Now, Chad Van Dyk uses recreation to help others achieve their potential
Growing up in Seaforth, a quintessential small Southern Ontario town, sports became Chad Van Dyk’s abiding passion.
“I grew up playing soccer, volleyball, hockey and other sports, and was officiating some sports as well,” says Van Dyk (BA ’14, Recreation and Sport Business).
Today, Van Dyk is the director of recreation and active well-being at Western University in London, but he says it was Waterloo’s co-op program that really launched him in his career.
When his Grade 12 high school volleyball coach suggested that he go into the recreation field, Van Dyk realized it was the perfect fit. There were a number of universities he could have gone to, but he says Waterloo’s bachelor in Recreation and Sport Business program stood out because of the university’s well-established co-op program that could provide opportunities for work in that field.
His first co-op job through Waterloo was as an athletics co-ordinator at George Brown College, a role that opened many doors in his subsequent career.
In a small community, there are not a lot of jobs for young people, although Van Dyk was long involved in helping his family in Seaforth with the Toss’ em Up for Childhood Cancer ring toss tournament, in memory of a cousin who had died from cancer. It ran for 11 years and raised more than $650,000 for childhood cancer research.
But the co-op job at George Brown provided him with his first chance to gain skills in event management and administration of recreational sports programs. “I really enjoyed it, so I went back for a second work term, when I was able to take on more leadership opportunities,” he says. He also did a co-op term with the Toronto District School Board as an athletics support staff member, then worked as an intramural manager and sports club coordinator and as a business administration coordinator with the Athletics and Recreation department at Waterloo.
All these experiences began to point to a solid career in recreation management. He decided the next step was a master’s degree, which led him to Western. There, he was able to get work as a teaching assistant and got involved in post-secondary athletics and recreation.
That landed him a job as a recreation sports supervisor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, but he eventually wanted to be closer to his home roots in Ontario. The perfect opportunity came along in 2021, and he took on his current role at Western.
“I have enjoyed my opportunities at different institutions but being able to work at a larger one where we can serve more students and contribute to their overall well-being in a meaningful way was something that was important to me,” Van Dyk says.
The lockdown of sports facilities and recreation activities during the pandemic had a huge physical and emotional impact, but now, he says we have an opportunity to ask, “How can we better serve our campus community? Can we serve them in non-traditional ways and from a more holistic perspective?”
Van Dyk says the experiential learning opportunities he had along the way not only helped him get the job he has today, but they also enable him to give back by empowering his staff and the students he meets now.
“I have been a benefactor of having mentors who provided me with several experiential learning opportunities. Now, I'm empowering others to be decision-makers and take ownership for the work that they're doing.”
