Pursuit, Summer 2023

University of Toronto

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education SUMMER 2023 / VOL. 23, NO. 2

THE APEX TANENBAUM INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE IN SPORT SUPPORTS HIGH PERFORMANCE AT ALL LEVELS THE KINETIC DETECTIVE Finding clues to why some athletes are injury prone

A DREAM COME TRUE Blues goalie plays with Toronto Maple Leafs

S.M.I.L.E. ON MPK grad carries knowledge from classroom to new career

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SUMMER 2023 / VOL. 23, NO. 2

Inside

Transformation in Motion 4

KPE launches 2022–2027 Academic Plan

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Intermittent Fasting and Exercise What happens to your body when you combine exercise and intermittent fasting?

30 A Dream Come True

Blues goalie plays with Toronto Maple Leafs

36 The Apex

Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport supports high performance at all levels

42 Family Ties

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30

Alumni association president brings special connection to U of T, KPE

50 In Memory: Barbara Goldring

Honouring the profound impact and generous support of Barbara Goldring

60 Tales from the Frontier

Roy Shephard’s reflections on the early days of sport science

Editor

Photography

Address Changes

Publication Agreement Number:

Sarah Baker

Tim Burkhart, Dewey Chang, Daniel Ehrenworth, John Hryniuk, Joel Jackson, Ira Jacobs, Fazlur-Rehman Malik, Seyran Mammadov, Jason Peters, Lisa Sakulensky, Glenn Tachiyama, Katia Taylor, Jojo Qian

alumni.kpe@utoronto.ca

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Pursuit is committed to preserving the environment. All paper used in Pursuit is FSC® certified, which ensures all paper comes from well-managed forests and other responsible sources. www.fsc.org

Associate Editor Jelena Damjanovic

Art Direction Joel Jackson

Design Carmine Ragno

Pursuit is published by U of T’s Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Contributors

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Sami Anguaya, Klarke Braaten, Jill Clark, Jelena Damjanovic, Bruce Grierson, Janet Gunn, Simon Houpt, Heather Hudson, Mariam Matti, Ibtesaam Mohamed Afroz Moosa

Editorial Comments sarah.e.baker@utoronto.ca

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Message from the Dean

BUILDING ON OUR PAST, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE W

elcome to the 2023 summer issue of Pursuit.

As we emerge from an unprecedented time in our world’s history, we are being challenged to address the problem of inequitable access to quality physical activity, school and community sport experiences – inequities that existed before the pandemic and have been exacerbated by it. KPE is uniquely positioned to meet this challenge. With existing strengths in health promotion and a longstanding commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in our programs and services, we are well equipped to take up the challenges ahead and to make impactful contributions to the health and well-being of our communities, the nation and beyond.

With this in mind, I am excited to share with you the Faculty’s new Academic Plan, launched in February. Over the next five years, the Faculty will continue its commitment to the mission of developing, advancing and disseminating knowledge about the interactions of physical activity and health, while offering a refined vision of excellence in advancing healthy living through inclusive movement. The article, Transformation in Motion, goes into greater detail about our strategic priorities and aspirations for the future.

As you will see from our cover story, the Faculty is a lead partner in an exciting new research enterprise, the Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS) established in May 2022 with a $20-million gift from the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation. TISS will be one of the largest centres for sport science and sport medicine in North America, bringing

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together sport and exercise researchers at our Faculty, clinician scientists in sport medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and clinicians and researchers at Toronto’s Sinai Health.

The cutting-edge research they produce will play a leading role in advancing high performance sport in a manner that is healthy, safe, welcoming and inclusive.

Our thriving alumni community has long contributed to the success of the Faculty. You are a continual source of pride and inspiration for us all, in particular for the new generations of students at the Faculty. I am excited about the future we have collectively envisioned and I look forward to working with you and building upon our Faculty’s strengths to contribute in significant ways to a healthier, happier and more just society. This is our moment. Let’s get moving!

With best wishes,

Gretchen Kerr, Dean

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Photo/ Katia Taylor

Going the distance — Professor Linda Trinh tests her limits in the Moab Desert. See story on page 20.

Photo/ Jason Peters

Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Field Notes Field Notes

TRANSFORMATION IN MOTION KPE launches 2022–2027 Academic Plan T

he Faculty launched its 2022–27 academic plan in February with a townhall presentation by Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of KPE, who gave a brief overview of the plan, highlighting key priorities and objectives.

Aptly called Transformation in Motion, the five-year plan reflects the Faculty’s commitment to movement – through physical activity, sport, exercise, dance or play – as central to the health and well-being of individuals, communities and society at large.

“The explicit inclusion of physical education, physical activity and sport as key enablers in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals illustrates just how essential the benefits of movement are to our lives,” said Kerr. “Our Faculty, with its mandate to deliver academic and co-curricular programs, is well positioned to provide knowledge, leadership and opportunities to advance these goals.”

Thanking the more than 500 students, staff, faculty, alumni and external partners who contributed their insights, vision and wisdom to the plan, Kerr affirmed the Faculty’s continued commitment to the mission of developing, advancing and disseminating knowledge about the interactions of physical activity and health and presented a bold new vision of excellence in advancing healthy living through inclusive movement.

FROM THE NEW VISION, FOUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES EMERGED: • Elevating health and well-being; • Igniting transformative inclusivity; • Fostering innovation, discovery and achievement; and • Activating partnerships and collaborations.

THE FACULTY’S DECISION MAKING WILL BE GUIDED BY THE FOLLOWING SET OF PRINCIPLES: • Equity, diversity, inclusivity and belonging; • Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples; • Integrity in all decisions and actions; • Leadership in education, research and governance; and • Excellence in all areas of well-being, discovery, innovation and collaboration.

“The importance of our field has never been greater and we have significant contributions to make,” said Kerr. “I look forward to continuing on this bold and exciting journey with you all, as we realize our collective vision of excellence in advancing health through inclusive movement.

— Jelena Damjanovic

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Field Notes

youth FAILING OUR

Canada’s first physical activity report card for children and adolescents with disabilities released

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team of researchers, representatives from disability and physical activity organizations, and parents of children and adolescents with disabilities came together earlier this year to produce Canada’s first-ever comprehensive summary of national physical activity data for children and adolescents with disabilities.

Led by Kelly Arbour-Nicitopoulos, an associate professor at KPE, the panel of experts used a set of previously established benchmarks from the Global Matrix, an internationally recognized framework for grading physical activity trends in children and adolescents, to grade 13 indicators of physical activity participation through a disability-specific lens.

“For the first time ever, we were able to synthesize all national-level data examining the movement behaviours of children with disabilities,” says Arbour-Nicitopoulos. “Based on available evidence, children and adolescents with disabilities received a grade of D for overall physical activity, F for active play and a C+ for organized sport and physical activity.”

Almost 40 per cent of the report card, including indicators for physical literacy and fitness, received an incomplete grade. The report makes four recommendations to increase the physical activity of children and adolescents with disabilities. (see box on the right) “We know that participation in physical activity provides health and developmental benefits for all children and adolescents,” says Arbour-Nicitopoulos. “Yet, many social, institutional, community and policy barriers continue to limit the participation of Canadian children and adolescents with disabilities in physical activity. Our hope is that these recommendations and calls to action can move the needle on physical activity research, practice and policy for children and adolescents with disabilities.”

This research was supported by a Partnership Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the Canadian Disability Participation Project, the Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities and ParticipACTION. — JD Photo/ iStock

The report makes the following recommendations to increase the physical activity of children and adolescents with disabilities: • Increase funding commitments across all levels of government and existing accessibility legislation.

• Improve monitoring of key settings with more evidence on the accessibility of physical activity and sports programming in schools and community settings, and more data on the accessibility and inclusivity of infrastructure.

• Customize physical activity guidelines for children and adolescents with disabilities.

• Focus measurements on both the quantity and quality of physical activity participation.

Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Field Notes

THE

KINETIC DETECTIVE

Finding clues to why some athletes are injury prone

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rom each according to their abilities, to each according to their knees – and hips. Timothy Burkhart’s biomechanical research aims to help prevent injuries and rehab them quickly when they do happen – in varsity athletes and the rest of us.

Growing up, as he watched NBA small forward Grant Hill go down with yet another ankle injury, or point guard Derrick Rose rip up one or the other knee again, Burkhart used to wonder: Why are some athletes injury prone?

“It always amazed me that these athletes who have unlimited resources to stay healthy – the best doctors, the best trainers – some of them just … couldn’t,” says Burkhart, an assistant professor of orthopaedic biomechanics in the the Faculty. “And unfortunately for some of them, that was the end of their careers. So you have to ask why. Is it some way that they’re moving? Was there a vulnerability there that didn’t get picked up?”

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Seed9 Photo/Photo/ Tim Burkhart

Field Notes

“We want to help athletes prolong their careers, but the goal more generally is for everyone to extend their mobility through their lifespan.”– Timothy Burkhart, assistant professor

Burkhart, who runs the Biomechanics of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Lab at KPE – in conjunction with the orthopaedic surgeons of the University of Toronto Orthopaedic Sports Medicine group and his team of graduate students – engages in what you might call kinetic detective work. Which parts are most likely to fail, on whom, and why?

Two components of the human chassis especially susceptible to breakdown are hips and knees. Burkhart is looking at both joints in studies now running concurrently in his lab.

The hip research is concerned with something called femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS). In this disorder, which recently derailed the career of promising Leafs goaltending prospect Ian Scott, constant stress between the femur and the pelvis causes extra bone to grow, restricting movement and generating pain. Burkhart wants to better understand why this happens and prevent it from happening so often to so many. To that end, he and his team are recruiting athletes from a variety of sports that rely on heavy hip action – such as hockey, basketball and lacrosse.

By the time an athlete reaches competitive varsity level in these sports, they’ll have performed the same movement thousands of times. A slight biomechanical hitch in their form can compound over time. It’s the kind of thing that’s traditionally been difficult to detect. But Burkhart is bringing cutting-edge tools to the job.

“We’re really lucky that we have a markerless motiontracking system,” he says. “We can set up cameras and videotape the athletes doing exactly what they would do while they’re playing.”

The combination of the two techniques – capturing force and movement data in the lab, and analyzing videotape of the players on the court, ice or field – produces an unprecedentedly granular level of analysis.

For reasons no one yet fully understands, FAIS hip injuries tend to be prevalent in female athletes. That’s partly why Burkhart is only recruiting women for the first trial of his hip study, which is a collaborate joint venture with Women’s College Hospital.

The same kinds of analyses are underway in the knee research – but this time with athletes of both genders.

Burkhart’s data may yield information we’ve never uncovered because he’s asking questions that have never really been asked. Are varsity athletes playing a different game than weekend warriors? Are they moving in very slightly different ways? Burkhart will compare the athletes to a control group, “our everyday healthy population that’s relatively active.”

What he learns should help both populations – on both the preventative and the rehabilitative side of things.

In the lab, athletes simulate the game moves that put such ferocious stress on the hip – sprinting and cutting, or butterfly manoeuvres. Motion-capture technology helps generate computer models that accurately estimate the forces on the hip, a non-invasive way to retrieve data that used to require intramuscular probes.

And that is ultimately the two-part endgame of Burkhart’s lab: early detection of vulnerabilities that could lead to injuries down the road, and evidence-based recommendations for improved rehab and return-toactivity strategies.

But even the best simulations can only ever get you so far – athletes just don’t move quite the same way in the lab as they do in competition. So, there’s a second dimension of Burkhart’s analysis.

“We want to help athletes prolong their careers,” he says, “but the goal more generally is that everyone extends their mobility through their lifespan, and lives and plays painfree and healthy.”

— Bruce Grierson Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Field Notes

The pressure’s on Can restricting blood flow to athletes’ limbs boost performance?

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schemic preconditioning (IPC), a technique used to prepare an organ or tissue for a lack of blood or oxygen supply, was originally developed for use in clinical settings where there is an expected lack of blood and oxygen supply – for example, during surgery or after an adverse event like a heart attack.

But could it be used to enhance athletic performance?

“IPC has been shown to have a protective effect on the body’s tissues to subsequent ischemic episodes – events where there is inadequate blood supply and, therefore, oxygen supply to a tissue or organ – that would typically cause cellular damage,” says Liam O’Brien, a first-year PhD student at the Faculty.

“So, when exercise researchers caught wind of it, they theorized it may be useful for enhancing exercise performance, seeing how our capacity to exercise is limited in part by the inability to deliver enough oxygen to the working muscles.”

The technique involves inflating blood pressure cuffs around one or multiple limbs at pressures that completely stop the flow of blood into or out of the limbs. The cuffs remain inflated for a brief period of about five minutes before being released for about five minutes, allowing for normal blood flow to resume through the limb. The process is repeated three to four times.

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Researchers have speculated that if IPC improves the muscles, ability to tolerate lack of oxygen supply, then perhaps this feature could be beneficial for prolonging exercise performance.

“Several studies have shown IPC to improve exercise performance, but there is little evidence as to why,” says O’Brien, who explored the question in his master’s thesis.

“I wanted to fill in some of the gaps.”

While most of the studies had measured the effects of IPC on lower body exercises such as running or cycling, O’Brien was interested in investigating the effects of IPC on arm cycling exercise. He was also curious to see whether it might be useful for supramaximal intensity exercise – where the participants exercise as hard as they possibly can for the entirety of the test as opposed to pacing themselves.

“I theorized that if IPC works for upper body exercise, it may be useful for unique populations such as para-athletes or paddlers to help enhance their performance,” he says. “I was also interested in whether IPC was useful for supramaximal intensity exercise, as most of the studies had investigated IPC during endurance exercises.”

O’Brien also wanted to investigate whether IPC works due to the placebo effect, a phenomenon whereby a treatment works due to the psychological expectation that it will work, as some researchers have speculated.

Photo/ Ira Jacobs

Field Notes

“We hope to help illuminate the effects that this treatment has on exercise to help support athletes of all capabilities to achieve their full potential.”

– Liam O’Brien, PhD student Working under the supervision of Professor Ira Jacobs, O’Brien recruited 18 athletic participants who completed three 45-second-long sprints using an arm cycle ergometer on separate visits to the lab. The first sprint served as a control trial, where the participants did not receive the IPC treatment, and instead lay passively for 30 minutes before exercise. During the other two visits, the participants completed their sprints after receiving either IPC (five minutes applied to both arms four times) or the placebo treatment. The placebo treatment consisted of the same protocol as the IPC trial, only at a low cuff pressure that did not interfere with their blood flow. The participants were told that the placebo treatment was also expected to enhance their performance through a similar mechanism to the high pressure treatment despite there being no actual benefit.

“We found that the average power outputs generated by the participants in our study were significantly higher after both the IPC and placebo treatments compared to the control trial,” says O’Brien. “However, the power outputs were not different between IPC and the placebo condition.”

While this result can be seen as an indication that IPC is in fact a placebo effect, O’Brien believes it is more likely that the changes in performance were due to the order that the participants completed the trials.

“Because the arm ergometer exercise was foreign to our participants, and the participants completed the control trial first, we believe that the second and third sprints were improved due to a learning effect rather than a performanceenhancing effect of the IPC or placebo conditions,” he says.

“This was supported through our statistical analyses as well as our lack of evidence of changes in the physiological variables such as oxygen consumption, heart rate, muscle blood flow or blood chemistry.”

While the study did not find clear evidence of a performanceenhancing effect of IPC, O’Brien says that these findings help to add information to the growing research area of ischemic preconditioning and exercise performance.

“Research in this area has been active for over a decade, however much is still unknown about how IPC works in relation to exercise,” he says. “Our study is a small but important contribution towards building an improved understanding of the nuances of how IPC influences exercise performance.

“In the end, we hope to help illuminate the effects that this treatment has on exercise to help support athletes of all capabilities to achieve their full potential.”

— JD

Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Field Notes

The Magnificent Seven KPE graduate students awarded inaugural research scholarships from Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS) The University of Toronto Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS) has awarded research scholarships to seven graduate students in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education for the 2022-23 academic year. The funding, made possible by a generous gift from the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation, has provided two master’s students with $14,719 each, and five doctoral students with $23,960 each to use towards their research.

In their applications for the scholarship, graduate students had to demonstrate how their research thesis proposal or ongoing thesis research is aligned with the mission and vision of the institute – from enhancing and sustaining competitive performance for athletes of all levels and every background, including para-athletes and athletes representing other diverse and under-represented populations, to using data analytics to predict and augment individual and team performance, health and well-being, and improve athlete recruitment outcomes.

“The object of TISS is to help us understand human limitations and human capacities as they relate to sport,” says Ira Jacobs, a professor at KPE and interim director of the institute. “Specifically, it supports research in support of athlete health and wellness, prevention and treatment of injuries, performance enhancement, training and recovery, and the use of technologies to develop nutritional, training and rehabilitation interventions to allow all sport participants to optimize their abilities to achieve high performance.

“These scholarships provide an important boost for graduate students with an interest in high performance sport to contribute to the institute’s mission of generating, advancing and disseminating transformational knowledge.”

These are the winners of the inaugural TISS scholarships: Michael Jorgenson is a fourth-year PhD student whose research seeks to improve current approaches to sport-related concussion prevention by furthering our understanding of why athletes engage in risk-taking and protective behaviours.

