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Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
2022.9.9 |
Object Name |
Video Recording |
Title |
Tricia Smith Interview 2022 |
Interview Summary / Résumé d'entrevue |
Tricia Smith, Order of Sport recipient, inducted in 2022, born in Vancouver, BC, talks about being in a family of five children with parents and siblings all involved in sports growing up and how they supported each other. Tricia describes encountering the glass ceiling when she became more involved in sports administration. However, she did not allow it to affect her outlook. Tricia describes her belief in working with integrity and developing alliances and views women's issues in sport with a macro lens, seeing them as issues with sport overall. Tricia describes inclusion as integral to good governance. When reflecting on the legacy she hopes to leave behind, Tricia recalls a conversation with her parents and her desire to "leave things just a little bit better than [she] found them." Tricia emphasizes her belief that sport provides a platform for unity and community building and that sport can have a positive influence on individuals of all ages and backgrounds. As an athlete, she describes how she learned to break down goals into multiple smaller, achievable targets. Tricia also describes how sport can provide positive opportunities for women and girls. She is prosaic when discussing the influence of sport on one's life when combined with other challenges someone might face. She discusses how losing two of her brothers influenced her perspective on what matters most in life. Entrevue avec Tricia Smith, 6 septembre 2022. MP4 d'origine numérique, temps de visionnement : 00:16:31. Tricia Smith, récipiendaire de l'Ordre du sport, a été intronisée en 2022 et est née à Vancouver, en Colombie-Britannique. Elle raconte comment elle a grandi dans une famille de cinq enfants où les parents ainsi que les frères et sœurs faisaient tous du sport et s'appuyaient dans ces activités. Tricia décrit comment elle s'est heurtée au plafond de verre lorsqu'elle s'est impliquée davantage au niveau de l'administration sportive. Cependant, elle n'a pas laissé cet obstacle ternir son attitude. Tricia décrit son approche et ses convictions : l'importance de travailler avec intégrité et de développer des alliances. Elle considère les questions touchant les femmes dans le sport avec une optique très large, il s'agit selon elle de problèmes faisant partie du sport en général. Tricia dit que l'inclusion est un aspect intégral de la bonne gouvernance. Lorsqu'elle réfléchit à l'héritage qu'elle souhaiterait laisser, elle se remémore une conversation qu'elle a eue avec ses parents au sujet de leur désir de " lui laisser un monde un tout petit peu meilleur que celui dans lequel elle était arrivée ". Tricia souligne que le sport fournit une plateforme encourageant l'unité et le développement des communautés et que le sport peut exercer une influence positive sur les individus de tous âges et de toute provenance. En tant qu'athlète, elle a appris à organiser ses objectifs en une série de cibles plus petites et plus facilement atteignables. Tricia parle également des opportunités que le sport offre aux femmes et aux filles. Elle discute de l'influence que le sport peut avoir sur la vie des gens quand ils font face à d'autres défis. Elle raconte qu'après avoir perdu deux de ses frères, sa perspective de ce qui compte le plus dans la vie a changé. |
Scope & Content |
Tricia Smith interview, 6 September 2022. Born digital MP4, viewing time 00:16:31 Transcription (edited): Interviewer (00:39): You are responsible for quite literally bringing a female perspective to the table across various organizations, but I appreciate it's probably not been an easy climb. What adversities have you faced in your journey? Tricia Smith (00:58): Gosh. There's a lot of stories to tell and it could be a lot of fun sharing stories, I'm sure. I grew up in a family of five kids, mom and dad both did sports. I never had a feeling that I couldn't do anything because I was a girl. We were treated equally. We were given the same opportunities. As I launched into my sport career, and even in my sport career when I used to speak up for athletes, I never really thought about it, in terms of female, male and challenges. Certainly, as I got more into the sport world, and internationally, then you start to see what they meant about glass ceilings and the big challenges, but my approach has always been to do good work, and to develop alliances, and I really saw any issues that were women's issues as sport issues when we were dealing with sport. (02:27): I always took the approach that, especially when they say, "Oh Tricia, what do you the women think?" I say, "Well, that's not really a women's issue. What do we all think?" Always take that approach, but for sure there have been challenges, in terms of just opening up people's minds to the fact that we're all human beings, and that inclusion is actually part of good governance, and everyone's stronger if there's diversity around the table. Interviewer (02:59): It's easy to see you light up as soon as you talk about that topic and that's awesome. You are one of the most influential women in Canadian sports. With your impact transcending Canadian borders, when it's all said and done, and you've hung up the gloves, so to speak, what do you hope your legacy is? What do you hope people really remember you by? Tricia Smith (03:31): I'm a pretty simple person. I think as a kid I remember struggling and asking my parents, "How do we change the world? How do we make things better?" I remember them saying to me, "We just do our best within our own sphere of influence, and try and leave things better than you found them," and I hope people will feel like I've done that. I've done my part in leaving things just a little better than I found them. Interviewer (04:07): On the same vein, traveling around the world and doing good here, and then abroad, what keeps that drive going for you? What is the fuel behind the fire, so to speak? Tricia Smith (04:25): There's so many things. Again, I was so fortunate in having the opportunities I did through sport, and I saw the benefits not only to myself, but to the community. I see that with young girls, young boys. I saw that in 2010 with this country how the Olympics brought our country together. We've all read Nelson Mandela's book, and seen the films, about how sport brings people together like nothing else. I really believe that sport is valuable in our community and there's a lot to do in sport. (05:05): I really want to make it possible for every kid to play sport if they want to play sport, every grownup to play sport, every adult to play sport if they want to play sport, because I do think it brings so much to our community, to our culture, brings people together. No matter where you are in the world, you already have something in common if you're playing sport. I think that keeps me going, because I see that sport is challenged on many fronts, and I want to be one of those people that defends sport, and carries it