It hasn’t always been about sports for Camosun alumnus Adam McKinnon. Recently hired as the manager of communications and hockey coordinator by the Victoria Royals, McKinnon took a year off after completing high school to work in England at the Royal National Institute for the Blind. There he found another passion: working with children.
“Their faces light up and you know that regardless of what’s going on, they’re happy to see you,” says McKinnon. “As an 18, 19-year-old, that’s where I ended up falling in love with working with kids.”
McKinnon knows how important sports are for children: he grew up playing hockey and soccer in Victoria. His knowledge of the importance of physical activity and his newfound interest in working with children were a perfect fit.
After McKinnon returned to Canada, he discovered the Sport Management Program at Camosun College. It was an easy decision for him to enrol in the program, and the networks he gained through interning with Victoria’s previous hockey team, the Victoria Salmon Kings, helped lead to his current position with the Western Hockey League Victoria Royals.
“If something’s going to be my career for the next 20, 30, 40 years, I want it to be something that I love,” he says. “The Salmon Kings gave me knowledge that I have now, and the skill sets I’m able to take into this job. Without that internship, probably none of this would have happened.”
McKinnon has a multitude of responsibilities in his new position with the Royals, ranging from managing all social media and press releases to organizing all aspects of team travel and media requests.
Although it’s a lot of work and doesn’t leave him much time to keep working with children, he’s happy to do it. As a Vancouver Canucks fan, being a hockey coordinator is a dream job, and McKinnon is adjusting well.
“It’s been a real whirlwind couple weeks since I took the job. It’s a lot of work but it’s getting easier every day,” he says. “It’s a great organization and they’ve done nothing but help to support me.”
The chair of Sports Excellence at Camosun, Andy Van Neutegem, taught McKinnon throughout his two years at the college and was there when McKinnon received his Bachelor of Sports and Fitness Leadership in 2012.
“As with all of our graduates, we are very proud of Adam, who has worked hard in his studies and taken full advantage of our curriculum and internship opportunities to secure his position with the Royals,” says Van Neutegem.
After returning home and discovering the sports program, McKinnon chose two different paths for his internships: being a media coordinator for the Salmon Kings, creating the connections that led to his current position, and working with kids at the Westshore Parks and Recreation sports camp.
Perhaps he’ll even find a way to start working with kids again, when things settle down at his new job.
“In this day and age it’s just about getting kids outside and keeping them active, and that’s a big part about educating kids these days,” says McKinnon. “Just the way society is, there’s not as much emphasis on physical activity as maybe there once was.”