The McGill Women’s Alumnae Association partnered with the McGill Women in Sport Program to host a panel featuring Paralympic Ski Champion Karolina Wisniewska and McGill Assistant Swim Coach Nikki van Noord to speak on their careers in sports, the influence McGill had on their success, and how gender affected their journeys.
In her first year at McGill, Wisniewska, BA ‘99, made the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team and spent the rest of her four years balancing her skiing career with academics. While a student, she became World Champion in Super G and won silver at the 1998 Paralympic Games in Japan.
“It was very challenging to be on the national team and pursue that [academic] schedule,” Wisniewska said. “I was in my first year, and I’d never been to university or to Montreal, so I was a bit lost. And I just went about it the best way I knew how.”
She shared that she regrets not asking for help and urged other athletes struggling to learn from her mistake.
Van Noord, M.E. ‘22, is currently pursuing a doctorate in exercise physiology. She swam for five seasons at McGill before joining the coaching staff, where she helped McGill win the 2024 Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec Championships and was selected for the 2024 U SPORTS Female Apprentice Coach Program.
“I came to McGill as a pretty mediocre swimmer,” she said. “Peter [Carpenter] will admit to me now that I was the last pick the first year of my McGill career […] him taking that chance on me is, fundamentally, what’s changed my entire life [….] Sometimes all you need is one person believing in you and seeing your potential when you don’t see it in yourself; that’s something I can only hope to be for [other] athletes.”
When the speakers were asked how their gender impacted their experience in sports, van Noord described her evolving goals.
“I’m hoping that [leadership positions] can be something that not just women are a part of, that we can build it and have a more equal showing,” she said. “And part of that as an athlete is becoming captain of the team or trying to strive for a leadership role. This led me to be like, ‘Well now in this leadership role, there’s only so much that I can do. What can I do next?’ And that next step was becoming a coach. Now I’m like, ‘Well, now that I’m this woman and coaching, what can I do now?’”
She concluded her response by reiterating that she hopes she can help inspire even just one athlete, and Wisniewska caught her with an important correction.
“You keep saying, ‘Maybe I’ll hopefully touch one person’s life.’ Stop it. Everybody who is female in this room, just stop that ‘Oh maybe one person,’” she said. “[Instead say,] ‘Yes. I’m going to impact a lot of people’s lives for the better.’”
This moment was a significant one that audience members and Martlet Soccer players Aaliyah Kamdar, U2 Arts, and Alexandra Hughes-Goyette, a Master’s student in science, highlighted.
“Imposter syndrome is a thing a lot of women experience. So just hearing these successful women talk about that today really helps with how to deal with it,” Kamdar shared.
“It validates those feelings, to know that I’m not the only one who feels that way in those settings,” Hughes-Goyette added.
As a final question, the panellists were asked to share advice for young women athletes. Van Noord underlined the importance of passion and leadership when playing a sport or coaching one, emphasizing that inherent talent is not in the criteria for success in coaching. Wisniewska also highlighted the importance of hard work.
“I was never the best skier because I was born disabled […] until you have the results […] until I see how you’re skiing, or how you treat your teammates and your coaches, that’s what counts,” Winiewska said. “Just shut up and get to work. That’s the point. Do the work, put in the time. You will get the results.”