“My research critically examines the tensions between risk tolerance and risk aversion and aims to raise awareness of the culture of risk that exists across all levels of sport competition,” says Jorgenson. “The findings of this research may be used to inform sport policy, education programs and behaviour change interventions designed to minimize concussion risk in sport.

“The funding from this scholarship will allow me to publish and share my findings with the Canadian sport community through conferences and public engagement.”

Michael Jorgenson 10 pursuit.utoronto.ca

In addition to working on his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Associate Professor Lynda Mainwaring, Jorgenson serves as the research director for HeadsupCAN, a concussion advocacy network, and as a research coordinator at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, division of neurology.

Photo/ Provided

Field Notes Molly Brillinger is in her third year of a PhD degree under the supervision of Professor Tim Welsh. Her research uses behavioural and neurophysiological methods to broadly explore the neural mechanisms involved in motor imagery, a powerful and feasible form of mental practice commonly used by athletes to enhance motor performance and learning.

“Through my research, I hope to gain insight into the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, i.e. the cortical area involved in executive functioning, in motor imagery,” says Brillinger. “The potential findings from this work have important considerations for the implementation of effective mental training protocols in sport.

“I am grateful and truly honoured to receive this scholarship.”

Molly Brillinger Daniel Sibley is a third-year PhD student whose research is focused on health interventions delivered between the time of diagnosis and initiation of acute treatment, termed prehabilitation.

Prehabilitation commonly uses exercise, nutrition and psychological support to mitigate surgical risk and improve post-operative recovery.

“Through my research program, I aim to advance the prehabilitation literature by conducting trials with increased methodological rigour and introducing a new prehabilitation modality – sleep optimization,” says Sibley. “Despite the well-known benefits of sleep for performance and well-being, improving preoperative sleep among athletes or non-athletes remains a nascent research area.”

Daniel Sibley

Sibley, who is completing his doctoral studies under the supervision of Associate Professor Daniel Santa Mina, is also a course instructor at KPE and registered kinesiologist in the Toronto General Hospital surgical prehabilitation program. He is the provincial research coordinator for EXCEL, a national exercise oncology trial that aims to reduce health disparities for cancer survivors in rural and remote settings.

“I am very grateful for the support this scholarship will provide,” says Sibley.

Kyla Pyndiura is a third-year PhD student under the supervision of Associate Professor Michael Hutchison. Her thesis aims to offer a new perspective on concussion assessment and management through a novel multimodal functional test that will develop more effective measures to identify the severity of sports concussion, accelerate the rate of recovery and return to play, and use data analytics to predict recovery length following concussion.

“I hope that my dissertation will assist in expanding Canadian concussion research by evaluating a test that is widely accessible, cost effective, and can be easily implemented inside a physician’s office,” says Pyndiura. “This test has the potential to assist physicians in their assessment of concussion rehabilitation and their decision making on providing medical clearance and allowing athletes to return to play.”

Kyla Pyndiura

While pursuing her doctoral studies, Pyndiura has been serving as lab manager of the Centre for Sport-Related Concussion Research, Innovation and Knowledge, and research and content creator for Rhea Health Inc., a concussion rehabilitation platform developed by Hutchison and his clinical research team.

“I am honoured to be receiving this scholarship and am extremely grateful to the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation for their support, kindness and generosity for this award.”

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Field Notes

Cassidy Tinline-Goodfellow is in his third year of a PhD degree. As a part of Associate Professor Daniel Moore’s Iovate/Muscletech Metabolism and Sports Science Lab, his research uses cutting-edge analytical techniques and a variety of research models, from cells to rodents to humans, to investigate the mechanisms through which muscle grows with nutrition and exercise interventions.

He is particularly interested in developing novel platforms to investigate protein metabolism that combines different aspects of the three research models (cells, rodents and humans) for optimal results.

“Developing new, translatable research models will help in the investigation of nutritional and exercise interventions to augment sport performance in elite athletes, and can have broad reaching benefits to individuals and health,” he says.

Cassidy Tinline-Goodfellow

“I am honored to receive such a notable scholarship and grateful for the opportunity it provides.”

Stephanie Dixon is a second-year Master of Science student at KPE, doing research into athletes’ experiences of addressing maltreatment through the reporting process. Dixon’s research aims to fill the gap in research on this topic and expand existing safeguarding initiatives to include the experiences and perspectives of equity-denied groups.

“It is critical that athletes’ voices are elicited, heard and used to inform interventions, and that safe and trauma-informed practices are upheld in the reporting process to avoid further harms to the athletes,” says Dixon. “My research informs these advancements.”

Dixon, who is completing her master’s degree in the Safe Sport Lab with the guidance of Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of KPE, represented Canada in three Paralympic Games in swimming and served as chef de mission for the 2020 Paralympic Games.

Stephanie Dixon

“As a former athlete and Paralympian, conducting research to advance safer and more inclusive sport systems is very personal and work done from my heart,” she says.

“Athletes, particularly those with identities from marginalized groups, can sometimes wonder if their value extends beyond athletic performance.

“A scholarship that champions their safety and well-being clearly states that it does.”

Genevieve Ammendolia Tomé is a first-year student in the Master of Kinesiology program, supervised by Associate Professor Michael Hutchison. Tomé’s thesis will focus on examining the utility of messenger ribonucleic acid and micro-ribonucleic acid in the prediction of concussion diagnosis and length of recovery.

Tomé developed an interest in concussion research following her own experience with it. She started working in Hutchison’s concussion research lab the summer after her second year in KPE. “My research will potentially aid in the advancement of biomarkers as objective clinical tools for use in concussion diagnosis and rehabilitation,” she says. “I am very grateful for the support provided through this generous scholarship.”

— JD

Genevieve Ammendolia Tomé 12 pursuit.utoronto.ca

Photo/ Provided

Field Notes

Field Notes

DOUBLE JEOPARDY Canadian breast cancer mortality rates drop, as side effect risks grow

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t was the information she couldn’t find that led Amy Kirkham, an assistant professor in the Faculty, to her latest discovery.

annual cancer statistic reports.

The study, recently published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, found that in the 15-year span from 2007 to 2021, there were 370,756 patients (2.1 per cent of the adult female population in Canada in 2022) diagnosed with breast cancer, and 86 per cent of these women would have survived breast cancer by 2022.

Asked by the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Alliance to co-author a scientific statement paper in 2020 on the state of women’s heart health in Canada, Kirkham – whose research is focused on preventing and treating the risk of heart disease related to breast cancer treatment – needed to know what “This indicates that the prevalence of percentage of the Canadian female breast cancer survivors in the Canadian population has a history of breast cancer. female population has doubled and that there are 2.5 times more survivors since But the most recent statistic she could the last estimate in 2007,” says Kirkham. find – one per cent – was from 2007.

“Nearly 15 years had passed, and I could The prior estimate did not include the not find a more recent citation about the age group of survivors, but according to prevalence of breast cancer survivors the new estimate provided by Kirkham in Canada,” says Kirkham. “Breast and Jerzak, breast cancer survivors cancer mortality rates had continued represent one per cent of Canadian to improve 26 per cent over this time women in the typical working and/or period, so I suspected that this number child-raising age group (20 to 64 years) was no longer accurate.” and 5.4 per cent of senior Canadian women (65 years and older).

So, in collaboration with Katarzyna Jerzak, a medical oncologist at But it’s not all good news.

Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre and assistant professor in the Department of Many of the treatments that have improved Medicine in U of T’s Temerty Faculty of breast cancer mortality rates also cause Medicine, Kirkham embarked on a new short-term and long-term side effects, study that would determine an up-towhich, in turn, can raise the risk of death date estimate of the prevalence of breast from other causes such as heart disease, cancer survivors in Canada in 2022 stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, liver disease using the Canadian Cancer Society’s and other non-fatal health outcomes.

Photo/ iStock

“The most common cause of death in women with breast cancer is heart disease,” Kirkham says.

Such conditions also affect overall health-care costs.

To demonstrate the excess health care costs related to heart disease, Kirkham and Jerzak performed an additional analysis using Canadian data on rates of hospitalization for heart failure and their costs. They found that two per cent of the women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2007 and 2021 would likely experience heart failure hospitalization costing $66.5 million in total. As much as 25 per cent of these costs, or $16.5 million, were in excess of those costs that would be associated with women who did not have breast cancer.

“Given the excess health care costs, potential for reduced contributions to the workforce and reduced quality of life associated with long-term side effects and risk of excess death among breast cancer survivors, our work highlights that there is a growing segment of the population who require services to support recovery following breast cancer treatment,” says Kirkham.

“The goal of my research lab is to develop new therapies to improve the health of women after surviving breast cancer.”

— JD Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Field Notes

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT

Janelle Joseph elected to Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists

“I’m most happy when I see my research making change in the world.”

– Janelle Joseph, assistant professor

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Photo/ Janelle Joseph

Field Notes

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anelle Joseph, an assistant professor at the Faculty, was recently elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

Joseph joins an exclusive group of Canadian scholars, artists and scientists who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary productivity at an early stage in their careers, and whose perspectives and expertise will strengthen the College’s mission of harnessing interdisciplinary approaches to generate ideas and solutions for the challenges facing Canada – and the world.

“It is the pinnacle of my career to be elected to such an esteemed group,” says Joseph. “I first heard of the Royal Society of Canada and its scholars who were doing such incredible empirical and theoretical work when I joined U of T as a faculty member.

“Many of the researchers I draw on in relation to Black Studies in Canada such as Katherine McKittrick, George Dei and Carl E. James are fellows of the society, so now that I am among them, I feel truly humbled and honoured.”

Joseph’s research explores the intersection of race, education and physical cultures such as sport, dance, martial arts and land-based play – the concept of learning on and from the land built around the Indigenous connection with the land. An award-winning scholar (she won the 2020 Connaught New Researcher Award), her research is actively changing the notion of who can access, generate and advance knowledge about the moving body in various contexts, and the power structure in Canada.

“I am compelled to partner with racialized communities because not enough attention is given to the social and political implications of white privilege, colonialism, ethics and Indigeneity in sport research, especially in Canada,” she says.

Joseph uses critical race theories to study racialized people’s physical culture experiences.

“I believe we need to counter the erasure of our complex stories spanning race, gender, disability and class,” she says. “This is essential because when our stories are not told, we remain invisible to the broader public, and collective efforts towards increasing belonging will continue to be fraught.

“In short, my research preserves human life and dignity.”

Joseph provides critical assessments of how physical cultures could – or already do – contribute to the flourishing of racialized peoples.

“What I am hearing directly from research participants are remarkable stories not only of holistic health promotion through diverse movement practices but also of perseverance in the face of constant systemic barriers to equity.”

She draws inspiration from key stakeholders such as athletes, coaches, policy makers, program funders and post-secondary sport administrators who are asking, “What could we do differently to improve diversity, equity and inclusion?”

“My research ensures everyone bears witness to racialized experiences,” she says. “And that changes lives.”

Joseph is looking forward to the opportunities provided by the Royal Society of Canada to collaborate with influential thinkers across the nation “and have a real impact on national policy.

“Being in a room with people who are advancing knowledge in their respective domains will be life-changing for my scholarship and for millions of Canadians whose communities our research will touch,” she says.

Joseph is the founder and director of KPE’s Indigeneity, Diaspora, Equity and Anti-Racism in Sport (IDEAS) Research Lab and has authored/co-edited three books related to race, sport, education and Black communities in Canada.

“I am really proud of my book Sport in the Black Atlantic based on nearly two years of ethnographic research,” she says.

In the book, she documents the cross-border communitymaking experiences of older Black Caribbean-Canadians, examining many sociological themes, including diaspora, space, racism, gender and nationalism.

“I take lessons from the pleasures and challenges of this field research into my current studies and my graduate student supervision at KPE,” she said. “There are also interesting connections between the older generation of Black cricket players I studied over a decade ago and some of their children who are current coaches and administrators in Ontario University Athletics” In 2021, Joseph completed the Ontario University Athletics Anti-Racism Report, the largest study of anti-racism in university sport in Canada.

“I’m really proud of the ways the report has been taken up by the athletic directors in the province and across U SPORTS in Canada, making changes to their staffing and training processes,” she says. “I’m most happy when I see my research making change in the world.”

— JD Pursuit | Summer 2023

15

Field Notes

the

LONG

run

Athletic Centre field house named in honour of Bruce Kidd

B

ruce Kidd, a former Olympian and professor emeritus at the Faculty, has worn many hats over his long and illustrious career in sport and academics. Now, the Athletic Centre field house on the U of T St. George campus will bear his name.

Kidd and his wife Phyllis unveiled the plaque in front of family and friends, Kidd’s U of T pilates group and basketball collective, track teammates and academic colleagues, all of whom came out to celebrate the occasion.

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Photo/ Seyran Mammadov

Field Notes Wendy Phillips, Indigenous Elder at U of T Scarborough (UTSC), where Kidd served as the 10th principal, performed a smudging ceremony and song with her husband Mark. They gifted Kidd a traditional lacrosse stick in recognition of his contributions to strengthen and rehabilitate the university’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples.

Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of KPE, called Kidd a champion of human rights – in sport and academics.

“In all of his roles, as athlete, builder, activist and academic, Bruce’s capacity to teach and inspire others is boundless, and I am a very grateful recipient of this,” said Kerr. “So, I would add two more words to describe Bruce – mentor and friend.”

Kidd said that when he first came to U of T to run with Fred Foot and the track team in 1958, the north wing of Hart House was the best indoor facility in Canada. However, when he began to compete in the United States, he realized that the Hart House model, exceptional for an earlier time, had been surpassed by the “field house” model of indoor facilities.

“A field house enabled much greater participation, better performances and spectatorship, and fewer injuries,” he said.

Michael Smith, who studied commerce at U of T while training as a decathlete, added the word “learner” to describe Kidd.

“He was able to transfer all that he learned from track and field and a lifetime of activism into becoming the educator that he is today,” said Smith, who won gold at the 1990 Commonwealth Games and in 1991 become the first North American to win the prestigious Götzis International Decathlon.

Alicia Brown, a U of T and Varsity Blues alumna and Olympian, said Kidd’s legacy encapsulates the essence of the field house – “a space that sees no limits and honours all people.”

“It’s an extraordinary recognition and I am extremely grateful,” said Kidd, who acknowledged Professor Ira Jacobs, former dean of KPE, for initiating the recommendation to name the field house after him, and thanked U of T President Meric Gertler and the university for their approval. He then shared the story of how the field house came to be and what it has meant to him personally, and to the university at large.

public policy and sport, the first courses of that kind in North America.

Juri Daniel, the director of the school, assigned Kidd to work with Professor Conway on plans for the new facilities.

For the next few years, Kidd helped steer the planning, approvals, financing and eventual construction of what became the Stevens Building, home of the Athletic Centre today.

“It wasn’t easy – we struggled with conservative architects, a municipal 80-foot height limit, intense opposition from the adjacent neighborhood and academic colleagues who thought that sport had no place in a research university, and the hated ‘value engineering’,” said Kidd. “But we succeeded.”

The construction of the Warren Stevens Building accomplished two things: It brought the men’s and women’s athletic departments into a single Department of Athletics and Recreation, and it brought the School of Physical and Health Education and the athletic programs together in ways that anticipated the merger that is now the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

In the mid-1950s, U of T started to plan for new facilities on the St. George campus. The athletic alumni banded together to fundraise, but, while the women succeeded in creating the Benson Building for themselves, the new men’s facilities were put on the back burner.

“When I was an undergraduate, a field house became our ‘holy grail’ – fervently hoped-for but elusive as the horizon,” he said.

Kidd said that while some might view the 50-metre varsity pool as the jewel of the facility, for him it’s always been the field house, with its 200-metre track, four courts and generous margins for fitness activities.

“Whenever I come up that dark, tunnellike, concrete staircase and enter the open athletic space, my heart soars,” he said.

“When I had a frustrating day as dean (of the Faculty of Physical Education and Health), I would come here before I went home and just take in the energy.

In the early 1970s, the university renewed efforts to revitalize the athletic facilities on the St. George campus led by then “I’m deeply moved that my name will now president and vice president of U of T, be formally associated with this track and John Evans and Jill Ker Conway. Kidd field house, in the centre of this dynamic was appointed to the School of Physical Faculty, and the joys and benefits they and Health Education to teach courses on bring to so many.”

— Jelena Damjanovic Pursuit | Summer 2023

17

Field Notes

FROM PIANOS TO EXERCISE BIKES Inside KPE’s research labs

A

shiny black piano may not be the kind of instrument visitors expect to find in a research lab at the Faculty, but that is exactly what they discover – along with a transcranial direct current stimulation device and an exercise bike.

The Faculty’s Training and Enhancing Motor Performance Outcomes (TEMPO) Lab is where Joyce Chen, assistant professor of motor learning, and her team of graduate students study how factors such as aerobic exercise, non-invasive brain stimulation and music can enhance a person’s ability to learn motor skills, from putting the golf ball to using their upper limbs again after a stroke.

“My research aims to discover the limits of the brain’s plasticity, its ability to change as we learn,” says Chen. “Using fundamental and applied research approaches, we want to understand how far we can push motor performance in a musician or athlete, and find ways to enhance the brain’s plasticity so that people recovering from a stroke can improve their capacity to move.”

