averages this season, respectively. The numbers speak for themselves.

• 7. The number of UBC alumni who will don the Canadian uniform in Rio!

What’s not reflected above are the relationships, the team culture-building and the sense of

Thunderbird pride that our athletes have. We understand that it is a privilege to put on the UBC singlet,

and that we stand on the shoulders of giants who competed and coached before us. We carry the torch

of the tradition that Doug Clement, Lionel Pugh, Thelma Wright, Carmyn James and Marek Jedrzejek lit

and kept aflame, and we want to ensure that when it is our time to pass the baton that we leave this

team, this place, even better than we found it!

Laurier