University of Toronto

When students and members walk into the Athletic Centre, they should find themselves in a welcoming environment that inspires physical activity for all, including those of different physical abilities. On December 1st Athletic Centre visitors will have the chance to see “Envisioning New Meanings of Disability and Difference,â€� a multimedia exhibit profiling female artists’ perspectives on living with impairments and physical difference.“We’re proud to host this innovative exhibit,â€� says Susan Lee, the Athletic Centre’s program coordinator of accessibility, equity and diversity. “The collection is a perfect example of what our faculty aims to achieve in terms of diversity and inclusion.”

The artists use photos, film and other interactive platforms to present themselves in their own words and images, which the Faculty hopes will help to bring a face to its message of inclusion and further promote physical activity for all.

The Athletic Centre lobby will be the exhibit’s third stop on campus. It had its U of T launch at Hart House and later showed at the Medical Sciences Building. The show will be available for viewing from 9:30am-5pm on December 1st.

 

Videos created by artists Jes Sachse,Taryn Green and Anne Harland are online.  

 

Blues coach Byron MacDonald likes to talk.  And he’s never more in his element than when he can do his talking poolside – advising and motivating his swimmers, consulting with colleagues, or forecasting the performances at the team’s next big meet.  That love of swimming, and talking about swimming, translated into a second career of sorts – as a swimming commentator for CBC, which recently garnered MacDonald a Gemini Award for best sports analyst.

This second win for MacDonald (he captured his first Gemini in 2005) is based on his analysis of the swimming events at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.  He attributes part of his win to the fact that swimming competition aired during prime time, when the world could watch Michael Phelps set the record for most gold medals won at the Olympics. “We had one of the greatest stories in the history of the Olympics, and we were able to tell it on prime time.�

Play-by-play partner Steve Armitage, who has teamed up with MacDonald for almost 20 years and through four Olympic Games, also took a Gemini for best sports play-by-play announcer.  “Steve and I do really good research, to humanize the athletes for viewers and really tell a story.�

Despite the forces in his favour, MacDonald admits to a measure of shock that swimming coverage took the prize over the more popular TV sports.  He beat out Glen Suitor for the TSN coverage of the 2008 Grey Cup, and Mike Milbury of Hockey Night in Canada fame.

Students, staff and faculty looking for some entertaining and inspiring ways to get active on St. George campus have a new resource.

A handful of enthusiastic students, also known as physical activity ambassadors, have started a blog to get the word out there about the activities and fitness opportunities at the Faculty of Physical Education and Health’s Athletic Centre and Varsity Centre.

http://www.whatsyourfit.blogspot.com/

Toronto’s successful bid for the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games will bring several sporting competitions to the University of Toronto, translating into major new sport and recreation facilities, enhanced opportunities for U of T students and the community, and further momentum for the University’s high performance sport agenda.

The University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) campus, set to host the aquatics and fencing events, will partner in the largest sports infrastructure project associated with the Games, a $170-million complex that will feature two Olympic-sized pools, a 10-metre diving tank and a state-of-the-art multi-sport field house.  The downtown campus, which will host field hockey, futsal and football (soccer) competition as well as the Parapan Am opening and closing ceremonies, will benefit from the installation of a world-class double artificial turf field on its back campus and turf upgrades at Varsity Stadium.

“The 2015 Pan Am Games create tremendous opportunities for the University of Toronto,� says U of T president David Naylor. “The legacy infrastructure enables us to forge ahead with our mission to support the province’s top athletes while giving our own students and community members a world-class sport and recreation experience.�

The new sports and recreation complex, to be owned jointly by the City of Toronto and UTSC, will be home to the Pan American Aquatics Centre and the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario, an organization dedicated to the development of top athletes from across Canada.  The complex will host the Games’ swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, fencing, modern pentathalon and Parapan volleyball competitions. Beyond the Games, the facility will also fill a serious unmet need on the UTSC campus and in the community, providing space for a wide range of sports and recreational opportunities alongside high performance training and services for Canada’s top athletes.

“What the Games bring to UTSC and our region is phenomenal,� says UTSC Principal Franco Vaccarino. “Our students now have an opportunity to partner in a world-class athletics complex that will benefit generations of students and alumni.  The Pan Am Games makes possible a new regional hub for recreation and competitive athletics, which is certain to become a point of pride for the more than two million people who live in the eastern GTA – from Durham, to Markham, to East York, and beyond.�

The Scarborough facilities also create a valuable spin-off benefit:  the City of Toronto’s commitment to accelerate plans to extend the Light Rapid Transit link to UTSC, making transit travel to the area easier and faster.

Partnership in the 2015 Pan Am Games strengthens U of T’s already growing momentum around its goal of developing a critical mass of infrastructure and expertise to support high performance sport in this province.

In addition to completing the new Varsity Centre and continuing to finalize plans for the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport, the University has recently established high performance centres in swimming and track and field, is making extensive renovations to Varsity Arena, strengthening research programs in exercise sciences and sport medicine, and fostering a thriving partnership with the Ministry of Health Promotion to provide training space and services for Ontario’s best athletes.

U of T has also been home to several recent high profile events, including the Festival of Excellence featuring Usain Bolt and many of the world’s top athletes.

“U of T is moving full speed ahead with its plans to create a hub for both broad physical activity and recreation alongside high performance athletics, sport research and sport medicine,� says Bruce Kidd, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Health, and a key player in forging the University’s partnership with the Toronto 2015 bid committee.  “These Games will be great fun, featuring tremendously competitive sports while facilitating cutting-edge research and creating terrific opportunities for international exchange to strengthen our engagement with colleagues across the Americas.� 

More details about U of T’s agenda for high performance sport.
More details about UTSC’s major infrastructure project.

Laurie Stephens
University of Toronto
416-978-2105
416-500-0064
Laura Matthews
University of Toronto Scarborough
416-208-2979
416-527-0771
Althea Blackburn-Evans
Faculty of Physical Education and Health
416-978-1663
416-677-9617

 

How can media outlets and athletes foster healthy, mutually-respectful relations? How can media avoid getting predictable, prepared answers from athletes? As the Vancouver Games approach, these are just two of several timely questions that athletes, journalists and academics will explore at “Athlete-Media Relations,� a panel discussion to be held November 17th at the Faculty of Physical Education and Health (FPEH) from 2:00-3:30pm in room 307 of the Benson Building.

Olympian Rosie McLennan, the Canadian Olympic Committee’s program manager, marketing Jen Button and CBC commentator and Blues swim coach Byron McDonald are confirmed to speak. Organizer and FPEH professor Margaret MacNeill’s goals for the discussion include: creating a better mutual understanding about issues such as pressures on athletes at major events, the need to create compelling sport stories, and the importance of supporting and following athletes’ stories from the onset of their careers, before they win medals on the world stage. All are welcome. More details about speakers and subjects to come.