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Hi everyone,

For this month’s President’s Corner, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and talk about why I volunteered to be on our Club’s Board of Directors.

I began running with the Ottawa Lions in June 2016, shortly after I found out that I had been accepted to start my PhD at the University of Ottawa. I’d recently returned to Ottawa after completing my law degree and, although I’d only been a recreational runner, wanted to improve my time in the half-marathon. I felt as though I’d come as far as I could on my own, so I emailed the Club and, shortly thereafter, started attending weekly practices.

Although it wasn’t what I expected – I thought I’d be working on my long runs and ended up doing 5km races on the track at Twilight meets – I was hooked. And so, at the age of 30, I entered the world of competitive varsity athletics. By the time the first year of my PhD started, I lived for practices, enjoyed the thrill of competition and was excited to see my times improving. I welcomed the break from studying and work, and my teammates quickly became my friends – many of whom I’m still close with today.

The reason that I share this with you is that being part of the Club and competing as a varsity athlete is what kept me in my PhD program. My first semester was tough, really tough – and I thought about dropping out, but I knew that if I did, I’d have to leave the world of varsity athletics too. And now, just over five years later, as I approach the completion of my doctorate, I can honestly say that running and the Ottawa Lions are, at least in part, to thank. It’s for this reason that I applied to be on our Club’s Board of Directors back in 2019. This Club – our Club – has had such a huge impact on my life and I wanted to give back.

I know that not everyone has had the same experience as I have and my heart breaks for anyone who has been hurt by the actions of those who have been involved with the Club in the past. We cannot hide from our past – nor are we. But, I firmly believe that we are moving forward and doing better.

Being a part of the Ottawa Lions, first as an athlete and now as a member of the Board of Directors, has taught me that our Club offers something unique to our community, to our city and to our key partners. I’m continuously inspired by our dedicated staff, volunteers, coaches, and officials who make our programs and events possible, and by our passionate athletes who make the sport of track and field a priority and commit countless hours to training, travelling and competition. This is what our Club is about.

Our mission as a Club is to provide all members with a positive, inclusive Track & Field experience, free from harassment and discrimination, that nurtures and inspires athletic performance and excellence and raises the profile and prestige of Track & Field. Together, I believe that we can achieve this. I would encourage you to reach out to share your ideas and experiences, or let us know if you are interested in helping out with the Club.

I hope to see many of you at the track this summer and look forward to keeping you updated on the work of the Board of Directors.

Sincerely,

Jenn

—

Jennifer Dumoulin
President, Board of Directors
Ottawa Lions Track & Field Club
president@ottawalions.com

It’s that time again! Hi everyone – and welcome to the Monthly President’s Corner!

The monthly President’s Corner is an opportunity to see what’s happening within the Club, to hear about what our Board of Directors is working on, and to learn about what we discuss at our monthly meetings.

So, what happened at our last Board meeting?

The Ottawa Lions Board of Directors met on Monday, June 7th, 2021 over Zoom following the exciting Tokyo Qualifier series meet hosted by the Club on June 4th and 5th at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.

Our Executive Director, Richard Johnston, highlighted the key health and safety measures put in place that ensured a safe and successful High Performance meet over the weekend. Having hosted this High Performance meet bodes well for the club to host Twilight Meets again later this summer. We are also looking forward to running summer camps again at Terry Fox. While the number of registrants this year has already exceeded that of last year, there is still room available to register!

Richard also announced that the Club’s Youth Ambassador Program has its first official hire, who will reach out to community groups in low SES neighbourhoods across the city. We hope to facilitate partnerships and provide philanthropic initiatives to serve those facing barriers to participate in our sport.

President Jennifer Dumoulin, along with a few other members of the board, attended the High Performance meet as Safety Officers, and we look forward to coming out to help again at Twilight meets when they resume this summer. Jenn also discussed the City of Ottawa’s Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan. The City is holding consultations on the plan, and while the sport of track and field is presently excluded from the plan, Jenn hopes to see what can be done for track and field in the city.

Our Charity Champions – James and Jen P. – have been researching various options to facilitate the process for making donations to the Club. They will be presenting their recommendations soon. The Board 101 Champions – Dave and Jenn D. – are looking into creating videos for internal training and for recruiting.

With Ontario now in Step 1 of its Roadmap to Reopen, we are excited for the facility to reopen to our members and for programs to start again soon.

That’s it for this month! We look forward to seeing our athletes around the track soon!

Jennifer Dumoulin

President, Board of Directors
Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club
president@ottawalions.com

(prepared jointly with Zeena Rashid, Secretary, Ottawa Lions Board of Directors)

Welcome to the monthly President’s Corner update!

The monthly President’s Corner is an opportunity to see what’s happening within the Club, to hear about what our Board of Directors is working on, and to learn about what we discuss at our monthly meetings.

What happened at our last Board meeting?

The Ottawa Lions Board of Directors met on Monday, May 3rd, 2021 over Zoom. Richard Johnston kicked off the meeting by discussing the possibility of hosting meets if restrictions are eased later this month. We are hoping for good news and are eager to see some High Performance and Twilight meets at Terry Fox this summer and early fall!

