Top moments in 2016 at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education

2016 brought many happy moments and proud accomplishments to the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. Here we reflect on some of our favourite memories from the past year.

1. In August, close to a dozen KPE and Varsity Blues students and alumni, accompanied by several faculty and staff, competed in the Summer Olympic Games in Rio. Canada’s flag bearer and three-time Olympian Rosie MacLennan became the first Canadian summer athlete to successfully defend an individual Olympic gold medal, and Kylie Masse became the first Varsity Blues swimmer to claim an Olympic medal while enrolled as a student at U of T.
    
2. Back in Toronto, a different kind of dream was being realized, as the Faculty joined in University-wide efforts to extend opportunities to Syrian refugees in Canada by fully funding a Camp U of T experience for the children of two refugee families in Toronto. You can read about how four-year-old Feras and seven-year-old Hoda Morad rediscovered a “problem-free philosophy” in the latest issue of the Pursuit magazine.
    
3. Goldring Centre’s spectacular 2,000 seat Kimel Family Field House was host not only to Varsity Blues games and practices, but to some of the most exciting events happening in our city, from the NBA all-star challenge, hosted for the first time outside of the U.S., to Midnight Madness Basketball, a program developed in collaboration with Toronto Community Housing to provide an enriched basketball opportunity for youth from low income neighbourhoods, to Drake’s OVO basketball tournament where Drake himself put in a guest coach appearance.
    
4. U of T’s 1909 Varsity Blues rugby football team was inducted into the 2016 Ontario Sports Hall of Fame for winning the first Grey Cup in 1909. The Blues went on to win the Cup for the next two years, in 1910 and 1911, and again in 1920. Their winning legacy was acknowledged earlier in the year with a Grey Cup commemorative plaque mounted on U of T’s Varsity Stadium by the Historic Sites and Monument Boards of Canada, and Parks Canada.
    
5. Carving their own path in history, the Varsity Blues won four national championships this year in men’s and women’s swimming, women’s track and field, and women’s volleyball.
    
6. KPE Dean Ira Jacobs became the first member of the Faculty to be named a fellow of the renowned Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS), joining only a handful of researchers from other universities that also have kinesiology as their home division. This was an important acknowledgement of kinesiology as an academic discipline that is integral to improving and sustaining the health of Canadians through physical activity. 
    
7. The Faculty launched the Mental Health and Physical Activity Research Centre (MPARC), becoming one of the first research facilities in Canada to integrate the study of physical activity and mental health. The multidisciplinary centre will address the enormous burden of mental health issues by promoting physical activity, reducing sedentary behaviour and providing long-term solutions.
    
8. Our faculty made new health recommendations, offered fresh insights, launched novel initiatives and won awards. Professor Catherine Sabiston was awarded the William E. Rawls Prize Award for Excellence by the Canadian Cancer Society for her outstanding contributions to cancer control through integration of physical activity into cancer care and survivorship.
    
9. A new Master of Professional Kinesiology (MPK) program was launched, becoming the Faculty’s first professional Master’s degree program, and the first of its kind in the province. Housed in the Warren Stevens Building (the Athletic Centre), the new MPK space includes a clinical teaching lab, classroom and student lounge for the program’s first 31 students.
    
10. The Faculty’s Sport and Recreation program teamed up with U of T’s Student Life department to offer students Mindful Moments Yoga and Meditation – a research-based approach to beat the winter blues. Students can now relieve their stress twice a week at the Goldring Centre and the Athletic Centre through mindfulness meditation, downward dogs, cat and cow poses, and sun salutations.

Not a bad year, even if it was 2016.