By Rachel Cooper (’89)

The influence of an outstanding coach can last a lifetime.

Female athletes from the 1960s and ’70s have set up an Acadia award in Liz Vermeulen’s name to honour their friend and former coach and the strong teamwork she fostered. Now they’re hoping more of Liz’s former student athletes and other alumni will join them in supporting the Liz Vermeulen Women’s Sport Award.

Established in 2021, the award is given to a returning women’s varsity athlete who demonstrates leadership qualities within her respective program and is in good academic standing. It was the brainchild of Susan Roberts (’70), who took the lead on creating the award and connecting with alumni from her time at Acadia. Thanks to her efforts, the first disbursement of funds was in the 2021–22 academic year.

“It means a lot to know that those athletes I coached think enough of me to donate to something like this,” Liz says. “But a bigger reward has always been knowing all those people and staying in contact with a lot of them. Susan was in her first year at Acadia when I started. We have stayed in touch, and she still means a lot to me.”

Changing lives

When Liz joined Acadia in 1966, not long out of university herself, it was to have been a one-year appointment. That year, she coached two field hockey teams, a volleyball squad, two basketball teams and the women’s curling team. She also taught physical education to all first-year female students and instructed an elective course for the School of Education.

Her one-year appointment turned into more than three decades. When Liz retired in 1998, she was inducted into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame as “an outstanding teacher, coach, and administrator of women’s intercollegiate athletics.”

“I think my biggest reward is that a number of my former students have written me notes and letters saying, ‘You changed my life.’ That means the world to me,” Liz says.

During her career and into retirement, Liz has been a tireless and effective member of associations established to promote intercollegiate sports. As a member since 1962 of the Canadian Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (CAHPER), she contributed immensely to such founding programs as the Adapted Program and Teacher Education in Physical Education. In 1987, she was made a Fellow of CAHPER. She was also part of the founding committee that established, in Nova Scotia, the Teachers’ Association for Physical and Health Education.

An enduring influence

Two early supporters of the new award were Pam (Rice) Lynch (’69) and Joey (Bell) Brown (’69).

Now retired, Pam is a dietitian who began her career at the IWK as a paediatric dietitian. Later, she and Susan, also a dietitian, started a private nutrition-counselling practice specializing in sport nutrition. They ran the practice together and team-taught at Mount Saint Vincent University until Susan moved out west. Pam’s family are third-generation Acadia people: her parents both played varsity sports here, and her two daughters attended as well.

“I’m supporting this award because of Liz and Susan,” Pam says. “Liz was my coach at Acadia, and I really enjoyed her enthusiasm. I think it’s extremely important for us as alumni to help, especially now. You get so much more out of sport than just friends and comradeship – you learn so much about life from it as well. It’s important to contribute to keep women’s sport going.”

Joey had a 40-year career in public relations, most recently in financial communications and investor relations. She was the founding CEO of the Canadian Investor Relations Institute and worked there for 14 years until she retired. “I attribute some of my success in business to having been part of the volleyball and basketball varsity teams at Acadia,” she says. “The four years culminated in receiving my Athletic A pin. Working together to realize success, teamwork and consensus-building on how to achieve our goals – and the fact that we always had fun – I think were the drivers to my success.”

Liz and Joey have remained friends. “She was a constant source of encouragement while I was at Acadia,” Joey says. “She improved all our skill bases, identified each of the strengths that we had and moulded us into the teams that we became. Her coaching attracted good people.”

Liz’s enduring connection to former students is not surprising. She has always been attuned to other people and looking for ways to encourage them. “One of my favourite tasks at exam time,” she says, “was to wander around the building to see who was there and who just needed a little chat with somebody.”

If you would like to support the Liz Vermeulen Women’s Sport Award, you can donate online or email advancement@acadiau.ca for information.

Pictured above, Susan Roberts (’70, left) with Liz Vermeulen today. Below, Joey (Bell) Brown (’69) salmon fishing at Haida Gwaii in 2017.