Chen’s lab is one of many new and renovated research spaces at the Warren Stevens Building (Athletic Centre) and the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport on the St. George campus, which house most of KPE’s research units, labs and centres.

Julia Tom is a professional cellist and a doctoral student of the TEMPO lab, exploring fine motor skills and ways to enhance them

analysis,” says Burkhart. “What we learn can help both athletes and the everyday healthy population that’s relatively active with injury prevention and rehabilitation.”

Just down the hall from Burkhart’s lab is the Human Physiology Lab, where Ira Jacobs, professor of exercise physiology at KPE, and his team of graduate students are exploring how the human body works at the limits of its capabilities and how we can push these limits using novel training and recovery strategies, nutritional and physiological interventions. “These limits can be related to elite sport training and performance or to human performance in extreme conditions like altitude, heat and cold,” says Jacobs, who is also interim director of the recently founded Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS). They have also been studying the effects of exercise on the efficacy on prescription drugs.

Located in the lower levels of the Warren Stevens Building is the Biomechanics of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Lab, run by Timothy Burkhart, an assistant professor of orthopaedic biomechanics at KPE, in conjunction with the orthopaedic surgeons of the University of Toronto Orthopaedic Sports Medicine group. Here, athletes simulate game moves that put Back at the Goldring Centre, Robert Bentley, assistant stress on the hips and knees. Motion-capture technology helps professor of cardiovascular physiology, is conducting generate computer models that accurately estimate the forces on research into how the heart and blood vessels function the hips and knees – a non-invasive way to retrieve data that is during exercise. used to require intramuscular probes. And a markerless motiontracking system videotapes the athletes doing exactly what they “I study the mechanisms of oxygen delivery during exercise and would do in their natural environment – for example, playing a what that means not only for performance but also for exercise game of basketball on a court. tolerance,” he says. “My research spans the health spectrum, from basic science investigations in healthy populations “The combination of the two techniques – capturing force and to clinical investigations of patients with heart failure and movement data in the lab and analyzing videotape of the players pulmonary hypertension.” on the court – produces an unprecedentedly granular level of

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Photo/ Dewey Chang

Field Notes

One of the machines Bentley uses in his research is the stress echocardiography tilt-recline table ergometer, a specialized bicycle that allows study participants to exercise while the researchers manipulate them by tilting or reclining the bicycle as needed to obtain optimal images of the heart.

“This piece of equipment allows for cardiac imaging to be completed during exercise, which is pretty exceptional,” he says. “If you do not have this special bicycle, individuals often have to exercise on a treadmill or upright bicycle until some criteria is met and then quickly transition themselves onto a table upon which images of the heart can be obtained.”

conducts research into how exercise and nutrition can alter carbohydrate and fat metabolism in humans.

“We have so many great spaces now available to do in-person research, including an exercise training suite for exercise interventions or training studies and an expanded wet lab that lets us look, on a cellular and molecular level, at how exercise – on its own or in combination with nutrition –- influences aspects of metabolic health and physiology,” says Gillen.

A new, more spacious metabolic kitchen is also now available

“With over 20 research labs housed under KPE, Bentley’s Cardiovascular Exercise our experts are able to do cutting-edge research in Physiology Lab is housed on the fourth floor of the Goldring Centre, various areas related to physical activity, health and which has been significantly expanded in the recent renovation their interactions” – Professor Timothy Welsh to provide individual labs and shared research space for a number of faculty. The Kirkham Lab, led

by Amy Kirkham, assistant professor of clinical cardiovascular health, uses advanced imaging and lifestyle interventions to understand, treat and improve the health of women with cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Michael Hutchison, associate professor of sport concussion and director of the concussion program at the MacIntosh Sport Medicine Clinic, specializes in sport-related concussion research in various populations, from adolescents to professional athletes.

Daniel Moore, associate professor of muscle physiology, studies the influence of exercise and nutrition on skeletal muscle remodelling and protein metabolism, while Jenna Gillen, assistant professor of exercise physiology, Photos/ Dewey Chang

for careful preparation of diet and nutrition interventions for study participants, while blood samples and muscle biopsies are collected for analysis in the procedures room.

“With over 20 research labs housed under KPE, our experts are able to do cutting-edge research in various areas related to physical activity, health and their interactions,” says Professor Tim Welsh. The interim associate dean of research at KPE, Welsh is also head of the Action and Attention Lab and studies the cognitive and neural mechanisms behind goal-directed actions of people from average and special populations.

“This tour offered a snapshot of some of the important and far-reaching work that gets done.”

— Jelena Damjanovic Pursuit | Summer 2023

19

Field Notes

EXTREME endurance

Assistant Professor Linda Trinh tests her limits in the Moab Desert

L

inda Trinh had, like many a traveller before her, just passed through the gorgeous desert and red-rock canyons of Moab, Utah, and now she was heading into the mountains. The difference was, Trinh wasn’t cruising in some Jeep. She was on foot.

The race director of this, the Moab 240 ultramarathon, had diabolically designed the course to hit the La Sal Range at around the 200-mile mark.

Trinh had been running, pretty much continuously, for more than three days. The lush fall colours barely registered. She was just watching her Hoka Challenger ATR shoes coming up underneath her, again and again.

The trail was narrow and the mountainside steep. Suddenly Trinh heard a voice behind her. It was the pace runner for another competitor. She’d noticed Trinh wobbling and implored her to stop and take a dirt nap. “Thanks, I’ll be okay,” Trinh replied genially. Trinh was exhausted, but she has also learned to distrust those warnings from her brain.

(Your brain is conservative; it’ll tell you to quit when you actually still have gas

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in the tank.) But the other runner kept insisting. “And finally, I was like, you know what, she’s probably right,” Trinh says. “So I stopped and slept. It was the best 10-minute nap of my life.”

Ultramarathoning may be one of the defining practices of Homo Sapiens, arising from our ancestors’ quest for meat on the veldt. But it’s a pretty weird thing to be doing in 2023.

Trinh, who is an assistant professor of exercise and cancer survivorship in the Faculty, came to the sport 10 years ago, while completing her doctorate at the University of Alberta. She’d been training for her first marathon when a group of ultradistance trail runners got her hooked on stronger stuff. (Following a bunch of strangers deep into a rural park in the middle of winter: what could go wrong?) Trinh was beguiled by the questing element of it, the frontier courage required: you can’t really be found unless you’ve first been lost.

Any race longer than 50 km is considered an ultramarathon. The Moab 240 is more than six times that distance. Think of Toronto to Ottawa, with a mountain

range in between. Trinh knocked it off in 109 hours and change.

But back at that 200-mile mark in Moab, she was getting pretty beaten up. “You’re a different person when you finish a race like that than when you start,” Trinh says. Indeed, you’d be hard-pressed to find a sport that changes athletes more – psychologically and physiologically.

*** In 1980, when he was a budding scientist, KPE Professor of Exercise Physiology Ira Jacobs led a study that deepened understanding of the adaptations the body makes to extreme, chronic physical activity. The test subject was a Dutch athlete who was ranked among the top-10 ultramarathoners in the world at the time.

Jacobs et al. wondered: just what is different about an ultra athlete? They took biopsies from the fat of the subject’s abdomen and the muscles of his legs and conducted an intravenous fat-tolerance test. Each revealed a different surprise.

Photo/ Jason Peters

Field Notes

“My philosophy around ultra running is a window into my teaching philosophy. You can manage the physical and psychological hurdles ahead, if you prepare for them.”

– Linda Trinh, assistant professor

Carbohydrates and fat are the main fuel for our muscles during exercise. Carbs are stored in our liver and muscles as glycogen and are released to the blood as glucose. But the gas tank of carbs is depleted to almost empty within an hour or two of moderately high intensity exercise. “Fortunately, we have plenty of fuel for long distances at much lower intensity, and that’s fat,” says Daniel Moore, associate professor of muscle physiology at KPE. “This was an adaptation we needed for our genes to survive.” The success of an ultra athlete depends on how efficiently they’re able to metabolize that fat, via an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase.

Jacobs and his colleagues infused fat into a vein and monitored how quickly it was whisked out of the bloodstream and into the furnace. “The clinicians had never seen infused fat removed so quickly from anyone,” Jacobs says.

“This guy had the highest lipoprotein lipase activity we’d ever measured in our lab. So then the question is, is he born, or is he trained? And I can’t answer that.” (No baseline measurements had been taken for this athlete before he began endurance racing. And unfortunately he didn’t have an identical twin who could have been the couch-potato control.)

“I suspect it’s a combination of both.

But,” says Jacobs, “we got a hint from the muscle biopsies we did in his leg.”

Photo/ Glenn Tachiyama

The two primary types of human muscle are the so-called fast-twitch and slowtwitch fibers. Fast-twitch fibers mostly burn sugars to generate explosive power, and slow-twitch effectively burn fat for endurance. Each of us has a mixture of both types. But when Jacobs tested the little plug of tissue he’d pulled from the Dutch athlete’s thigh, he found 100 per cent slow-twitch. The result was so astonishing that Jacobs thought he’d made a mistake. So he repeated the test.

And got the same result. “Eventually I called over my labmate – a more senior PhD student – to check my work.” It used to be thought that the muscle you were born with was what you got.

No one dreamed we could change our muscle any more than a turkey breast could change from white meat to dark meat en route to the dinner table.

Jacobs et al. contributed to our new understanding of how adaptable skeletal muscle (and to an extent the human body itself) actually is.

***

There are a lot of cool things about ultradistance racing. For example, it’s one of the relatively few sports where gender really doesn’t matter, performance-wise. The physiological advantages of males shrink as the distance lengthens. The winning times of the top men and the top women converge. (Many consider Courtney Dauwalter of Golden, CO, the world’s

best ultradistance runner, period.) An unappreciated factor, surely, is that women know the sleepless pain cave intimately. It’s called childbirth.

But besting men – or even trying to best her own time – is not really part of the motivational mix for Trinh.

It’s about the buzz of the mutually supporting community, a camaraderie that belies the stereotype of the loneliness of the long-distance runner.

And Trinh finds something of that same vibe in a different community: the classroom. “My philosophy around ultra running is a window into my teaching philosophy,” she says. “I tell my students, ‘The mind you enter with when you start the course is going to be a different mind than you have at the end of the course. The journey itself will change you.’ Break the task into chunks; for now just make it to the next rest stop. There will be physical and psychological hurdles ahead. You can manage them if you prepare for them.’”

You can imagine such words buoying the spirits of, say, a doctoral student who’s in the dissertation pain cave. “You say to yourself, I’ve got blisters on my blisters.

But I have to deal with it, because I’ve got 100 miles left to go.”

— Bruce Grierson

Pursuit | Summer 2023

21

Field Notes

MAKING THEIR

Stephanie Dixon

Bren Kugamoorthy

Joseph Manzone

Lyle Makosky Values and Ethics in Sport Fund

Ludwik and Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize

Franklin Henry Young Scientist Award

Master’s student and Paralympic medallist Stephanie Dixon has been awarded the Lyle Makosky Values and Ethics in Sport Fund. Dixon’s thesis will relate athletes’ experiences of reporting maltreatment in sport, focusing on the stories of people from marginalized groups. The scholarship will support the development of a trauma-informed methodology for this work.

KPE graduate Bren Kugamoorthy received the 2022 Ludwik and Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize in the emerging leader category. Part of the U of T Awards of Excellence, the prize recognized Kugamoorthy’s antiracism advocacy and his efforts to create welcoming spaces for under-represented and marginalized communities within KPE and across the university.

KPE doctoral student Joseph Manzone received the Franklin Henry Young Scientist Award from the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology. Manzone’s work looks at possible interactions between how we see something and how we plan and execute actions related to what we see.

He seeks to understand whether our plans to interact with the world may influence how we see.

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Photos/ Provided

Field Notes

MARK

Every year, KPE students receive numerous awards for their academic and extra-curricular achievements.

In showcasing a snippet of our accomplished students, we extend our congratulations to them all.

Roxy O’Rourke

Aarohi Pathak

Erin Willson

Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) to Honour Nelson Mandela

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Doctoral Award

Connaught PhD for Public Impact Fellowship

A prestigious Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) to Honour Nelson Mandela has been awarded to KPE doctoral student Roxy O’Rourke for her work on understanding parasport athletes’ mental health experiences. O’Rourke hopes to better understand how to foster conditions for positive mental health and to co-create a mental health intervention for para-athletes and others.

KPE PhD student Aarohi Pathak received an NSERC Doctoral Award for her research into the cognitive science behind learning two similar but opposite tasks – for example, mastering an action with both left and right hands.

Pathak has discovered that cognitive strategies can overcome the interference that naturally occurs when attempting to learn two contrasting skills, an insight with potential implications for rehabilitation protocols and athletics.

Erin Willson’s research into abuse in sport has earned her the prestigious new Connaught PhD for Public Impact Fellowship. The former Olympian is working on assessing the rates of maltreatment among young athletes and understanding the factors that influence the reporting of abuse. Her work also explores what constitutes good behaviour in sport, viewing this as essential to creating a safe environment.

Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Field Notes

PROTECTING ATHLETES AND ENVIRONMENT Margaret MacNeill battles on for justice

M

argaret MacNeill says she is not really retiring but “retreading” to pursue other passions. First arriving to the Faculty in 1980 as an undergraduate student in Physical Health and Education, she later returned after completing a Master’s in Sociology of Sport and Film Studies at Queen’s and a Ph.D. in Communication at Simon Fraser.

“I came back to U of T for a contract teaching position in 1991 which led to a tenured position in the social-cultural sciences stream,” says MacNeill, who’s been teaching in FKPE for 32 years, is cross-appointed to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and is a founding executive member of the graduate specialization in women’s health.

For her, teaching and research about how activity, health and media intersect are her greatest passions. “I’ve investigated the ways the media tells the story of health… and the implications of those stories.”

For example, MacNeill says athletes were prominently featured in the news during the pandemic because of their concerns about traveling to Tokyo for the Olympics and becoming vectors for COVID 19. “My research looks at

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the rights of athletes, their relationship with the media, and the shift we saw as athletes turned into advocates,” she says.

“We’ve seen many examples of athletes raising their voices on their rights, particularly around the right to their own health instead of ‘pushing through’ an injury or mental illness to not ruin their chances.”

doctoral study: he is now director of KPE’s Centre for Sport Policy Studies.

Recently, alumna Sabrina Razack completed her PhD about the Black Girl Hockey Club’s ongoing quest for racial social justice using joy as a form of resistance. Razack is now monitoring children’s rights in cities preparing to host World Cup ’26.

While there are many things that “These are just four examples of students MacNeill looks back on with a sense of who’ve become political voices,” says accomplishment, she is most proud of MacNeill. Eleven have gone on to the graduate students she has mentored become tenured university professors and guided over the years. “I am in or instructors. “Grad researchers in my awe of their work. We mentor them, Media and Motion Collaboratory at the but really they mentor us—in their Goldring Centre all continue to look at research, original theories, methods health and wellness with a social justice and new understandings,” she says. lens, which is important to pursuing the “Students today go into research thinking mission of our Faculty.” about how they can use it to spark transformation during research rather MacNeill’s passion for making a positive than waiting to translate findings after.” impact in society is not changing, “it’s just rerouting,” she says. “I did a lot of Many of her students come to mind, local hiking during the pandemic and including Olympic gold medalist research on trailology. This past year, I Rose MacLennan (trampoline) for saw the devastation of hurricanes in PEI her master’s work focusing on athlete and drove up the east coast of Australia citizenry and advocacy. Another is between floods. It’s inspired me to start a journalist Sally Armstrong who received new adventure that refocuses health the Order of Canada during her time research on environmental issues, investigating international charters movement and reconciliation with affecting girls’ rights to play. Associate Indigenous peoples. And it might Professor Simon Darnell expanded re-route me back to Australia.” sports for development studies with his — Janet Gunn Photo/ Daniel Ehrenworth

Field Notes

FULL CIRCLE

Professor Scott Thomas retires

S

cott Thomas has had multiple research pursuits during his more than 30-year career as a professor and scientist with the Faculty, but all show his passion for ensuring exercise plays a larger role in the health care system.

“Everything I’ve done is about making exercise accessible, safe and effective for everyone,” he says. “It is more dangerous for people to live a lifestyle on the couch than it is to incorporate some form of exercise into your day.”

This is why Thomas has focused research on the evaluation of various tools like the Par-Q (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) test that determines whether someone should complete a medical evaluation before participating in strenuous exercise. “The work we’ve done on this test is related to the questions – rather than screen them out completely, we tried to motivate people to participate in exercise safely. The benefits of movement far outweigh the risks.”

Thomas’s research also focused on cardiovascular physiology, cardiac rehabilitation and sport performance, which led to a collaboration with the Canadian Sport Institute on a project that looked at the demands of wheelchair basketball.

He was the founding director of the Faculty’s first Master’s of Professional Kinesiology (MPK) program – among the first in the province.

Photo/ Provided

“Beyond being among the first of its kind, the MPK program reflects our Faculty, which looks at kinesiology from four distinct viewpoints: behavioural, physical-cultural, biophysical and clinical,” he says. “It reflects the University of Toronto’s consistent emphasis on driving practice improvement using the best evidence, from experience and from research. And, it reflects our communities.”

