Emily Metituk has always lived life “on-the-go” — so much so that, until learning about Mount Royal University’s Bachelor of Health and Physical Education — Sport and Recreation Management, she didn’t think that she would enjoy the steady routine of university life in Calgary, let alone receive a prestigious scholarship and award as a student.

The former competitive swimmer-turned-coach has been awarded the Commonwealth Sport Award for Sport and Social Development Excellence for her work and engagement in the Youth Commonwealth Games in Trinidad and Tobago over nine months in 2023, an opportunity made possible through her own initiative and support from MRU.

Combining personal passions with education

A travel enthusiast and lifelong athlete from a family entrenched in sports, Metituk was able to identify her life’s passions early on. With a progressive background in competitive swimming and swim coaching — particularly for children with disabilities — Metituk has been able to parlay her holistic experience as a coach and competitor into a natural talent for organizing sports competitions.

At age 17, she joined the organizing committee for the Alberta Summer Games, where she started working as a receptionist before quickly becoming the organizer of some of the sporting events, ensuring that they ran properly. She also eventually started leading the promotions committee. “I actually got to do some pretty cool things, even at 17,” Metituk says. “They let me completely overhaul their social media. It was a really great experience.”

From there, Metituk met a colleague who knew about the Department of Health and Physical Education’s sport and recreation management program through a connection with MRU Professor David Legg, PhD, who has long been involved in sporting event management at the national and international levels.

“Honestly, since sports were my real passion, I wasn’t particularly interested in post-secondary schooling,” Metituk explains. However, after doing some research of her own, she was hooked when she learned about MRU’s recreation-focused programming options and the Queen Elizabeth Scholars program that would allow her to travel while pursuing her education.

“I want to organize games. I have a list of all the games I want to work on — there are 26 of them!” Metituk says, who has been involved with the Alberta Summer and Winter Games and the Arctic Winter Games, and is hoping to volunteer with the upcoming Invictus Games in Whistler. “Games are where it’s at for me — that’s really what I love. And I realized that, if I want to work on the Olympics, they only hire people with degrees.”

After starting her classes, and staggering her education so that she could alternate between taking courses and earning valuable work and life experience, she earned the Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship (QES) with the help of her professors and Academic Advisor and Practicum Coordinator Gisele Marcoux. The scholarship supports health and physical education (HPED) students taking part in practicums through Commonwealth Sport Canada’s SportWORKS program.

“Participating in the QES program provides an amazing opportunity for HPED students to work and live outside their comfort zone, apply knowledge they have gained during the HPED degree, and learn in an international context,” explains Dr. Julie Booke, PhD, associate professor and program coordinator, sport and recreation management.

The team found Metituk a placement in Trinidad and Tobago to participate as a member of the organizing committee for the Youth Commonwealth Games, which she began in January of 2023.

Learning from others key to success in building lasting relationships

After setting up her new home in Port of Spain, Metituk got to work doing the thing she does best — building relationships. Her energy, creativity, and competence leading promotional and community engagement campaigns and activities for children and youth were so valued by the organizing committee that Metituk was offered a paid position to stay on from April until after the conclusion of the games in August.

Metituk jumped at the opportunity to participate in the logistics of the Games’ organization with the local community. She cut her teeth in areas like athlete registration, volunteer coordination, and accreditation while continuing her promotional and social media work. The volunteers in Trinidad and Tobago, she says, went above and beyond.

“When I went to Trinidad and Tobago, it really cemented it for me that I want to learn and this goes deeper than just organizing an event,” she says. “It goes into who I am as a person, and who I am as a swim coach as well, in that I want to be able to learn from other cultures, ethnicities, people anywhere and everywhere. I feel like there's no better way to learn than from different points of view. Now, I feel as at home in Trinidad and Tobago as I do in Calgary.”

One of the thrilling moments she remembers is being at the pool to film the boys’ 50-metre freestyle race with the host country’s Minister of Sport in attendance. “It’s the fastest race of all the swims. The entire stadium lights up as soon as the athletes are told to take their marks and somehow they get even louder when the boys touched the wall. I had goosebumps. People were jumping and crying. It was amazing — especially because it was a full Caribbean podium with two Trinbagonians.”

Metituk was also tasked with ensuring that the teams had what they needed and that communication was relayed to and from the organizing committee. Through this, she made connections with people from Belize, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Bermuda, Kenya, Botswana, Australia, and more. She created a group chat with all the swim coaches to arrange for mentorship possibilities between the teams, different training opportunities and create a community within the sport.

Having made lifelong friends across the world, and facilitating international professional connections that will help not only her own ambitions but improve opportunities for young athletes across the Commonwealth, Metituk was chosen as this year’s recipient of the Commonwealth Sport Award for Sport and Social Development Excellence, which is presented to a Canadian SportWORKS Officer who has made a significant contribution to the development of sport and was awarded on Sept. 21, 2024.

“Emily exemplifies the true spirit of dedication as a volunteer for Commonwealth Sport Canada,” says its president Claire Carver-Diast. “We are proud to recognize her many contributions and celebrate how Emily's work has strengthened the Commonwealth Sport Movement in Canada and beyond.”

“Emily is a role model of a Queen Elizabeth Scholar and we are so proud of the work she did and the recipient of this reward. HPED is extremely lucky to be partnered with Commonwealth Sport Canada and to have been awarded the Queen Elizabeth Scholarships for the next four years,” Booke says.

Metituk’s advice to those interested in travelling while gaining educational and life experience is to “just try. If you want it, go for it because you'll get it. This opportunity is never going to come around again.”

Speaking from her own experience, she says “I didn’t think I had high enough grades to get a scholarship like this. My roommate thought she didn’t have enough travel experience, but she got the scholarship too. If you’re passionate, that will come through more than your experience. If you're willing to make it work, they're willing to make it work for you. Whether you’re worried about homesickness or anything else, there are supports and resources to help. Mount Royal’s International Education team, the faculty at HPED, Ryan from SportWorks and all the alumni were 100% there for us.”