CREDIT: FANSHAWE ATHLETICS
Fanshawe Athletics Manager, Nathan McFadden, has been named the first vice president of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) and hopes to create consistency across the conferences within Canada.

Fanshawe's manager of athletics, Nathan McFadden program was elected the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association's (OCAA) first vice president at the Annual General Meeting on May 4.

McFadden will be on the OCAA Senior Leadership Council, Vice Chairperson of the OCAA, Chair of the OCAA Eligibility Committee and be on the Board of Directors and the OCAA representative of the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA).

McFadden has been at Fanshawe for five and a half years as the manager of athletics. He is a graduate of the University of New Brunswick and is currently working towards his Masters degree.

McFadden previously worked in both the National Hockey League (NHL) and American Hockey League (AHL) for 15 years before making the switch to college athletics to ensure a more secure position and location for him and his family. “It certainly is a very distinct honour to be selected by your peers and fellow athletic directors within the OCAA. They are putting their belief and faith in you to represent them well nationally,” McFadden said.

As the vice president of the OCAA, McFadden's main role is representing the conference within Canada. He is responsible for bringing forward concerns and ideas that the conference can move forward with in order to create consistent rules across the country to create fairness for student athletes.

“Everyone has a different thought on what is best for a student athlete. My role is trying to communicate our point of view in a way that can easily be understood by our peers in the other conferences and hopefully create a consensus and agreement so then hopefully we can get motions passed for our conference that will reflect nationally and move our national body forward,” McFadden said.

One major topic McFadden discussed was creating equality when it comes to scholarships for student athletes. He hopes to come up with a cap so there is a fairness for recruiting purposes.

“We have a cap in Ontario of $3,000 a year, where in Alberta, that conference can offer complete tuition which means up to $15,000 to $18,000,” McFadden said.

Despite this issue, Fanshawe's athletics program has achieved great success. According to a Fanshawe athletics May 10 press release, the Falcons are coming off their most successful year in a 51 year history. In the 2017/18 school year, Fanshawe earned 20 OCAA and CCAA medals leaving them in second place in the conference.

“The amount of work and time and commitment that the students put into their craft is absolutely astounding. Our teams and student athletes are highly regarded when it comes to the job that they do when they go out on their respected playing surfaces,” McFadden said.

According to McFadden, Fanshawe now has the second biggest athletics department in Ontario. The campus recreation program is the largest in Ontario and continues to grow.

The college's athletic facilities and professional manner within the department is something that is respected by both colleges and universities on a national level.

“I am very fortunate to be here and enjoy the college atmosphere and the people I get to work with every day and our students are outstanding. It is wonderful to feel the energy of our students here at Fanshawe,” McFadden said.