I am originally from Edmonton, moved to Vancouver in 1987 and have called it home ever since. In my youth, I loved team sports and played softball, basketball and volleyball. From my 20’s onwards, I worked in the consulting engineering field as a computer-aided design draftsperson and department administrator and continued to play the sports mentioned. Within the different companies I worked for, I had many opportunities to spread my wings in different volunteer activities such as the annual United Way fundraiser, organizing employee social events and managing a company Dragonboat team (even paddling with them, too). I met my husband through work. Once we started our family, I chose to step away from the engineering world and devote my time in a different “work” environment. In addition to raising two kids, I was fully involved throughout their elementary and high school years by volunteering on the PAC in numerous roles and ending only when the youngest child graduated. As with most schools, there are a great variety of fundraisers. Given my organizational and motivational skills this usually meant I was leading groups of volunteers to run these fundraisers along with organizing and managing the volunteer parent’s scheduling. After ten years, I did get back into the consulting engineering world, continued to be involved with volunteer activities at the schools as well as within the office until retiring 7 years ago. I put away the volunteer hat and discovered new passions – growing hoyas, owning an Italian greyhound and playing tennis, a game that I never considered playing before.
Tennis has become my passion. This sport has been the one thing that gets me off the couch, continues to improve my fitness level, keeps me limber, motivates me and has the additional benefit of plenty of socialization with a great group of like-minded people! Growing up in Edmonton’s long and cold winters, I did not have access to tennis as you needed to be a club member to play indoors, clubs were far and few and it was beyond my parents’ budget. Having the accessibility to the North Shore’s outdoor tennis courts and the indoor covered courts at the North Shore Tennis Centre allows me to play the game all year round. I want to continue to support the growth of this sport and encourage its access to all people. The more I play, the more I learn about what is all involved to allow the residents the accessibility to this sport on the North Shore. We don’t know how lucky we are to have what we have and I want to learn more to help support the network of people who work hard behind the scenes. Thus, being part of the NSTS board would be a step in the right direction for me to help advocate for our public courts and work to find solutions for their future needs.