Richard and Jessica have also been hard at work applying to various grants. We are happy to report that we have grants coming in from Young Canada Works, Canada Summer Jobs, and the Renewable Recreation Grant, among others.

Jennifer D. also announced that our Club has signed a one-year contract with uOttawa Varsity Athletics for the upcoming 2021-2022 season. This marks an important step in reinforcing our ongoing relationship with the University of Ottawa.

What are our Champions up to?

We presented our new strategic initiative last month and our Champions are already off to an exciting start.

• Working with Richard, Andrew and Kirk – our Diversity and Inclusion Champions – have discussed the possibility of involvement with the North American Indigenous Games.
• The Alumni Relations Champions, Noah and Zeena, are looking forward to reconnecting with former Lions and hearing how they may want to get more involved with our Club.

All of our Champions are looking forward to continuing working with you to achieve our Club’s vision to be a leader in the community as well as in the realm of athletics and to be the most inclusive, comprehensive and successful Track & Field club in Canada.

See you next month!

We hope everyone is continuing to stay safe and healthy. Check out our club’s Strava feed to see how our members are staying active and keeping up with their workouts!

Jennifer Dumoulin

President, Board of Directors
Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club
president@ottawalions.com

(prepared jointly with Zeena Rashid, Secretary, Ottawa Lions Board of Directors)

What’s going on? Welcome to the President’s Corner!

We are excited to announce that every month, we will be doing a President’s Corner to give members a chance to see what’s happening within the Club, especially given that we aren’t able to meet up at the track for regular workouts right now.

Our board is working alongside you on our mission of providing all members with a positive, inclusive Track & Field experience, free from harassment and discrimination, that nurtures and inspires athletic performance and excellence and raises the profile and prestige of the sport of Track & Field in the National Capital Region and beyond.

These summaries will highlight what our Board of Directors is working on and will provide an update on what we discuss at our monthly meetings.

Who’s on our Board of Directors?

Our Board is comprised of a diverse group of volunteers, with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Click here to see a list of our current Board members, which includes our Athletes and Coaches Representatives.

Our Last Board Meeting

The Ottawa Lions Board of Directors met on Monday, April 12^th, 2021 over Zoom. During our Board meetings, our Executive Director, President, and Treasurer always provide an update on how our Club is doing and what we can anticipate in the coming weeks and months. This month, our Executive Director and Head Coach Richard Johnston highlighted the work being done during the current stay-at-home order, including applying for grants and government support, and setting up a variety of possible competition schedules to adapt to depending on restrictions we will face in the coming weeks and months. You can read more about Richard’s latest update here.

In addition, last month, our President, Jennifer Dumoulin, and Richard met with uOttawa Varsity Athletics to discuss our new contract and valuable ongoing relationship.

Our New Strategic Planning Initiative

Over the past couple of Board meetings, we’ve been working on developing a new strategic planning initiative and we are excited to announce that our Board members will have seven unique portfolios (presented in alphabetical order) with their own sets of objectives and initiatives to work towards.

Alumni Relations Champions – Noah Houlton and Zeena Rashid: Noah and Zeena will be working closely with our Club staff to strengthen our network of alumni, promoting better information-sharing and fostering increased alumni involvement with Club activities.

Bilingualism Champion – Gordon Cavé: As Bilingualism Champion, Gordon is going to focus on raising the profile of French within our Club. One of the initiatives he’ll be working towards is translating our Club’s website and developing a process for issuing bilingual press releases.

Board 101 Champion – Dave Farthing: Dave is going to help formalize our Board’s operations by developing resources for officers, directors and representatives.

Budget Champion – Lynn Thompson: Lynn will continue her outstanding work as Treasurer while championing the development of a formal budgeting cycle and budget resources.

By-law Champion – Jenn Dumoulin: As By-law Champion, Jenn is going to work on bringing our Club’s by-laws up-to-date with the current landscape while ensuring that they’re free of errors (yep, that includes spelling and grammar mistakes).

Charity Champions – Jen Perrault and James Bruce: Jen and James, working with our Director-at-Large Eleanor Fast, are going to examine setting up a charitable foundation to streamline donations to our club, its athletes, and coaches.

Diversity and Inclusivity Champions – Andrew Heffernan and Kirk Dillabaugh: As Diversity and Inclusivity Champions, with their feet on the ground as our Athletes’ and Coaches’ Representatives respectively, Andrew and Kirk will focus on the promotion and realization of our Club’s vision to be the most inclusive, comprehensive, and successful Track and Field club in Canada

Stay tuned for updates on the important work of our Champions!

See you next month!

Thanks for reading our inaugural President’s Corner update. As always, your feedback and input on our Club is welcome and encouraged as we work towards our vision to be a leader in the community as well as in the realm of athletics; and be the most inclusive, comprehensive and successful Track & Field club in Canada. Please feel free to reach out by emailing me at president@ottawalions.com

Stay safe and stay active,

Jennifer Dumoulin
President, Board of Directors
Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club

(prepared jointly with Zeena Rashid, Secretary, Ottawa Lions Board of Directors)