Outside the field, Thomas volunteers with Academics Without Borders, an organization that supports postsecondary education in lower-income countries. He collaborated with Canadian and Ugandian university volunteers to develop an online course on graduate supervision for faculty in Uganda.

“I am fortunate because I’ve had a lot of variety in my career, and I am proud to say I’ve collaborated with multiple faculties and colleagues from across U of T and beyond,” he says. “The graduate students I’ve worked with in the past have always had great ideas that have inspired me to explore different avenues.”

Now Thomas plans on focusing on family and new hobbies like cycling and archery, while staying in touch with his colleagues. “And I will continue to read … but now I’ll be reading more for pleasure.”

— Janet Gunn

Pursuit | Summer 2023

25

Field Notes

A LEGACY OF

HEART Professor Jack Goodman retires

“Our program builds exceptional community and professional leaders – the Outdoor Projects serve as one of many foundation cornerstones that they build their success upon over the next four years.”

– Jack Goodman, Professor Emeritus

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Field Notes

J

ack Goodman says there are many things that make him feel grateful and proud when reflecting on his University of Toronto career, but two in particular stand out. One is the pride he feels about his graduate students, and the other is watching first-year KPE students immerse themselves in the annual Outdoor Projects at Camp New Moon, which he continues to oversee.

“For their first experience at U of T, first-year KPE students leave for camp on a bus, many feeling uncertain, worried and full of anticipation about the next four days and the next four years,” he says. “At camp, they all go through a truly transformative experience, returning home with a sense of community, more confidence and lifelong friendships.

“Our program builds exceptional community and professional leaders – the Outdoor Projects serve as one of many foundation cornerstones that they build their success upon over the next four years.”

Goodman is also proud when reflecting on his 34 years of teaching.

“I loved both the undergraduate classroom and supervising graduate students,” he says. “I loved to challenge my undergraduate students to use critical thinking and taught them concepts by telling stories they could relate to. I also really enjoyed seeing the grad students gain independence.

I tried my best to get out of the way as they flourished and became fantastic researchers, scientists and professors themselves. We all had fun, and I tried my best to promote a healthy life – work balance for all of my students. The grad students were the fuel that propelled my research, and I’ll always be grateful to them for their amazing work and all that I learned from them.”

Goodman’s research explored cardiac risks of exercise, with a special focus on how the heart adapts to exercise in athletes and those with heart disease. “I had a bug for research since my third year of undergraduate studies when I volunteered in the Toronto Rehabilitation Centre,” he says. “After that, I discovered an interest in heart health and exercise and never looked back.”

In the 1980s, Goodman found a niche building a bridge between exercise physiology and clinical cardiology. He developed a new approach for the simultaneous assessment of cardiac function and cardiopulmonary exercise performance.

He recalls turning traditional cardiology imaging labs upside down, convincing technologists and clinicians to truly integrate concepts from exercise physiology.

Photo/ Joel Jackson

“I knew I could get the clinicians interested, but it was more important to win over the technologists who were so essential for our success,” he says. “That’s a lesson that I continued to share with my grad students.”

Goodman says it was extremely rewarding to build these clinical collaborations in various cardiology departments, particular at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he maintains his adjunct scientist cross appointment in cardiology.

“I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with incredibly smart people, all of whom generously provided me with unique opportunities,” he says. “Over the years, we did some pretty cool research about how the heart responds to prolonged exercise using various non-invasive imaging methods, and quite novel invasive studies in athletes with catheters in their hearts.”

Goodman says there have been concerns raised by health professionals and athletes alike that high-intensity exercise performed over a long period of time can have a negative impact on the heart.

“As researchers and physicians, we need to determine if there can be ‘too much of a good thing,’ and at times, dispel exaggerated claims of danger given the extremely low risks that exercise poses,” he says.

Over the years, Goodman came to realize that athletes needed highly specialized support, which led to him spearheading the creation of Sports Cardiology Toronto, a research and education clinical service to athletes in the GTA, which he continues to nurture and develop.

With his professor emeritus status, he will continue research in the sports cardiology arena during his retirement, picking and choosing the projects that interest him the most.

“I will always have my finger on research,” he says. “I am still reviewing and writing papers and am happy to help, if called upon, to assist my younger colleagues, if they’ll have me.”

His priority has always been family, and he looks forward to continuing spending time with his growing family – two kids and two grandchildren, with more on the way. Travel is also high on his list. This past fall, he and his wife hiked five national parks in Utah.

“We want to pursue active travelling for as long as we can,” he says. “The adventure is just beginning.”

— Janet Gunn Pursuit | Summer 2023

27

Fit Tips

Debating intermittent fasting and exercise Fans of intermittent fasting say consuming fewer calories by skipping meals helps you lose weight and leads to other health benefits. But what happens to your body when you combine exercise to the mix?

Matthew Lees and Eric Williamson, both at the Faculty, have studied the effects of intermittent fasting on muscle health in the general population and older adults. Lees, a postdoctoral researcher, and Williamson, a PhD student and registered dietician, conducted the research with Associate Professor Daniel Moore.

Lees and Willamson spoke to us about the benefits of complementing intermittent fasting with exercise.

What is intermittent fasting?

Eric Williamson: Intermittent fasting means going without food for an intentional period of time. There’s no real strict definition of how long that time has to be, but for the most part, it’s at least 12 hours. Most people will practice intermittent fasting with the intention of losing weight. The thinking behind this is that intermittent fasting will keep your insulin levels lower, and by lowering insulin, which is known as the fat-storing hormone, you will lose body fat.

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What does the science say about it?

EW: Research in this area provides ample evidence that the majority of people who practice intermittent fasting will typically lose weight, but not for the purported reason of lowering insulin levels. Rather, evidence shows that skipping meals does not typically lead to compensatory eating. So, if you skip breakfast, you will typically eat a little bit more at lunch, but you won’t eat as much as if you had eaten breakfast. That ends up putting you into a caloric deficit and, by the laws of physics, it is what leads to the loss of mass over time.

What’s the appeal of intermittent fasting?

EW: Finding ways to lose weight that are as simple as skipping a meal is very difficult because many people find it hard to manage their hunger while being in a caloric deficit.

But, if they find that their hunger is well managed with intermittent fasting and they plan to exercise at the same time, then it can be an effective tool for losing fat.

Photos/ iStock

Fit Tips What’s the benefit of combining intermittent fasting and exercise?

EW: Research indicates that if you are going to practice intermittent fasting, you should combine it with exercise – in particular resistance training. The reason for that has to do primarily with protein metabolism. We know that having our protein intake in multiple feedings throughout the day is better for our lean mass and for lean mass retention over time. Muscle is a significant component of lean mass, so if you are fasting, you are skipping these opportunities for the effects of a protein intake on your muscle metabolism and risking muscle atrophy.

Put simply, when people practice intermittent fasting without exercising, they are losing weight, but much of it often comes from the muscle in the lean mass. If they are exercising, then that shifts from a loss of muscle mass to a loss of fat mass, so that’s a large benefit.

Are certain types of exercises better paired with intermittent fasting than others?

EW: Yes, the effects of resistance exercise in particular are so potent that you would likely still be able to preserve muscle, or at least not lose it as quickly, if you’re practicing intermittent fasting at the same time. On the other hand, if somebody was looking to gain as much muscle and strength as possible, like a powerlifter or bodybuilder, they may want to avoid intermittent fasting, because they’ll need both the stimulus of resistance training and protein feedings throughout the day.

Some may find they still gain muscle while practicing intermittent fasting, but it likely won’t be as quickly as with regular meals and snacks.

Athletes who are trying to maximize performance should also be cautioned as they have very high energy needs; meaning, they’ll need a lot of food.

If they’re practicing intermittent fasting, they’re limiting their opportunities to gain that energy. By missing protein

feedings, they may not be at as high of a risk of atrophy, but they are risking maximizing their potential.

Athletes who are eating more regularly throughout the day are going to be more likely to meet their energy needs, recover better and adapt to their training better.

Does it matter what time of day you choose to fast?

EW: There are potential benefits to practicing intermittent fasting later in the day. Most people skip breakfast because it’s easy – you’re in a rush, you’re not that hungry because our appetites decrease as we sleep. But, from a metabolic perspective, you’re better off skipping your evening snack or dinner rather than breakfast.

“Finding ways to lose weight that are as simple as skipping a meal is very difficult because many people find it hard to manage their hunger while being in a caloric deficit.”

– Eric Williamson There are a couple of reasons for that.

One is that we’re more metabolically primed in the morning, not necessarily for protein intake, but for other nutrients.

We tend to metabolize nutrients better in the morning. Secondly, nighttime is usually when the junk foods come out. So, if somebody says they're not going to eat after 8 p.m., for example, they’re probably eliminating some of these calorically dense, low-nutrient foods.

How does age factor in?

Matthew Lees: As we get older, we’re at an even higher risk of muscle atrophy. The body becomes less efficient at using the protein that we consume in the diet, and that process, known as anabolic resistance, is made worse by being sedentary.

You see it happen with people after a hip fracture, for example. Even short periods of bed rest tend to lead to anabolic resistance. If you’re also truncating all of your meals within, say, an eight-hour timeframe within the day, you have long periods when you’re not feeding. There’s no anabolism occurring during that period because there’s no feeding, and without exercise that’s made even worse.

So, would you advise against intermittent fasting in older adults?

ML: From the perspective of muscle health, it’s just not ideal for an older person to engage in the practice of intermittent fasting, because it’s counterintuitive towards what’s best for muscle in an aging population.

They need regular stimulation of the processes that build muscle, and that’s what feeding and exercise do. Having a long period where you don’t consume any dietary protein is just not conducive to skeletal muscle health in an older population.

If your main goal is weight loss, then it can be a useful tool in younger populations if it fits into their lifestyle.

But, for older people, weight loss is not always the principal goal, and oftentimes it can be counterproductive.

There are studies showing that a little bit of extra weight in older people is actually beneficial.

Is there anything else people should know about intermittent fasting?

EW: I always recommend speaking with a professional before attempting to lose weight. There are some minor physical risks to weight loss, but the mental health concerns can be great. There’s mounting evidence to suggest that food relationship issues can present for some individuals who intentionally skip meals.

For the reason of maintaining a positive relationship with food and body as well as to preserve or enhance physical health, I suggest that nobody attempt weight loss without speaking to a professional.

— JD Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Blues News

A DREAM COME TRUE Blues goalie plays with Toronto Maple Leafs

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ett Alexander planned to spend April 8 studying, running errands and watching the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Montreal Canadiens on TV. Instead, the Varsity Blues goalie – and third-year U of T student in the Faculty of Arts and Science – found himself sitting on the Leafs’ bench when the puck dropped, having been called on as a back-up goaltender for the NHL team. U of T News spoke to Alexander about his NHL ice time and what he’s learned from being a Varsity Blues player.

Walk me through what happened that Saturday. How did that moment on the ice feel?

JA: It was a normal Saturday when I woke up. I was going to study, run some errands and watch the game at home or with my buddies. Suddenly, I got a phone call from [Maple Leafs] management, and they told me to grab my equipment and head to the rink. It all happened really quickly. Luckily, there was just enough time to get my parents and girlfriend there.

I was getting ready in the same locker room as the rest of the team.

It’s pretty crazy – you watch these guys on television and then you’re sitting next to them in the change room.

How did being on the Varsity Blues team prepare you for this opportunity?

What has sports taught you?

JA: At this point, I can’t imagine my life without sports. Being on the Varsity team has kept me motivated and wanting more from hockey. It’s taught me organizational skills and time management – just striving to be the best you can be in the classroom and on the ice.

Getting the opportunity to come to U of T is a privilege. It’s given me this connection to the Leafs. Being part of the emergency goalie rotation, much like my old [Varsity Blues] goalie partner, Alex Bishop, is pretty great. He’s one of my best buddies, so it’s cool getting to share that experience with him.

You have to make your schedule at the beginning of the year for both semesters around what your practice times will be. Our games are typically on Friday and Saturday and they’re usually around 7 p.m.

– Jett Alexander You have to plan your days and your weekends accordingly. You’re a student first, so getting good grades is important. After class, I’m usually on the rink or in the gym. It makes for a busy time throughout the hockey season, which is from September until early March.

“I didn’t really have too much time to be anxious”

Being in a locker room around teammates and friends my entire life, you get comfortable with that camaraderie, the jokes and the goofiness. Then you see it at an NHL level and realize it’s the same. They like to have fun, but they also take it very seriously and they’re very professional.

Sitting on the bench was so special. The players use iPads on the bench to watch their shift so they can make quick adjustments to their play. At the Varsity games, our coaching staff usually watch video in between periods or after the game.

[Maple Leafs Head Coach] Sheldon Keefe comes down the bench and he’s like, “Get in there, Jett.” I hop over the boards, get my helmet on and get in the net. I didn’t really have too much

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time to be anxious because it all happened so quickly. I tried to soak it all in after the game.

It also teaches you how to be a good teammate and how to work well with each other. I think something that hockey players typically have is an abundance of that team-first mentality. It gives you an appreciation for the work that other people put into it as well. It takes everyone involved to make the ship run.

It’s taught me my biggest life lessons, and it’s a huge privilege to be where I am.

— Mariam Matti This interview has been edited for length. https://uoft.me/Pursuit-JettAlexanderfullstory Photos/ Photos/ Claus Courtesy Andersen/Getty of BrennaImages Hamel

Blues News

TO BUILD A SUSTAINABLE

A SUSTAINABLE

WORLD

Blues water polo goalie goes to UN to discuss Indigenous issues

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arsity Blues women’s water polo goalie Averi Doxtator was recently invited to the United Nations headquarters in New York City. Doxtator, who is of Anishinaabe, Oneida and Dakota ancestry, represented the National Association of Friendship Centers (NAFC) at the 22nd session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).

“The overall experience was incredible and powerful,” said Doxtator, a double major student of peace, conflict and justice, and environmental ethics at U of T. “It brought together Indigenous peoples from around the world to discuss the struggles they’re facing in their regions. I think the most surprising thing to hear was that many of the histories are similar, which makes the Permanent Forum so important to be able to learn from one another and share our stories.”

Doxtator is the current president of the NAFC’s Indigenous youth council, tasked with advocating for the voices of Indigenous youth across Canada. She also reports to the board of directors of the NAFC as the youth executive representative.

During her time in New York, Doxtator participated in the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus (GIYC) preparation meetings for the UNPFII. The theme of the 22nd session was “Indigenous Peoples, human health, planetary and territorial health and climate change: a rights-based approach”.

Photo/ Courtesy of the Varsity Blues

The GIYC put together a statement calling for action from the discussion on the six mandated areas of the Permanent Forum (economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and human rights), with reference to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Doxtator was asked to deliver the GIYC statement alongside Spenser Jaimes of the coastal Chumash Band. Together, Doxtator and Jaimes addressed the theme of climate change action needing to be centered around Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge in order to achieve the 2030 sustainable development agenda goals.

“In our statement we highlighted the only way to achieve the 2030 sustainable development goals is to look to Indigenous people’s traditional ecological knowledge of the land to transition to sustainability,” she added. “Somehow people seem to forget that Indigenous people lived on the land for many generations and were able to live in balanced and respectful ways that didn’t harm or deteriorate the land.

Therefore, moving forward, space needs to be given to Indigenous people at the table when it comes to creating climate change action.”

— George Gross Jr. Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Blues News

A WOMAN OF DISTINCTION Beth Ali picks up OUA Honour Award

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eth Ali, the executive director of athletics & physical activity at U of T, was recently named the Ontario University Athletic (OUA) Woman of Distinction at the annual OUA awards gala. Ali was recognized for her outstanding leadership and contributions to OUA.

Under her guidance, the program has also opened two new state-of-the-art facilities that have hosted provincial and national championships, as well as established blossoming partnerships with NBA Canada, Basketball Canada, BioSteel and OVO Bounce.

Being at the helm of U of T’s athletic department for the past 13 seasons, Ali has continuously pushed for equality, inclusion and support for all student-athletes.

Through both personal and professional experience, Ali is a dedicated supporter of OUA sport development. She is a firm believer in the benefits of sport for the development of the whole person and its positive impact on the student-athlete’s university experience.

On the field of play, the Varsity Blues have captured numerous conference titles and individual awards, notably earning an impressive seven provincial championships and one national title this season.

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— Jill Clark

Beth Ali accepts OUA's Woman of Distinction Award

Photos/ Courtesy of the Varsity Blues

Blues News

THE FAST LANE

Varsity Blues Gabriel Mastromatteo named 2022-23 U SPORTS men's athlete of the year

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abriel Mastromatteo, a swimmer from the University of Toronto, and Sarah Gates, a basketball player from McMaster University, are the Lois and Doug Mitchell Award winners as the U SPORTS Male and Female Athletes of the Year for the 2022-23 season.

The laureates were announced May 24 at the McDougall Centre in Calgary. The awards program celebrated its 30th edition at this year’s event, dating back to the launch of the Howard Mackie Awards in 1993.

