Kristine Deacon Finds Inspiration And Endless Opportunities in Her Role As Manager Of National Teams At Athletics Canada

Easily the best reward for me managing a team is knowing I have done everything in my power to ensure the athletes and staff (coaches, medical and administrative) have everything they need to perform their best when it matters most.

Kristine Deacon

Manager of National Teams

Athletics Canada

5With the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games being postponed to 2021, I have to ask, how has your work changed for the rest of the year?

I was in Tokyo at the end of February, completing a final site visit prior to the Paralympic Games this August.

At the time, cases of COVID-19 were on the rise in certain areas of the world, but never did I think that the 2020 Games would be postponed to 2021. Within three weeks of returning to Canada, the Games were officially postponed to next year.

I started working remotely on March 16, as our entire country experienced the challenges associated with COVID-19.

The first few weeks working from home were focused on canceling flights and hotels that had been booked for training camps and competitions in the spring, staff and planning meetings over ZOOM, and working with our contacts at the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committee on next steps.

I was planning to be in Switzerland for two weeks in May for competitions, Montreal at the end of June for our Olympic and Paralympic Trials, before heading to Japan on August 16 for our final training camp prior to the Paralympic Games.

I am very proud that Canada was a strong advocate for the Games to be postponed by one year, ensuring that the health and safety of our athletes and staff was the top priority. It truly amazes me that in a day, all international plans were put on hold. I, of course, feel the most for our athletes that have had the Tokyo Games circled on their calendars for years, but as mentioned earlier our athletes are resilient and have made the most out of this unique and challenging situation. 

The last few months working from home has allowed me to work with my colleagues on specific projects that we may have not had time for in the past, review internal policies, and plan for international events in 2021 that hopefully go ahead as scheduled. I choose to look at the last five months as a professional challenge that has given us the gift of time to focus on specific areas and projects within our high-performance department.

This has also allowed me to complete some e-learning that I would not have been able to do if the Games were taking place this month.

I continue to make it a priority to touch base with colleagues and athletes on a regular basis to see if there is anything I can support them with. A phone or video call can sometimes go a long way in someone’s day.

I worked with three of my colleagues in April to create a daily step challenge for our staff, that allowed us to be competitive with each other and ensure breaks were be taken during the day to get some fresh air.

It is still hard to understand what the “new normal” will look like once competitions start happening internationally, but it is encouraging to see that there are a few domestic meets taking place in parts of the country, and international meets scheduled over the next few weeks. I am most thankful that as an organization we continue to all work together for a strong future for our sport.

6You grew up a swimmer, eventually coaching for the Cambridge Aquajets. As a former coach who then went on to work for the Commonwealth Games Canada International Development, you created the Goggles for Grenada program. I think this is one of the most amazing things about your sports career – tell us about this program and why you felt it was important to implement.

Swimming has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.

Growing up I would spend hours in a lake with my sister at our cottage, likely resembling a prune when I finally got out of the water.

I did competitive synchronized swimming for three years, before joining the Cambridge Aquajets as a competitive swimmer. I swam competitively for both the Cambridge Aquajets and my high-school swim team, for five years before transitioning to coaching.

Goggles for Grenada was an idea I came up with while working in Grenada. As part of my work with the Grenada Olympic Committee, I had the opportunity to teach swimming lessons to primary school students through the Ministry of Sports.

Grenada is a very small Caribbean country surrounded by the beautiful ocean, but only has one public swimming pool for the entire country with a population of 112,000. The one public pool was used to teach primary students during the day and then used by three competitive swim teams in the evenings and on the weekends. I also taught one school group in the ocean on Saturday, which was a new experience for me.

After discussing some of the challenges that the primary school students were facing with the learn to swim program with two of my colleagues at the time who were placed in other Commonwealth Countries, I came up with the concept of my former swim club in Canada collecting swimming supplies (caps, goggles, fins) to be donated to the students in Grenada who could not afford these items.

I presented my idea to the Head Coach of the Cambridge Aqujatets in the fall of 2011 and he was on board. Over the next few months, swimmers in Cambridge donated new or gently used items to Goggles for Grenada.

I came back to Canada for Christmas and was completely blown away at the generosity of my former swim club and the items they were able to donate to Grenada. The cost of the learn to swim program was covered by the Ministry of Sports, but swimmers had to have their own bathing cap and goggles.

It would break my heart when I saw swimmers showing up at the pool for their weekly lesson, but be missing some of the required equipment. I was able to return to Grenada in January with a suitcase full of equipment that was put to excellent use immediately.

I was so incredibly proud of my swim club and witnessed the impact that a swim club had on young swimmers in Grenada. I feel incredibly fortunate for the opportunities I had both as a synchronized and competitive swimmer growing up and the support I had from my parents to be involved in these activities. Swimming is such an important life skill to have, so it was an honour to give back to the swimmers in Grenada.

I am very fortunate to still be coaching competitive swimming in Ottawa.

By the way, the pool I coached at in Grenada was damaged by Hurricane Ivan (2004) but still serves as a vital training facility.

7Finally, in a role similar to yours, what would you say are three essential skills someone needs to succeed?

1. Strong Organization and Time Management Skills – I consider myself to be very organized and efficient with planning my time accordingly. These two skills are critical for my current role. Organizing team logistics for camps and competitions, I could be responsible for booking travel and accommodation for up to 70 athletes and staff. A lack of organization or time management on my part could trickle down to a bigger problem or additional stress for an athlete. Time Management is something that becomes incredibly important when onsite at an event. I am usually the first person up in the morning and the last person to go to bed at night, so managing my time during the day and the tasks I need to complete is key. I will always work with colleagues to see if there are tasks I might be able to delegate or have assistance with completing, but at the end of the day it does not matter how organized I am or how I have managed my time, there are always “surprises” that arise that I need to take care of. Being organized and managing my time well from the beginning, allows me to tackle the small things that may surface, as quickly as possible.
2. Patience – is key and required every single day. There are days I am dealing with local organizing committees (LOC’s) internationally and in different time zones outside of Canada and different languages, which can create a delay in getting a simple question answered. I learned very early in this job that not all countries operate on a weekly work schedule as Canada does. When onsite at an international competition, patience is golden and will keep you sane when things are not going as planned. I have been at competitions where transportation does not show up at the scheduled time (or at all), key technical information is missing for our coaches to communicate to our athletes, or athlete bibs are being handed out at the start line. I recognize language and cultural differences will likely arise, but remaining patient with local staff will ensure they will try to work with you.   
3. Working with Others (Interpersonal and Communication) – to enjoy working with people daily is critical in my role, not only being successful but also enjoying what I do each day. I have always enjoyed working with people and cherish the moments I get to spend interacting with our athletes, coaches, medical staff, and colleagues. Having the opportunity to interact with people on a daily basis makes my job incredibly rewarding. Over the past eight years at Athletics Canada, I have had the opportunity to work with athletes on their first junior team and then again on a senior team. Watching an athlete progress over the years and having the opportunity to witness their development in the sport is amazing. I want to be the Team Manager that is there for our athletes and staff, for them to feel they can talk with me if they need someone to listen, to help them resolve a stressful situation in a calm way, or to ensure they have coffee as part of their pre-competition routine. I am grateful for the countless number of individuals I have had the opportunity to interact with over the years in this position and the memories created. All of this has led to a rewarding and gratifying career opportunity for me. I am excited about continuing my experience and growth and proud to do this as a Canadian!