All eight nominees – one female and male athlete from each of the four U SPORTS conferences – received a commemorative gold ring from Baron, the exclusive supplier of commemorative jewellery for U SPORTS. Gates and Mastromatteo were also presented with a trophy and a $5,000 scholarship to attend a Canadian university graduate school.

The winners were selected by the Canadian Athletic Foundation, a not-for-profit board established to administer the Awards and protect the integrity of the selection process.

Photo/ Seyran Mammadov

“We are so proud of the eight nominees this year. They are exceptional student-athletes and citizens,” said The Hon. Lois Mitchell. “Sarah and Gabe had outstanding seasons and are excellent recipients of the Lois and Doug Mitchell Awards.”

“On behalf of U SPORTS, I wish to congratulate Sarah and Gabe on being named the recipients of the Lois and Doug Mitchell Awards,” said Pierre Arsenault, U SPORTS CEO. “We had an exceptional group of nominees this year, with seven Academic All-Canadians and five most outstanding athletes of the year winners in their respective sports. To be recognized like this is a wonderful accomplishment for Sarah and Gabe.”

Gates, who hails from Newmarket, Ont., and is in her fifth and final year of U SPORTS eligibility, took home the Lois Mitchell Trophy, presented annually to the female winner, and is the first McMaster Marauder to take home female athlete-of-the-year honours.

Mastromatteo, who just completed his second year of U SPORTS eligibility, returns home with the Doug Mitchell Trophy. The Kenora, Ont., product is the first male athlete from U of T to win national athlete-of-the-year honours. Just one week prior, he took home the OUA athlete of the year award. — U SPORTS Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Blues News

Dr. Baseball David Lawrence has his bases covered

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ecause they came from the UK, David Lawrence’s parents had never read the Canadian children’s classic “The Hockey Sweater”. So they had no idea they were re-creating a baseball version of that short story for their young son when they got him the gift of a baseball jersey.

When other boys on his T-ball team were wearing the blue and white of the hometown Toronto Blue Jays, David wore the pinstripes of the hated New York Yankees.

Lawrence has worn multiple additional hats. He worked with Major League Baseball to help shape their Covid-19 protocol and figure out cross-border travel involving the league’s only Canadian team. He’s been on the front-lines of concussion research. And he has part-time appointments with Mount Sinai’s Dovigi Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic and Temerty Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Flash forward three decades and all is forgiven. Young David is now Dr. David Lawrence, team physician of the Blue Jays.

Ever since the first day on the job, in February of 2017, when he walked into the Jays’ spring training facility in Dunedin, FL. and spied the Ferrari chassis of Bautista and Donaldson, Stroman and Pilar (“Okay, this is the real deal,” he thought to himself), Lawrence has established himself as a key piece of the Jays’ crack multidisciplinary health team. For their part, incoming Blue Jays players and their families find they have landed something even more coveted in this country than a long-term contract with a no-trade clause: a family doctor. A really great one, with specialized training in sports medicine.

And gold-glove range. Lawrence handles the gamut, from treating the kids’ rashes to diagnosing dad’s torn ACL.

Of course, it’s the job with the Blue Jays that everyone thinks is coolest. There, in the fugitive moments of his chockablock days, Lawrence mulls the multi-million-dollar question: what makes these athletes the best of the best – and what is his role in keeping them that way?

It’s that sports medicine specialty that landed him his current gig. Lawrence is now the medical director of the U of T’s David L. MacIntosh Sport Medicine Clinic – following in the footsteps of one of his mentors, Dr. Doug Richards. The job description is multifold: overseeing the running of the clinic, ensuring medical coverage and treatment for 900 varsity athletes across 42 teams, and keeping tight contact with KPE academics. “There aren’t many clinics like this in Canada, where we’re fully integrated with the faculty,” he says. “So, the expectation of the clinic is not only for service – providing good medical care – but also to be integrated into the research and teaching.”

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“I think it’s twofold,” he says. “Partially, these players reach the level they do because of selection bias – the best players naturally rise to the top at every level. But I also think there’s opportunity to intervene and make great players even better. So our job as an organization is not only to identify who can have the biggest potential, but also what we can do to help them achieve that potential. I don’t think there’s only one pathway to become the best. That’s one of the beautiful things about sports: lots of athletes succeed in their own way.”

Mostly, Lawrence stays hidden behind the scenes, unknown to fans. But that all changed on October 8, 2022, when Jays outfielder George Springer collided with teammates while trying to snare a shallow pop-up in the deciding game of the Jays’ doomed wild card series against the Mariners. Millions of viewers wondered who was the bearded guy in civvies consoling the injured Jays slugger as he was carted off the field – a moment many will remember as the instant the season ended and “Wait till next year!” began.

“I got home and my phone was blowing up,” Lawrence says.

— Bruce Grierson

Photo/ Courtesy of David Lawrence

Blues News

“There aren’t many clinics like the David L. MacIntosh Sport Medicine Clinic in Canada, which is fully integrated with the Faculty.”

– David Lawrence, medical director of the MacIntosh Clinic

Pursuit | Summer 2023

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THE APEX TANENBAUM INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE IN SPORT SUPPORTS HIGH PERFORMANCE AT ALL LEVELS Jelena Damjanovic

A

ssistant Professor Timothy Burkhart recalls watching the NBA’s Derrick Rose struggle with knee injuries and wondering why some pro-level athletes seemed injury prone? Was it the way that they’re moving? Was there a vulnerability there that didn’t get picked up?

there is little evidence as to why. O’Brien wanted to fill in some of the gaps. For example, while most of the studies had measured the effects of IPC on lower body exercises such as running or cycling, O’Brien was interested in investigating the effects of IPC on arm cycling exercise.

Burkhart, who runs the Biomechanics of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Lab at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, in conjunction with the orthopaedic surgeons of the University of Toronto Orthopaedic Sports Medicine group, engages in what you might call kinetic detective work. Which (body) parts are most likely to fail, on whom, and why?

“I theorized that if IPC works for upper body exercise, it may be useful for unique populations such as para-athletes or paddlers to help enhance their performance,” he says. (Read more about O’Brien’s research on page 8.)

Using cutting-edge tools to capture data in the lab and analyze videotapes of the athletes on the court, Burkhart is able to produce an unprecedentedly granular level of analysis. What he learns will help both varsity athletes and weekend warriors prevent and recover from injuries. (Read about Burkhart’s research on page 6.)

KPE graduate student Liam O’Brien investigated whether briefly restricting (and gradually releasing) blood flow to the limbs while training boosts athletic performance.

Several studies have found the technique, called ischemic preconditioning (IPC), to improve exercise performance, but

Burkhart’s and O’Brien’s research are examples of how science, when applied to sport, has the potential to help reduce injury, speed up recovery and enhance performance in all athletic populations. It’s the kind of valuable knowledge that will be generated by U of T’s new Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS), established with a $20-million gift from the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation.

TISS [www.tiss.ca] will be one of the largest centres for sport science and sport medicine in North America, bringing together sport and exercise researchers at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, clinician scientists in sport medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and clinicians and researchers at Toronto’s Sinai Health.

Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Field Notes

KPE Professor Ira Jacobs, who was appointed the institute’s interim director, says the centre will fund research to support high performance athletes across a spectrum of abilities, from world-class professional athletes to para-athletes to recreational and amateur players who want to optimize their performance and training. “It’s a dream come true for the study of our physical and mental capabilities in sport,” Jacobs says.

It’s a dream that’s been almost four years in the making. That’s how long ago it was when Jacobs, then dean of KPE, got a phone call from Larry Tanenbaum’s executive assistant telling him that the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) would like to meet with him in his office.

Jacobs had spoken to Tanenbaum on many occasions over the years about his philanthropic contributions to the university and the Faculty specifically, including scholarships for U of T student-athletes made available through the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation. Nevertheless, he wasn’t sure what to expect.

“Whenever someone asked to meet in my office, I never knew if it was going to be a laudatory, happy meeting to say, ‘well done, the Faculty is doing great things,’ or if it was to raise a concern about something serious that they thought merited a conversation with me in person,” says Jacobs.

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As it turned out, he had no reason for concern. On the contrary.

Tanenbaum shared that the time was right to plan a gift that would be supportive of high performance sport, which had been such an important part of his own professional career.

“He wanted to do something significant, something that would have high impact in the field of high performance sport, and he asked if we could develop a plan that would bring together the fields of sport medicine and sport science,” says Jacobs. “It was a thrill to understand both the nature and the size of the gift he anticipated.” So, the vision was born for TISS, a global centre of excellence for high performance sport science and sport medicine. With a $20-million gift from the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation – the largest philanthropic gift in support of high performance sport research that has ever been given to an academic institution in Canada – and a $21.5–million contribution from U of T and Sinai Health, TISS was officially unveiled in May 2022.

The institute will conduct research ranging from athletes’ nutritional needs to team psychology to rehabilitation of athletic injuries, to list but a few examples. Other important topics include how biomechanics – the study of the physics of movement – and wearable technologies can improve training and performance, leveraging new knowledge in surgical repair of sports injuries, and how to determine when an athlete who has suffered a concussion can safely return to play (still not clear after decades of research, notes Jacobs).

Photo/ Shutterstock

A chair in sport analytics, funded by the gift, will help gather data about athletes across the Toronto region – including from under-represented communities and the thousands of U of T students who play varsity and intramural sports – to generate new knowledge that both high performance and everyday athletes can use. A database of sports injuries, for example, could track which treatments are most effective for different demographics.

The gift will also fund a chair in musculoskeletal regenerative medicine and a professorship in orthopaedic sports medicine.

The rest of the funding will provide a pot of funds to which scientists associated with the three partners can apply to accelerate their research, innovations and clinical programs.

Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of KPE, says she is delighted for the Faculty to be a part of this exciting research enterprise.

“The Tanenbaum Institute’s cutting-edge research will play a leading role in advancing high performance sport in a manner that is healthy, safe, welcoming and inclusive,” she says, adding that Jacobs was a natural choice for interim director.

Jacobs says one of the things he is most looking forward to is sharing the institute’s findings via regular conferences and public lectures that will “give scientists an opportunity to communicate with each other and give those who are in the high performance world – athletes, coaches, etc. – an opportunity to receive cutting edge and applicable new knowledge.”

He is also excited about the open science framework (OFS) that will be cultivated at TISS – something that was important to the donor. OSF has scientists sharing their research with each other from the planning stages.

“This will enable researchers to know who else is doing research in their area of interest and, rather than see it as a competition, see it as something that advances science more rapidly,” says Jacobs. “They may be able to add something to it or create collaborations and networks that would otherwise either not happen at all or would take a lot longer to occur.

The end goal is to make knowledge available to everyone more effectively and efficiently.”

“TISS will generate, advance and disseminate transformational knowledge in the world of high performance sport that will be of benefit to all – not only in the GTA and Canada, but the world.”

— Professor Ira Jacobs, interim director of TISS

“Professor Jacobs has been instrumental in developing the Tanenbaum Institute from the very beginning, working alongside colleagues in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Sinai Health and experts from the high performance world to match the aspirations of the three partners with those of the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation. It’s wonderful to see their vision come to fruition.”

As interim director, Jacobs will work with two advisory committees, one focused on research and the other on external relations and partnerships, as well as with high performance sports groups that will provide students with work and research opportunities. The Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport will also offer scholarships in sport science for graduate students and post-docs.

Jacobs says he is immensely appreciative of the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation for recognizing the power of research to amplify the immense potential of sport.

“Their generous gift will empower TISS to generate, advance and disseminate transformational knowledge in the world of high performance sport that will be of benefit to all – not only in the GTA and Canada, but the world.”

— Jelena Damjanovic with files from Scott Anderson

Mark your calendar for the Institute's inaugural conference to be held Saturday, September 9, 2023. Leading experts will discuss the intersection of sport science and sport medicine for high performance. More information will be available soon at www.tiss.ca Pursuit | Summer 2023

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BREAKING GROUND MLSE CHAIRMAN LARRY TANENBAUM DONATES $20-MILLION TO KICK-START NEW SPORTS-SCIENCE INSTITUTE AT UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Simon Houpt

This story was originally published in the Globe and Mail published on May 21, 2022.

I

f Larry Tanenbaum has his way, the new institute of sport science at the University of Toronto bearing his name will produce research of global importance that could improve the performance of professional and amateur athletes, and spur scientific discoveries in health and wellness for everyone. But perhaps most important for fans of his pro teams, which include the Toronto Maple Leafs, he is convinced the institute’s work might even offer an edge that could lead to a Stanley Cup.

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“If we can speed up recovery by a week, by a month – if we can cut the injury time in half, that gets the player back.”

– Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of MLSE “There’s not even a question about it,” Tanenbaum, the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), said in an interview with the Globe and Mail.

“This will help us win championships.”

In May 2022, the University of Toronto and Sinai Health hospital network unveiled the Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport, a global centre of excellence for high performance sport science and sports medicine kick-started by a $20-million gift from the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation. U of T and Sinai Health will contribute an additional $21.5 million.

He also noted that research that emerges could help teams such as the Raptors size up prospects.

“When we draft a player, we certainly do our due diligence,” he said. If the Raptors are considering signing a player beset by nagging injuries, the team could tap into a deep well of data, compiled by the university, on similar injuries, to be able to offer prognoses and treatments that have worked for players of similar body types.

The funds will endow a number of positions in rapidly evolving fields, including Kia Nurse, the Canadian-born basketball star who plays a chair of musculoskeletal regenerative medicine, a chair in sport science and for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, noted that wearable data modelling, and a professorship in orthopaedic sports medicine. It will also technologies are helping her recover from a torn ACL she back a research-acceleration fund focused on discoveries across a number of suffered last October during a playoff game. disciplines, from concussions to biomechanics, wearable technologies, nutrition, parasport, orthopaedics, and regenerative medicine.

“I wear ankle bracelets every single time that I go to do a workout,” she said. “It tells me how much force I’m putting Tanenbaum said that as an owner of professional sports teams for more than through both my feet, so you can tell if I’m leaning off of my two decades, he has considered the issue of athlete training and injuries. “Are ACL leg and giving my other leg a little bit too much pressure. we the best prepared, from a physical point of view, from a training point of I can tell if I’m running equally on both feet.” view, to win championships?” He added that “championships in some cases rise and fall on whether your one or two or three key players are injured. So, if we She also noted that the institute’s work would benefit diverse can speed recovery by a week, by a month – if we can cut the injury time in half, populations, including para-athletes. that gets the player back.”

And Tanenbaum noted that the knowledge that emerges will Ira Jacobs, the interim director of the institute, who stepped down last fall not just be applicable to professionals. “The information as dean of U of T’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, said that it that’s going to come out of this institute is going to benefit all has been challenging to finance sports medicine research in Canada. “To go athletes everywhere.” through a granting agency, and say that you’re going to be focusing only on high performance athletes, is not a good recipe for success.”

For the foreseeable future, the institute will exist in a purely virtual form. There is no grand building planned with the “This gives us resources to recruit and hire great people,” said Jacobs, who noted Tanenbaum name on it. “That’s not the reason I’m doing there is funding for post-doctoral students, fellowships, and trainees in the field. this,” Tanenbaum said. “All the money is really directed “That’s a dream,” he said. “We have really big expectations of what this will do.” programmatically. It’s building this program that I truly believe is going to be a globally recognized institute within a He noted that the institute will be able to draw on large data, including the short period of time.” approximately 1,000 athletes that comprise U of T’s varsity teams, as well as patients in the Sinai Health system, which includes two hospitals and a While the institute is not a for-profit undertaking, it may research centre. develop intellectual property that can be commercialized and sold to pro sports teams. Still, asked by a reporter how the Alex McKechnie, the vice-president of player health and performance for the institute might offer an advantage to the teams of MLSE if its Toronto Raptors, who provided input into the development of the institute on research is designed to be shared with the global sports behalf of Tanenbaum, said that, as an example, the youth soccer program run community, Tanenbaum joked: “Maybe I won’t release it for a

by Toronto FC could capture large amounts of health data on athletes as they year, so we can have the Leafs, the Raptors, and TFC get a develop. “You can be tracking these kids through growth states, growth spurts, head start on it.” all of these different areas that are quite interesting: how certain training levels can affect joints, for example.”

Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Alumni Updates

Field Notes

Family ties

Alumni Association president has a special connection to U of T, KPE

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s Tom Babits prepared to retire after 28 years at Upper Canada College, he knew he wanted to offer his new-found time and support to important organizations.

When he was asked to consider becoming the KPE Alumni Association president, it was a role he couldn’t refuse.

“I have a very strong connection to the University of Toronto.

I’ve benefited greatly from it,” he said.

So have three generations of his family, particularly from the KPE program. Babits met his wife Trish when they were both enrolled in the Bachelor of Kinesiology program. When he graduated in 1991, he went on to earn a Master’s in Physiology from U of T before getting a Master of Education and beginning his teaching career.

Their son Paul graduated from the KPE program in 2022 and is currently earning a Master of Science in Kinesiology, specializing in muscle physiology with Associate Professor Daniel Moore from the Iovate Lab in the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. Their youngest son John is finishing his fourth year of the undergraduate program at KPE and aspires to be a strength and conditioning coach.

But that’s not where the connection ends. “My parents came to Canada from Hungary as refugees after the 1956 Revolution.

My dad ended up coming to Canada and Toronto because of a

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joint sponsorship between the federal government and U of T,” says Babits.

“I wouldn’t be here without U of T. Now that my sons are graduating, it just feels like it’s the place to be.”

He’s excited about Dean Gretchen Kerr’s vision for the future of the KPE program and is eager to support it. In addition, one of his retirement goals is to find meaningful opportunities to contribute to systemic change in education writ large, sustainability and social justice issues, particularly truth and reconciliation.

“These are all things the KPE Faculty is concerned about working towards. I’m excited and energized by the opportunity to be part of U of T’s efforts on these matters,” he says.

As alumni president, he hopes to find ways to reconnect all KPE alumni. “When I was in the program there was a strong sense of community. It was smaller then – there were fewer than 100 people in my graduating class – and a lot of us have stayed in touch.

“There are thousands of alumni out there, and I think it would be really interesting to have a better sense of the kinds of things people are doing or have done.”

— Heather Hudson Photo/ Dewey Chang

Alumni FieldUpdates Notes

MPK graduate brings

S.M.I.L.E. to life in career

W

hen Kyla Crocker talks about her job, she radiates passion and energy.

As the program director of MOVE by GoodLife Kids, she puts into practice what she learned in U of T’s Master of Professional Kinesiology (MPK) program, especially the Sensory Motor Instructional Leadership Experience (SMILE) component.

still don’t have internet access – was a big transition, but she fell in love with Toronto and built a community of her own.

“MPK was everything I had hoped it would be. It was a great chapter in my journey and I’m grateful for the experience, friends and professional connections I made during my time in the program.”

Crocker was introduced to SMILE as an undergrad in kinesiology at Acadia University. She was immediately taken with the concept of providing youth with varying disabilities unique physical activity experiences to improve their development as individuals.

“SMILE is a magical program. When I got involved with it at Acadia, it changed the direction of my career. I always planned to be a physiotherapist, but I learned that working with children and youth with disabilities is my true passion,” she says.

After volunteering in Acadia’s SMILE program for five years, a professor told her about U of T’s new MPK program.

“I was attracted to MPK because it would include SMILE. I wanted to be one of the first to be part of the grassroots program at U of T,” Crocker says.

Moving to the “Harvard of Canada” from a tiny town in Nova Scotia – her parents Photos/ Courtesy of Kyla Crocker

Crocker was part of the MPK program’s first cohort, graduating in 2017. She worked in a non-profit organization before spotting a job posting at GoodLife Kids Foundation in early 2022 that seemed tailor-made for her.

Meaningful synergy between MOVE and SMILE MOVE by GoodLife Kids is a free, adapted physical activity and fitness program for youth ages 12 to 21 with autism and intellectual disabilities. The program began in November 2020 and has grown to offer 18 virtual programs across the country. MOVE coaches and

MOVE support agents collaborate to deliver classes together, and in many cases, the MOVE support agent position is filled from within the disability community, often among previous participants of the program.

“Everything about this role spoke to me.

There’s so much synergy between SMILE and its purpose. The fact that we seek to hire within the community we serve aligned with my values. I like to break down as many barriers as possible,” she said.

As a purpose-driven leader, Crocker has worked hard to raise awareness about the program and reach as many youth as possible. In 2023, she expects even more growth in different delivery models of the program.

“We are a fitness program, but the value goes beyond the physical. There are social and mental health benefits and growth within our staff and participants. We have youth who’ve been in the program since the beginning taking leadership roles in class and families getting active together at home outside of class.

“It’s really exciting to see the impact.

We’re filling a gap in the industry and I’m proud to be part of that.”

— Heather Hudson

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Alumni Updates

“You see someone doing that – facing adversity head-on and rising up the ranks – and you soon start believing you can do it yourself.”

– Dana Collins, executive director and CEO of Canadian Institute of Forestry

Planting seeds of

CHANGE Alumna inspiring culture of diversity, equity and inclusion in forestry industry

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Photo/ Kiwis/Getty Images

Alumni Updates

S

even years ago, when Dana Collins, then the new executive director and CEO of the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF), found herself sitting around the boardroom table at ministerial conferences of high-ranking officials gathered to shape the future of forest management in this country, it became clear that something was, um, out of balance.

If there were any doubt about that, it vanished the moment one of the guys thought she was a server and asked her to bring him a coffee. (Stopping just short, one imagines, of calling her “hon.”)

As the first woman to head the CIF – and at age 27 by far the youngest – Collins was often the only female at that table in those meetings. That’s just how the logs rolled back then. Canada’s forest industry was an old boys’ club – actually, an old white boys’ club – with just five per cent of the C-suites occupied by women. And it wasn’t exactly eager to change.

But it has changed, in no small part due to the equity and diversity initiatives pushed through by Collins, who was named one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women of 2021 by the Women’s Executive Network. She essentially marched into what McKinsey and Co. called one of the least diverse of any TSX-listed industry (at the board level) and helped turn it around.

“I was lucky to have Kristine Drakich as my coach,” Collins says of the legendary Varsity Blues maestra now in her 34th season behind the bench. “She pioneered so many initiatives to promote equality in Canadian sport,” from groundbreaking work fighting for parity in beach volleyball prize money to the little things that make life easier for women in sport. “It was inspiring to watch her work. I remember her running into practice from a meeting one day, having just pushed tooth-and-nail to get free menstrual products in the women’s locker rooms.

“When you’re around that kind of energy and determination every day, it kind of subconsciously shores you up and gives you these tools: how to advocate for change.

How to respectfully challenge the status quo – which comes down to really listening to what people are saying, what they value and where they’re coming from.

“You see someone doing that – facing adversity head-on and rising up the ranks – and you soon start believing you can do it yourself.”

— Bruce Grierson

Clues to how she pulled this off trace back to her time at the University of Toronto.

Collins did her undergrad in forest ecology and evolutionary biology, and then went on to a Master of Forest Conservation. (Transitioning, you might say, from a micro perspective to a macro one – which would ultimately help her seed a productive working culture in what has traditionally been a fractious sector.)

But as she reflects on her U of T years today, from her perch in Comox, British Columbia, where she heads up a consultancy she started called The Juniper Collective (to move the needle on diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry), one of the first things that jumps to her mind is her time spent on the squeaky, sweaty court of the Athletic Centre as a key cog on the Varsity Blues women’s volleyball team.

“That,” she says, “was one of the most transformational pieces of my life.” Not just because, as setter, she was quarterback out there, calling the plays, communicating through subtle signals, helping parlay well-oiled teamwork into multiple winning seasons. It was learning to lead from the best.

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Alumni Updates

GETTING TOGETHER

Reconnecting with the past, strengthening the future

1982 I

t was a day of nostalgia and reconnecting on campus as the Class of 1982 gathered for their 40th reunion. From re-living memories to creating new ones, alumni from all corners of Canada and the world came together and bonded over their shared passion for sport, education and their time spent as undergraduates in the then Bachelor of Physical and Health Education (BPHE) program.

The day was filled with stimulating activities, including tours of the U of T’s state-of-the-art facilities, a chance to watch the #1 nationally ranked women’s hockey team in action and dinner at the famous Duke of York pub in the evening. The highlight of the event was the opportunity for the alumni to reconnect and reminisce about their days as students.

Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, a member of the Class of 8T2, was also in attendance.

“The 40th reunion was a special occasion to catch up and learn about the advancements of our Faculty and tour the modern facilities,” said Kerr. “Over the years, KPE has made significant strides in providing an exceptional learning experience for students, and it was an honour to share this with my fellow alumni.”

Another alumnus in attendance, Peter Baxter, reflected on his time as a student and spoke about how the Faculty provided a unique opportunity to translate his love for sports, recreation

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and meditative art into platforms for serving and connecting with others. He also highlighted the importance of student leadership and the Faculty’s mission to instill empathy and compassion in its students.

Baxter also spoke about the impact of alumni, including Kerr, and how their successes in areas like women’s sports can inspire and impact many others. Kerr also reflected on the accomplishments of her fellow alumni, highlighting the diverse range of careers that the class has undertaken. “From teaching to entrepreneurship to coaching, we have all pursued different career paths, yet we still hold onto the fond memories and common threads that unite us,” said Kerr.

In addition to reminiscing about their cherished memories, the Class of 8T2 also announced the creation of the Inclusive Excellence Scholarship to support future KPE students.

“This scholarship is a way for us to level the playing field for students from diverse backgrounds, and to reduce barriers and expand access for students,” said Kerr.

Baxter went on to say, “The Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education played a significant role in shaping our lives, and we want to give back by ensuring that future generations of students can experience the same benefits we did.”

The 40th reunion was a celebration of the lifelong bond shared by the Class of 8T2. This event was not just a reunion but a testament to the enduring power of the KPE community and the profound impact individuals can make when they come together.

— Ibtesaam Mohamed Afroz Moosa Photo/ Provided by the participants

Alumni Updates

1972 O

ver two years in the making, and through the challenges of the global pandemic, on June 2, 2022, 44 members of the University of Toronto’s KPE Class of 1972 gathered at the Beacon Hall Golf Club for an unforgettable 50-year anniversary reunion.

The Class of ‘72 has a long-standing tradition of community, reconnecting every five years for reunions, with some members meeting more frequently for gatherings throughout the year. The Class of ‘72’s exceptional efforts to stay in touch and create memorable experiences have kept their vibrant alumni community alive, and this latest 50-year anniversary reunion is no exception.

Speaking to two members of the Class of ‘72, Mrs. Susan Whiteside (BPHE 1972) and Mrs. Angela Papworth (BPHE 1972), one can get a sense of the deep level of friendship and camaraderie that began during their time at KPE and has continued to this day. Both Mrs. Whiteside and Mrs. Papworth shared fond memories of their class’s team spirit, including taking extra notes for classmates who missed lectures due to Varsity games and sharing resources during group projects and sporting activities.

This team mindset has continued into the planning of this latest reunion. Determined to connect with as many members of their class as possible, the event planning committee spent countless hours to find 77 of their 101 graduating classmates.

The committee worked hard on creating specialized “Catching Up” profiles for the reunion – booklets made up of personal write-ups from each attendee that would capture a favourite memory from their student years, their activities after Photo/ Provided by the participants

graduation, and what they are up to today. Personal additions such as this, along with other group efforts like customized KPE Class of ‘72 hats, KPE Class of ‘72 cupcakes, extremely generous contributions to their Raffle and Draw, and a KPE Class of ‘72 trivia game made the event all the more special.

The Class of ‘72 also received their Chancellor’s medals at the reunion to commemorate 50 years of community and friendship.

A lasting contribution of the Class of ‘72 from this reunion was their generous fundraising in support of the Kirk A.W. Wipper Award. This award is presented to a student who demonstrates “enthusiastic involvement in the Outdoor Projects, leadership, willingness to help others and a concern for the natural environment.” This award resonated with members of the Class of ‘72 not only for its incredible support to a student pursuing outdoor physical education, but also for their personal connection to Mr. Wipper himself. Mrs. Whiteside and Mrs. Papworth shared that a common favourite KPE memory featured in the “Catching Up” profiles was the Class of ‘72’s fourth-year trip with Mr. Wipper to Camp Kandalore.

They also shared the positive impact Mr. Wipper had on students as a caring mentor who went above and beyond to support students at KPE. At the close of the KPE Class of ‘72’s 50-year anniversary reunion, members of the event planning committee left a sign-up sheet for their 2027 event that was quickly and enthusiastically filled. This special group of alumni’s incredible bond has not only created a wonderful tradition of reconnecting, but has supported KPE students through their tremendous fundraising efforts for the Kirk A.W. Wipper Award. It is a great pleasure for the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education to celebrate the incredible Class of 1972.

— Sami Anguaya

Do you have a class reunion story to share?

Please send stories and photos to alumni@kpe.utoronton.ca Pursuit | Summer 2023

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Alumni Alumni Updates

TIME OF THEIR LIVES U of T Sports Hall of Fame celebrates new inductees

1990-1992 Women's Hockey teams

I

t was the best of times, it was the worst of times, wrote Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities. For Eric Sereda, who played soccer for the Blues men’s team from 1965 to 68, those were the best of times - period.

Sereda, who graduated with a BPHE degree in 1969, was captain of the team in his final season. The team won five consecutive OQAA championships, losing only one game in five years. Competing against the University of Montreal, they played in 10 inches of snow and won 12 to 1.

“I played with a team of skilled and outstanding individuals,” said Sereda, who was one of 12 individual to be inducted into the 2023 U of T Sports Hall of Fame on May 25. “To this day I value the friendships that we developed.”

Bill Nepotiuk spoke on behalf of the inducted 1967-68 and 1968-69 men’s soccer team. He thanked coach Ernie Glass, represented at the event by his son Jamie, for his leadership.

“He never yelled or screamed at anyone,” said Nepotiuk.

“Always positive, he instilled his philosophy of hard work and determination. Thank you to the University of Toronto for providing an athletic program that allowed our team to go on such a magical ride.”

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Peter Sarantopoulos graduated from Innis College in 1992 and played soccer for the Blues from 1988 to 91, earning CIAU tournament MVP honours in just his first year. He went on to play 25 games for Canada’s national soccer team between 1988 and 93. Speaking at the induction ceremony, he said his biggest victory was winning friendships.

“I often walk by the Varsity Stadium with a big smile on my face and my kids tell me to get over it,” joked Sarantopoulos.

“Now they’ll have to see my face on the HOF display board at the Goldring Centre every time we walk by. It’s such a special feeling.”

Friendship was the common theme throughout the evening, which saw one athlete after another share stories - and a few tears - about the best time of their lives.

Alexandra (Alex) Brooks-Hill excelled at field hockey and squash at U of T while pursuing her medical degree. She won gold medals at the 1992 OWIAA and the 1993 and 1996 CIAU championships, among a plethora of other accomplishments. She shared a pep talk coach Liz Hoffman, who would go on to become U of T’s director of athletics, gave the team when they were feeling deflated after a lost match.

Photo/ Jojo Qian

Alumni Updates “She told us this was the best time of our lives. She was right.”

“She taught me there was nothing a woman can’t do.”

Brooks-Hill’s teammate Dana Anderson was an integral member of the 1993 and 1996 CIAU championships teams, earning championship MVP honours at the 1996 tournament.

Speaking of the team’s dedication to the sport and each other, she said she knew she gave it her all on the field when she had to lean on her teammates to walk up the stairs for a press conference after the game. Anderson graduated with a B.Sc. from U of T in 1996.

Andria Hunter’s dream of playing hockey at U of T became a reality when she went into graduate school for computer science and started playing for the Blues.

Rebecca (Becky) Moore spoke on behalf of the inducted 1996 women’s field hockey team. Calling her decision to join the Blues one of the best decisions of her life, she said the experience taught her and the team so many life lessons.

“We learned we could do hard things, tolerate discomfort, prioritize, stay committed, face fears.”

Rodger Doner’s brother Jim spoke on behalf of the wrestling champ and BPHE and dentistry graduate. Doner was a member of three OQAA championship teams between 1958 and 1961 and won individual OQAA titles in 1960 and 1962.

He also represented Canada at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. In later life, he became an avid sailor, circumnavigating the globe in his 35 ft sailboat.

“He lived an exceptional life.”

David Rowland was a talented soccer player, who graduated from Knox College in 1935 and served as the team’s manager.

During WW2, Rowland served as the chaplain of the Irish regiment of Canada and in 1956, he was awarded an honorary degree from Knox.

Rowland’s son Barry accepted the award on his behalf, saying the induction of his father into HOF completes the circle, with Rowland’s great granddaughter Kaylin now a member of the UTTC junior development program.

Ed Brennan was a skilled basketball player during his time at U of T, where he earned his B.A. in 1952 from St. Michael’s College and a BST in theology in 1958. Brennan’s niece Terri described him as “the original fun uncle, fiercely competitive and compassionate.” Brennan left the priesthood in the 70s to get married and continued to work for peace and justice until the end of his life.

Helen Carefoot’s niece Ann described her aunt as someone who would step into every opportunity life afforded her.

Carefoot graduated from Victoria College in 1934 and helped lead the ice hockey team to victory as intramural champions in 1942 and 1943. She also served as president of the Victoria College women’s athletic association. Carefoot went into law school and practiced law when few women did.

“Looking back through my hockey photo albums, what stood out about our team was how tight-knit we were,” said Hunter.

“We had so much fun, both on and off the ice. I believe that this led to our unity as a team and ultimately to our success on the ice.”

The inducted 1990-91 and 1991-92 women’s ice hockey team won the OWIAA championship an impressive five years in a row.

Lesley Reddon, who graduated with a B.Comm from U of T in 1993, was a key contributor to the ice hockey team between 1989 and 1993. After her university career, Reddon went on to represented Canada on the international stage, winning gold medals at the 1994 and 1997 world championship, as well as a silver medal at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games.

“Any success we have is a sum of all parts,” she said, thanking her dad for his support early on. “My U of T experience was a great springboard for everything I did later in life.”

Laurie Taylor Bolton, who spoke on behalf of the 1990-91 & 1991-92 women’s ice hockey team, said playing for the Blues was the best part of her university experience.

“We learned about commitment, strategy, humility, loyalty and friendship,” she said. “Looking back, I struggle to remember the scores, but I remember endless laughs and moments of friendship. It was a golden time.”

Like players before her, Taylor Bolton acknowledged the village it takes to raise an athlete, including coaches like Dave McMaster, “who believed in you and made you want to play better and harder for each other.”

Also inducted were the 1939-40 men’s boxing, wrestling and fencing team, among them Frederick Fall, who excelled in boxing and helped the team win two league championships in 1927-28 and 1930-31. Fell graduate from engineering in 1933.

William Belfry Hendy graduated in 1895 with a B.A. from University College and got a medical degree from U of T in 1904. An accomplished athlete and member of UTAA first men’s athletic directorate, he was inducted as a builder. Hendy was professor of obstetrics and gynecology at U of T, and obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief at Toronto General Hospital.

— JD

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In Memory

In Memoriam

Dorothy Barbara Goldring 1932 – 2022

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Photo/ John Hryniuk

In Memory

“The generosity of Barbara Goldring and her family has allowed students to enjoy a fully engaged education, helped researchers to improve our collective health and enabled scholars to explore Canada’s economy, politics, geography, and its place in the world.”

— Meric Gertler, president of the University of Toronto

B

arbara Goldring, a keen volunteer and passionate philanthropist, passed away on May 16, 2022, at the age of 90. She leaves a legacy of generous support for higher education, and the University of Toronto joins her friends and family in honouring her profound impact and mourning her passing.

“Barbara Goldring was a warm and gregarious friend to many. Always interested in humanity, she made contributing to her community a central pillar of a life well lived,” said Meric Gertler, president of the University of Toronto. “The far-reaching support she and her family extended to U of T has been very much in that spirit. Their generosity has allowed students to enjoy a fully engaged education, helped researchers to improve our collective health and enabled scholars to explore Canada’s economy, politics, geography, and its place in the world. Indeed, Barbara’s kindness and communitymindedness will always remind us of Canadian values at their best. I would like to extend my deepest condolences, and those of the entire U of T community, to Barbara’s children, her wider family, and her many friends.”

Barbara Goldring, her husband Warren (d. 2009), and their family have always been exceptionally generous to the University of Toronto, and their support has strengthened three important areas.

In 2006, they donated $11 million to the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

an award-winning athletic facility – it is also a key support in our efforts to generate and share knowledge about the value of physical activity for physical, mental, emotional and societal health.

The research, sport, and educational opportunities offered to students and the wider community in the Goldring Centre are having tremendous, valuable impacts.”

In addition, the family’s $4-million contribution to the Goldring Student Centre at U of T’s Victoria College has proved vital to engaging commuter students in university life.

“Victoria College has always appreciated the involvement and generosity of Mrs. Goldring and the Goldring family,” said William Robins, president of Victoria University. “It means a great deal to students to know they have the support of those who came before them, and who understand the power of an engaged and friendly community to help them blossom. The Goldring Student Centre is an important support for ambitious and eager young people at a pivotal time in their lives.”

And the family’s generous gift endowed the Goldring Chair in Canadian Studies, which is held by U of T president and geography professor Meric Gertler.

Professor Gertler’s research on the role of city-regions as sites of innovation in the global economy has had a major impact on governments in Canada and around the world and has inspired robust research programs at U of T’s School of Cities and its University of Toronto School of Cities Alliance in India.

“The generosity of Mrs. Goldring and her family has made a tremendous difference to the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education,” said Dean “The Goldring family’s support for Gretchen Kerr. “The Goldring Centre for Canadian Studies strengthened a High Performance Sport is more than wonderful research and teaching

hub,” said Markus Stock, principal of University College. “Our Canadianist scholars lead a vibrant research program, teach meaningful context to our upcoming generation, and put knowledge into practice through inclusive community engagement. Such impact takes a supportive community, and we will always be grateful to the Goldring family for championing Canadian Studies.”

Born Dorothy Barbara Dowd in Montreal, Barbara Goldring grew up in the city. After training as a nurse, she worked at the Royal Victoria Hospital, rising to head nurse. She married C. Warren Goldring, then an economics student, in 1953 after they met on a ski trip, and the couple had five children.

The family settled in Toronto, where Warren co-founded the investment firm AGF Management, helping kick-start Canada’s mutual fund industry.

A lifelong volunteer as well as a philanthropist, Barbara Goldring supported a wide range of organizations, from the March of Dimes and the Canadian Nurses Foundation to Ontario Heritage Trust and the Monarchist League of Canada.

Her honours include the Monarchist League’s Silver Badge of Service and the Government of Canada’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.

“Barbara Goldring will be truly missed,” said David Palmer, U of T’s vicepresident of advancement. “She liked people – there’s no counting how many lives she brightened just through striking up a conversation. She also gave of her time and her prosperity to the communities around her, and that legacy will continue to brighten lives for years and generations to come.”

— Division of University Advancement

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In Memory

KPE mourns

JURI DANIEL

Former director of the School of Physical Health and Education was first to envision an integrated Faculty

T

he Faculty was saddened to learn of the passing of Juri Daniel, professor emeritus and former director of the School of Physical Health and Education (SPHE), the precursor to KPE. Daniel died on October 6, 2022, approximately seven months before his 100th birthday.

He was born in Estonia in 1923 and came to Canada in 1948. He graduated from U of T with a bachelor’s degree in physical health and education in 1954, followed by a degree in psychology in 1957. Daniel joined SPHE in 1962 and served as director of the school from 1972 to 1979, earning his PhD in leadership theory and education psychology in the meantime from the University of Illinois in 1971.

“I first met Juri when I was a young boy,” says Professor Emeritus Bruce Kidd. “He taught me to swim, first at the Broadview Y[MCA] and then the following summer at the YMCA leadership camp in Geneva Park, where my parents had a cottage and Juri was physical activity director.

“He was like a Greek god, a fit and confident instructor and an inspirational role model for a boy who loved sports.”

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Some years later, in the spring of 1973, the two would cross paths again when Kidd applied for a teaching job with SPHE. With the 1976 Summer Olympic Games set to take place in Montreal, governments across Canada were establishing sports departments and gradually changing the nature of sport and physical activity in Canada, recalls Kidd.

“As director, Daniel was gradually changing the focus of SPHE from teacher preparation to a more disciplinary approach to the study of sport and physical activity,” he says. “He wanted someone to conduct research into public policy and sport, and teach students about the changing world into which they would graduate. The school advertised for a social scientist, and I persuaded him and the search committee to hire me to research and teach the political economy of Canadian sports.”

Kidd remembers Daniel as a consultative leader who was always trying to forge a consensus among faculty and students. Daniel was also a driving force behind the integration of what were once separate men’s and women’s athletic departments and men’s and women’s physical education departments that taught compulsory physical education to undergraduates at U of T. That integration became the Department of Athletics and Recreation.

Photos/ Fazlur-Rehman Malik

In Memory

“Daniel’s commitment to a multidisciplinary approach in kinesiology is still evident in the Faculty today and, in many ways, distinguishes it from other kinesiology programs across the country.” – Gretchen Kerr, dean of KPE “At the time, Juri wanted to go further and integrate that new entity with the academic programs in SPHE, but the university hesitated and it never happened,” says Kidd, who would eventually become dean of the integrated Faculty of Physical Health and Education. “I was always persuaded by Juri’s vision and so, when I had the opportunity, I worked to integrate the school and the Department of Athletics and Recreation to create the Faculty. It was his snowball. I just threw it.”

Daniel leaves two powerful legacies, according to Kidd. One is a commitment to a multidisciplinary academic program, with strengths and applications across the full range of academic disciplines, from the humanities and social sciences to the physical and biophysical sciences, and the practice of physical activity.

“The other is a commitment to an integrated Faculty/health centre, with research informing teaching informing programs and practice informing research and so on,” says Kidd. “Juri clearly articulated those ideas – it just took us longer to realize them.”

Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of KPE, met Daniel as an undergraduate student in SPHE, while taking two of his courses, one on organizational behaviour and the second on the psychophysiology of stress.

“I enjoyed Juri’s teaching style and the content so much, I asked if he would supervise me on an independent research course in my senior year, a course we still offer today,” says Kerr. “To my benefit, Juri agreed to supervise me, and throughout the research course experience, I had the privilege of meeting regularly with him to discuss the research and our field more broadly.

“Juri was a big believer in education of the physical and, perhaps more importantly, education through the physical.

He advocated for the use of physical activity, exercise, sport, recreation and dance as vehicles through which health and development are enhanced and communities are built.”

“His commitment to the practice of physical activity was also exemplified by his routine of swimming or rowing for an hour at a time, several times per week, well into his 90s,” says Kerr, who continued to meet with Daniel long after he retired in 1989.

“Our most recent meeting was this past August,” she says. “He was always keenly interested in the goings-on in the Faculty and the university and was a reliable source of sage advice.

“I consider myself to be so fortunate to have benefitted from Juri’s mentorship over the past four decades. He provided wisdom, perspective and clarity on the path forward, helped to troubleshoot challenges, and was always a source of strong support.”

“Daniel’s commitment to a multidisciplinary approach in kinesiology is still evident in the Faculty today and, in many ways, distinguishes it from other kinesiology programs across the country,” says Kerr.

“In addition to the range of academic disciplines in our academic program, Juri was instrumental in ensuring the inclusion of physical activity and placement experiences,” she says. “He was a promoter of experiential education and the integration of theory and practice long before experiential education became a familiar term.”

An avid athlete, Daniel’s many accomplishments include winning gold, silver and bronze medals at the Estonian National Swimming Championships between 1942 and 1944, and earning a gold medal in javelin as a U of T student at the 1953 Canadian University Track and Field Championships.

He was the YMCA sports director from 1950 to 1959 and U of T swimming coach from 1962 to 1971, winning four Ontario and three Canadian university sports championships. In 1967, Daniels was named Canadian university swimming coach of the year, and in 1992, he was inducted into the U of T Sports Hall of Fame.

— JD

Kerr and Kidd both recall that for many years, even as head of SPHE, Juri and his wife Mia taught swimming to children and adults.

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In Memory

P

rofessor Emeritus Roy J. Shephard, former director of the School of Physical Health and Education (SPHE), passed away in February 2023.

He was 93 years old. Shephard was a groundbreaking scientist, prolific author and respected advisor to national and international governments and NGOs on a broad range of issues relating to physical activity and health.

A medical doctor and physiologist from the UK, he was invited to Canada in 1964 under the auspices of the Fitness and Amateur Sport Act of 1961 to spearhead the development of fitnessrelated research.

Initially appointed professor of applied physiology in the School of Physical and Health Education and Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics (Faculty of Medicine), Shephard’s work eventually led to the creation of Canada’s first doctoral program in exercise sciences.

In 1979, he began his 12-year term as director of SPHE, where the graduate program for exercise sciences was eventually housed. Shephard served as director of the program until 1985 and during that time mentored and inspired many generations of exercise scientists who now practice and teach across Canada and around the world.

KPE says goodbye to Roy Shephard – a luminary in exercise sciences adding his research prowess and exercise physiology expertise to Terry Kavanagh’s Toronto Rehab Centre, which became the pre-eminent cardiac rehab program in the world.”

Shephard’s studies of the physiological parameters of fitness provided the scientific basis for the Canadian government’s broad promotion of physical fitness, best known through ParticipACTION Canada. He also conducted influential longitudinal studies of physical activity in Canadian Indigenous populations and children in school-based physical education programs.

thickness reduce with prolonged sitting and bouncing on a snowmobile?

“I knew absolutely nothing about how to quantify this, but I researched it, tried to use a reliable method and promptly handed over the monotonous task to a friend who was bed-ridden after he badly broke his leg while we were on a ski trip.

“I did a second, blinded analysis, submitted the data to Roy and months later, in my mailbox was a reprint of the published paper with me listed as a “Roy was the cornerstone of exercise co-author. That was my first publication physiology in Canada,” says Jack Goodman, as a grad student and it was a harbinger a professor emeritus of KPE and one of what I came to appreciate most about of the first students to graduate from Roy – his ability to write, edit and the doctoral program. “He put Canada When Goodman was a graduate student, publish at an incredible rate and across a on the map, and through his influence, Shephard invited him to help out with a wide range of topics.”

Canadians continue to punch well above study looking into the potential impact our collective weight in this field. of the increased use of snowmobiles on Shephard wrote and edited more than the stature of Indigenous populations.

1,600 scientific papers and 100 books on “The Physical Activity Readiness sports, fitness, exercise, environmental Questionnaire [PAR-Q], used by “He handed me a stack of radiographs physiology, biochemistry and millions around the world, is a small of human spines, and I was left with the immunology. Such was his output that example of Roy’s influence. He was also task of quantifying the thickness of the Goodman recalls the former president at the forefront of cardiac rehabilitation, vertebrae,” says Goodman. “Did their of U of T, Professor Emeritus Robert

54 pursuit.utoronto.ca

In Memory

Pritchard, saying on one occasion that Shephard had been the most prolific publisher in U of T history.

“While including exercise for treatment of illness and injury, he helped to broaden the field to include exercise for prevention and for optimal health and development.”

“In one or two years, he would publish a career’s worth,” says Goodman.

“Knowing how much time it takes, I’ve never understood the math behind his productivity.”

“He contributed so much,” says Professor Emeritus Scott Thomas. “Promoting the inclusion of physical activity and exercise into health care by generating clinical scientific evidence was key.

Professor Ira Jacobs remembers having folders full of papers with R.J. Shephard as senior author when he was an undergraduate student in physical education.

“Professionally, the most valuable lesson he imparted to me was the importance of writing. It is critical to evaluate what the research shows and then to get the message out.”

“Roy’s first book, Endurance Fitness, was a classic, one of the only comprehensive textbooks about exercise physiology available at the time,” says Jacobs. “I pretty much memorized the contents when I prepared for my end-of-course exercise physiology final exam, and it helped me ace the exam, cementing my decision to pursue graduate studies in the field.

“One of the many benefits of Roy’s mentorship was the emphasis on interdisciplinary work in the pursuit of a healthier, more active society,” says Kerr. “Through his mentorship, I “You can imagine what a thrill it was learned that the big questions of the day later in life when I had the chance to can only be addressed by integrating meet him at the Canadian Society for various disciplinary areas and the crossExercise Physiology (CSEP) conferences, pollination of ideas. and then interact more closely with him when I became affiliated with U of T.” “Today, this understanding and appreciation for the contributions Jacobs’ academic career was kicked off made by all disciplinary areas in our with a graduate course he co-taught field and the necessity of working with a colleague from Defence Research across disciplinary lines has been and Development Canada (DRDC) in foundational to my role as dean and to the rapidly growing graduate program of the development of the Faculty’s new exercise sciences.

Academic Plan.”

“Dr. R.J. Shephard was a quiet and introverted giant in a field of research whose explosive growth has been stimulated in no small way by his research,” says Jacobs. “Humble almost to a fault, the combination of his scientific breadth of knowledge and wry sense of humour always made for an enjoyable and stimulating meeting.”

Shephard started numerous collaborations with institutions such as as the DRDC, Toronto Rehabilitation Centre (TRI), the Gage Research Institute and many more, which continue to provide KPE graduate students with outstanding research opportunities.

“Establishing the field of kinesiology as a valuable field of scholarship and Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of KPE, research in its own right was one of was just a few years behind Goodman in Roy’s most significant contributions,” the doctoral program Shephard founded, says Kerr. “In doing so, he brought to focusing on behavioural sciences and the fore the emphasis on the population sport psychology. health benefits of physical activity.

In fact, Kerr and Goodman both remember getting back papers from Shephard when they were his graduate students covered in red ink from the comments he provided.

“He taught me about precision, how to answer question directly and accurately,” says Goodman. “He was persnickety about units and grammar and would ask you to get rid of jargon.”

“I learned that how we communicate is as important as what we communicate,” says Kerr.

In 2014, Shephard was appointed to the Order of Canada for his pioneering work in the field of exercise science and for promoting the health benefits of physical activity to Canadians, adding to his many honours and awards. On the occasion, Jacobs, then dean of KPE, called Shephard’s impact on the exercise sciences “one of the most prodigious in the world” over the last half century.

“Roy’s enthusiasm for academics, our program and research in physical activity and health was infectious,” says Goodman. “It was impossible not to feel you were in the presence of something very special. He was a rare and generational talent.”

— JD

Pursuit | Summer 2023

55

In Memory

Dr. John C.S. Cameron A legacy of excellence and care

I

n August 2022, the Faculty learned of the passing of John Cameron, an orthopaedic surgeon who dedicated over 30 years to Varsity Blues and U of T community members with sport and exercise related injuries.

Richards benefitted from Cameron’s mentorship over three decades of his career.

career. He compared watching Cameron operate to watching a very skilled mountain climber, seamlessly flowing.

“John was an absolutely fabulous teacher,” “There was no wasted movement, he says. “A generation of surgeons who everything was purposeful, he never were lucky enough to be his residents and appeared to get stressed, and I think that Cameron started out as a fellow of David fellows benefitted from his excellence and calm demeanor helped those of us in the L. MacIntosh, a pioneer in orthopaedic will carry on his legacy. I learned much operating room as well, because he was sport medicine, in 1978 and carried on of what I know about orthopaedics and always in charge and knew what he was his legacy of excellence in providing care sport injuries directly from him. doing.” at U of T’s Athletic Injuries Clinic in the Warren Stevens Building (Athletic “Many surgeons have reputations – on Cameron completed both his underCentre), which would eventually be account of the volume of care they graduate and medical degrees at U of renamed the David L. MacIntosh Sport provide – of being too brusque, too quick, T. He was a Varsity Blues skier, winning Medicine Clinic and move to a new not explaining enough, lacking empathy, three Ts and an intercollegiate chamhome in the Goldring Centre for High but John was the exact opposite. He pionship. Talking to Pursuit magazine Performance Sport. took as much time as was needed with in 2017, he shared that his background every patient he saw. He really cared for in intercollegiate sport was one of the “I don’t think John ever missed a game everyone. He listened to them, answered reasons he could relate to the studentin the 32 years that he covered football all their questions and explained things athletes so well. games,” says Doug Richards, KPE clearly. He taught me that the Latin associate professor and former medical meaning of doctor is teacher, and In 2018, Cameron was inducted into the director of the MacIntosh Clinic. “When educating our patients is a critical aspect U of T Sports Hall of Fame as a builder he retired in 2010, we gave him a of what we do.” for his contributions to the Varsity Blues football jersey with his name and the program. He was also the recipient of number 32 on its back to mark his years Like Richards, Ian Cohen, staff physician the John Loudon Award in 2014 for his of football game coverage. It brought a at the MacIntosh Clinic, benefitted from outstanding services in the advancement big smile to his face.”

Cameron’s mentorship at the onset of his of university athletics.

— JD

56 pursuit.utoronto.ca

In Memory

Blues mourn the passing of

NICK VOLPE U

of T Hall of Famer Nick Volpe played three seasons with the Varsity Blues and was part of the 1948 team that won the Yates Cup.

After his time at U of T, Nick played for the Toronto Argonauts for four seasons, winning the Grey Cup in 1950 and 1952. He was part of the infamous “Mud Bowl” in 1950 where he kicked two field goals and was named the game’s most valuable player.

Nick went on to be a volunteer recruiter for the Blues starting in the 1950s. He created the Argo Cup, which is presented to the winner of the York University and University of Toronto regular season football game.

Nick was named a member of the Varsity Blues all-century team in 2001. He continued his connection with the Varsity Blues as a member of the Blues football historical committee and by serving on several coaching search committees for the Varsity Blues. Nick passed away August 21, 2021.

— Klarke Braaten

Blues mourn the loss of alum, Olympian

DAVID BAILEY The Faculty was saddened to learn of the loss of former Olympian and U of T Sports Hall of Fame inductee Dr. David George Bailey, who passed away peacefully at his home in London, ON, on August 27, 2022.

Bailey, who was a member of the Varsity Blues track and field team from 1964 to 1967, achieved many highly regarded accomplishments both on and off the track.

At 17 years old, he set the world record in the mile for his age group with a time of 4:07.5. He went on to live one of his greatest achievements in 1966, when he became the first Canadian to run a sub four-minute mile, recording a time of 3:59.1 at a meet in San Diego. He topped that time a year later, running 3:57.7 in Toronto.

He competed for Canada at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, where he won a bronze medal in the 1,500m. He also represented his country with great pride at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico.

As a Varsity Blue, Bailey was a two-time winner of the Ontario University Athletics Association’s (OUAA) one-mile race, a two-time winner of the one-mile relay, as well as a gold medalist in the three-mile and 880-yard races.

He was also a member of the three-time champion cross-country team that won both the OUAA and Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU) titles. In 1998, he was inducted into the U of T Sports Hall of Fame.

Away from the track, Bailey was a recognized pharmacologist who pioneered the research of grapefruit–drug interactions.

— KB Pursuit | Summer 2023

57

In Memory

In Memoriam The Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education and the Varsity Blues extend our condolences to the family and friends of our alumni who have passed.

Notices of death published in this issue were received between March 10, 2021, and December 31, 2022.

Friends and family of deceased alumni can help by sending information to address.update@utoronto.ca Mr. Fred R. Babbie BASC 1962, Wrestling

Mrs. Noreen E. Evans (née Cornish) BPHE 1948

Dr. Edward McLean DDS 1965 DENT, Football

Mr. Gerald P. Barker BPHE 1971, Basketball

Dr. Gilbert J. Farmer BPHE 1966, Hockey

Mr. David B.J. Primeau BASC 1955, Track and Field

Mr. Douglas A.M. Barnett BA 1954 UC, Track and Field

Mr. Randall M. Filinski BPHE 1974

Ms. Angela L. Psutka CNE 1948 NURS, CPHN 1954 NURS, Nordic Skiing

Mr. Arthur Bell BPHE 1949, Football

Mr. John F. Foote BPHE 1948, Hockey

Ms. E. Louise Bell (née Martin) BA 1956 UC, MSc 1974 MED, Basketball, Swimming

Mrs. Zita J. Gardner (née Hertzman) BPHE 1960, MED 1988 OISE

of Toronto, ON; November 3, 2021

of Scarborough, ON; October 26, 2021

of Blenheim, ON; May 18, 2021

of North York, ON; October 29, 2021

of Denman Island, BC; June 17, 2021

Mr. John D. Bodrug BASC 1956, Football

of Copan Ruinas, HOND; March 21, 2021

Mr. E. Joseph Calnan BASC 1956, Rugby

of New York, NY; April 4, 2021

Ms. Anne Marie F. Cerato BPHE 2002

of Ottawa, ON; July 24, 2021

of Fredericton, NB; March 28, 2021

of Pickering, ON; May 28, 2021

of Toronto, ON; April 28, 2021

of Toronto, ON; October 20, 2021

Mr. Raemond F. German BSC 1963 AG, BASC 1964, Football

of Benton Harbor, MI; September 21, 2021

Mrs. Maria E. Goode (née Fraino) BPHE 1963, Swimming of Fonthill, ON; June 6, 2021

Mr. Douglas C. Hartry BA 1949 VIC, Hockey

of North Bay, ON; October 10, 2021

of Oakville, ON; May 5, 2021

of Waterloo, ON; June 26, 2021

Mr. David S. Reid BASC 1957, MCOMM 1959, Hockey of Mississauga, ON; June 8, 2021

Mr. Reuben Richman BCOM 1956 UC, JD 1959 LAW, Basketball of Toronto, ON; November 2, 2021

Mr. Bradley J. Riddell BCOM 1996 VIC, Squash

of Richmond Hill, ON; December 13, 2021

Dr. John B. Ridpath BASC 1959, MBA 1963, Swimming of Toronto, ON; March 23, 2021

of Toronto, ON; December 4, 2021

Mr. Hartley Robins, Q.C. BA 1952 UC, Waterpolo

Mr. Paul M. Charters BPHE 1971

Mrs. Susan G. Harwood Kanitz (née Harwood) BPHE 1963, BA 1989 UTM, Volleyball

Dr. Jaan O. Roos, MD, FRCPC MD 1963 MED, Track and Field

Mrs. Noreen Crifo (née Maniscola) BPHE 1956, Volleyball, Baseball

Mr. Donald J. Hooper BSCP 1952 PHM, Football

Dr. Robert J. Sargeant HBSC 1989 NEW, MSC 1991, PhD 1995 MED, MD 2000 MED, 2004 MED, Swimming

Mr. Bruce E. Cropper BPHE 1957, BA 1961 WDW

Mr. Arnold B. Irwin BA 1949 VIC, Hockey

The Honourable William G. Davis P.C, C.C,

Mr. Alan D. Kosugi BA 1978 UTSC, Wrestling

of Toronto, ON; October 14, 2021

of Maple, ON; October 12, 2021

of Scarborough, ON; March 20, 2021

of St. Catharines, ON; July 26, 2021

O.Ont, Q.C.

BA 1951 UC, Football

of Brampton, ON; August 8, 2021

Mrs. Deirdre L. Deane (née Barclay) BPHE 1952 of Minnetonka, MN; June 14, 2021

Mr. Antonio Di Bacco HBA 1983 VIC, Volleyball

of St. Catharines, ON; July 12, 2021

58 pursuit.utoronto.ca

of Brampton, ON; June 21, 2021

of Toronto, ON; November 6, 2021

of Toronto, ON; August 12, 2021

of Scarborough, ON; April 8, 2021

Mr. W.G. Love BPHE 1955

of Mississauga, ON; July 21, 2021

Mr. William R. Maxwell, Q.C. BA 1956 VIC, Track and Field of Toronto, ON; May 15, 2021

of Toronto, ON; March 31, 2021

of Toronto, ON; August 3, 2021

of Toronto, ON; November 28, 2021

The Honourable Mr. Justice Edward Saunders, Q.C. BA 1949 TRIN, Track and Field of Toronto, ON; December 12, 2021

Mr. Robert Shepherd BPHE 1950, MED 1964 OISE, Swimming of Etobicoke, ON; March 16, 2021

Dr. James R. Stevens BA 1953 VIC, PhD 1957, Basketball of Guelph, ON; June 11, 2021

In Memory

Dr. Mislav Stipetic DDS 1960 DENT, Water Polo

Mr. Iain F. Downie BARC 1978 ALD, Swimming

Mr. Donald K. Pulfer BASC 1953 APSC, Hockey

Dr. Francis Tropea DDS 1945 DENT, Basketball

Mr. Grant L. Duff BPHE 1954 FPEH, BA 1961 A&S WDW, Volleyball

Mr. Robert J. Renwick BCOM 1956 A&S VIC, Volleyball

of Toronto, ON; June 17, 2021

of Etobicoke, ON; December 22, 2021

Mr. Nicholas P. J. Volpe BPHE 1948, MED 1968 OISE, Football of Brampton, ON; August 22, 2021

Mr. Robert B. Wyles BPHE 1965

of Pickering, ON; August 26, 2021

Mrs. Frances Aboud 0 TRIN, BA 1960 A&S UC, Gymnastics

February 13, 2022

of Weston, ON; February 1, 2022

Mrs. C.J. Ellis CDNU 1956 DENT, Intramural Hockey of Lindsay, ON; February 1, 2022

Dr. Rae B. Fleming BPHE 1963 FPEH, Hockey November 18, 2022

of Toronto, ON; August 14, 2022

Mrs. Jane R. Hansuld BPHE 1954 FPEH, Intramural Hockey

Dr. James B. Bassingthwaighte BCOM 1953 A&S VIC, LLB 1956 LAW, Basketball

Dr. Douglas G. Heathfield BPHE 1953 FPEH, Hockey

Mr. David B. Black BA 1949 A&S VIC, Hockey

Mr. Sandy Henderson MD 1955 MED, Intramural Hockey

Mr. Frank H. Buck DDS 1954 DENT, Track and Field

Mr. D.M. Jackson BA 1960 UC A&S, Rugby

Mr. Peter A. Burns BPHE 1967 FPEH, Tennis

Dr. Sonia H. Labatt MD 1956 MED, Swimming

Dr. John C. Cameron BCOM 1958 A&S TRIN, Hockey

Mr. Bernard E.G. Lecerf MD 1954 MED, Intramural Hockey

Professor Paul N. Corey BPHE 1963 FPEH, MED 1996 SGS OISE

Mr. John A. MacRae BSC 1964 A&S UC, Wrestling

Mrs. Margaret B. Curtis BPHE 1954 FPEH, BA 1958 WDW A&S

Dr. Michael O. Mungovan BA 1957 A&S VIC, DD 1990 HON, Hockey

Ms. Judith A. Diamond BA 1959 UC A&S, Intramural Hockey

Mr. Howard E. Nobert BA 1964 A&S USMC, Hockey

of Aurora, ON; March 17, 2022

of Toronto, ON; May 7, 2022

of Mississauga, ON; December 5, 2022

of Marina, CA; July 7, 2022

of Orangeville, ON; June 8, 2022

of Toronto, ON; October 20, 2022

of Toronto, ON; October 5, 2022

of Midhurst, ON; September 6, 2022

of Mississauga, ON; September 7, 2022

of Cornwall, ON; September 18, 2022

of Tokyo; July 19, 2022

of Toronto, ON; February 23, 2022

of Toronto, ON; March 29, 2022

of Caledon Village, ON; May 11, 2022

of Toronto, ON; March 16, 2022

Mr. Donald K. Ritchie BPHE 1956 FPEH, Swimming of Nobel, ON; June 9, 2022

Mr. Peter G. Saunderson BA 1959 A&S VIC, Intramural Hockey of Scarborough, ON; June 6, 2022

Mr. Michael E. Shea BPHE 1967 FPEH, Archery

of North York, ON; March 11, 2022

Dr. Craig Simpson BCOM 1962 A&S UC, Track and Field of Toronto, ON; October 22, 2022

Mr. Miles A. Sosa BA 1955 A&S VIC, Football

of Toronto, ON; February 3, 2022

Mr. Robert J. Stirling BPHE 1952 FPEH, Intramural Hockey of Toronto, ON; August 15, 2022

Mr. Kenneth E. Taylor BPHE 1978 FPEH, BED 1980 OISE, Squash of Mississauga, ON; May 7, 2022

Mrs. M.F. van Nostrand BPHE 1983 FPEH

of Mississauga, ON; November 26, 2022

Miss Sandra Wong BARC 1963 ALD, Intramural Hockey of Etobicoke, ON; October 21, 2022

of Sooke, BC; September 6, 2022

of Barrie, ON; October 19, 2022

July 28, 2022

Mrs. Krystyna Dix BPHE 1961 FPEH, DDS 1969 DENT, Wrestling

Mrs. Ruth Ann Pepall BASC 1962 APSC, Basketball

of Brockville, ON; August 4, 2022

of Burlington, ON; September 5, 2022

October 24, 2022

Pursuit | Summer 2023

59

Replay

Tales from the

FRONTIER

Roy Shephard’s reflections on the early days of sport science 60 pursuit.utoronto.ca

Photos/ Courtesy of Toronto Nensis

Replay

J

ust a couple of months before his passing in February 2023, Professor Emeritus Roy Shephard talked to Pursuit magazine about the differences between research when he first started out and now. Shephard was widely considered a luminary in the realm of exercise science.

A medical doctor and physiologist from the UK, he was invited to Canada to spearhead the development of fitnessrelated research. He answered the call by establishing Canada’s first doctoral program in exercise sciences, mentoring and inspiring whole generations of exercise scientists in Canada and the world over [see p.54].

“I had really ridiculously small and ancient premises, altogether five rooms,” said Shephard of his lab space at the U of T School of Hygiene, the predecessor of what is today the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. “One room was occupied by my secretary, one by myself, one by an assistant professor and then there were two very small rooms for equipment – one just about big enough to get a treadmill in and the other one about big enough for a bicycle ergometer.”

“The only thing we had was a Facet calculator, where you had to turn a handle to work out things like standard deviations and means. If you turned the handle too fast, it jammed and you had to wait a couple of days for the representative to come round and unjam it.”

The other big difference was how oxygen consumption was measured – a procedure that is largely automated today. But in those days, researchers had to collect expired gas in big bags and then take samples with glass syringes to analyze the oxygen and CO2 content. Then they had to empty the bags through a gas meter to find out how much volume had been expired.

“So, even to get one measurement of oxygen consumption for just one half-minute interval was a very slow process,” said Shephard.

“We were measuring their fitness with a bicycle ergometer and their heart rate with a homemade telemeter, he still managed to publish and we had to have a soldering iron Yet around 1,600 refereed articles with us to periodically solder the wires and write numerous books on physical activity and health. back in place.” – Roy Shephard

The space was built for Frederick Banting in the 1920s, and a lot of the power supply points were still direct current, so if one of the technicians plugged an apparatus into these sockets, it probably blew it up, Shephard recalled.

Space was so scarce that a lot of the research had to be done outside of the school, with researchers taking all their apparatus with them wherever they went.

“We did one stint at the CNE to get random samples of fitness of the Canadian population. I hadn’t realized what 12 hours a day down at an exhibition was like in the summer with all the noise and having to keep the apparatus working in the field,” said Shephard.

“We were measuring their fitness with a bicycle ergometer and their heart rate with a homemade telemeter, and we had to have a soldering iron with us to periodically solder the wires back in place – all while a queue of people waited to be tested.”

The equipment was completely different, he said, and there were no computers.

“We worked very hard,” said Shephard. “I think if we’d had the equipment that’s available today, we probably would’ve done a lot more.”

Of the many impactful studies he conducted, Shephard was especially proud of two longitudinal studies. One looked at Inuit Igloolik, an Inuit hamlet in Nunavut, over a 20-year period to show the (negative) effects of acculturation to the southern lifestyle on Inuit health and fitness. The other one was a project conducted in conjunction with the University of Quebec à TroisRivières over seven years. It involved a couple of primary schools in Quebec where half the students were given an hour of additional physical education per day, while the other half of the students served as controls.

“A lot of people said we shouldn’t do it because it was going to spoil their academic performance, but we showed that, if anything, the children in the enhanced program did better in both English and mathematics,” said Shephard.

A lesson the Faculty took to heart, making it their mission to generate, advance and disseminate more knowledge of this kind.

— JD Pursuit | Summer 2023

61

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