on for future generations. Interviewer (05:48): It's interesting you say that. In one of the articles I read, you talked about the power of sport, and we at Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, with particularly in the middle of a pandemic, shuttered our doors and really focused on our education programs and really thought about, "Okay, what's the most biggest way for us to make an impact," and it's connecting youth to stories like yours, and the power of sport in that way. As a defender of sport, do you think that it's standing up to this expectation as being an educator and bettering our country? Tricia Smith (06:30): Absolutely, because you do learn so much about yourself, you learn so much about others through sport, and you learn some incredible lessons through sport. It's very similar to life itself. A little more simplistic I suppose, in terms of you work really hard, and you cross the finish line first. It's a little simpler to measure than succeeding in other parts of life. I do think you learn some incredible skills, the teamwork, how to work with others, and how to bring people together, how to inspire a team. (07:09): When I stopped sport and started in my law career, and people were talking about "team," I never got the sense that they really understood how deep that team could be and how far you could go with that. At first I wondered, "Well, how are you going to do this if you don't train together every day," and so on. It's a bit of a transition, but I do think you learn incredible skills through sports. I think, absolutely, it's something that certainly I see is really, really valuable to young people and I think should be encouraged if they want to, but kids should have the opportunity at least. Interviewer (07:58): Okay, awesome. Going back to the values and life principles, capturing the essence of what you just said, in terms of lessons from sport, but what would you say, whether it was actually rowing, or in the work that you've done out of the boat, if you will. What are the life lessons that you've learned, or derived from, through sport? Tricia Smith (08:33): I think goal setting and how to achieve goals is a huge one in sport. You see a huge task ahead of you, and sometimes I think it can be intimidating, but when you've done it through sport, you're going for an Olympic medal, but you just don't go for the Olympic medal. It's just day-by-day. What are you going to do each day to get there? You work back from the goal. Things like that are skills that you learn. There's just so many things. I think the importance of integrity, the importance of respect. (09:11): If there isn't integrity in sport, that loses all its meaning. I think you can apply that very much to life, as well. If there's no integrity, what's the point? I think there's a lot of life lessons through the purity of sport. If you can continue with that pure drive and achievement that you gained through sport. I would totally erase that answer. It didn't make any sense. Interviewer (09:52): It was interesting the whole breaking down goal setting. That is such a common theme I've heard from Olympians. It is really interesting. Tricia Smith (10:05): I think probably the other thing that I've learned through sport is it is the great equalizer. In Canada, we're really fortunate. We still have challenges if you look at the difference between men's and women's teams, especially professionally, and so on. I see in other countries where there are bigger challenges, in terms of women having opportunities, and often sport will open the door to those opportunities. That's really exciting. (10:30): I've seen that through my work internationally, where if we've got a development program and a country comes to us and says, "Well, we want to start a rowing programs and men's rowing programs. Well, actually our program works boys, girls, men, women." They end up doing that. The women and girls get an opportunity that they might not have had otherwise. Sport does open doors sometimes, and then it can move on into beyond that, into administration and even educational opportunities that women and girls might not have had in certain situations and sport. Sport can be a great equalizer that way. It's very valuable. Interviewer (11:10): Cool. From your family of athletes, and your rowing community, into the law community, and now your global community, numerous NSOs and organizations. What would you say is the role that community played, or has played, or continues to play in your story? Tricia Smith (11:40): I don't know if it's fluke that I ended up in a team sport, because I come from a big family, and I still have an incredible family around me. It's always been a huge part of who I am, is my family, me being proud of my family, and them being proud of me. All of us being proud of each other, just encouraging each other in what we do. I would say it extends to the sport family and to the broader community. Humans generally love to be around other humans. I like people. I'm interested in people. I'm always interested in people that have different views than I do, because I think, "Okay, how did you come to that view, and how can we expand our own perspectives through understanding how other people are coming to an issue?" (12:33): I think community, for me, is really, really important. Sport has naturally played into that for me, because my sport is a community. I rowed in 8's, you got a little community right there with you. It was easier to row in a pair, but you were surrounded by others as well. Yeah, absolutely. Community is a big part, and I think it's something that you learn in sport as well, in terms of what your strengths are, what other's strengths are, and how you can be stronger by coming together. Interviewer (13:06): Wonderful. The whole spirit of community and the community rallying behind you, and the Order of Sport award is a public nomination process. The nominations come, and this year was from over 220 nominations, qualified nominations, and having your community rally behind you. Now, on October 6th you will receive the Order of Sport award, which is marked as Canada's highest sporting honor and really speaks to the role that sport has played in shaping our country. What does it mean to think of standing up there, and receiving that award, and to be part of such a diverse, and incredible, remarkable class in 2022? Tricia Smith (13:57): What a tremendous question. You set that up. That was really good. I think for me it's so meaningful, because I have always wanted to do my part. When I was an athlete, and myself, and another athlete, we started the first Athletes Committee, because we wanted to give feedback and do our part. I've always wanted to do my part. For me, this is an acknowledgement that I have done my part to a certain extent. I'm not finished yet, but it's huge for me in that respect, because it's recognition of that. I'm really, really thankful and honored. Tricia Smith (15:18): There's one thing I would say, but I don't know if you want it to say this. I have an incredible family. I lost both my brothers, because there was five kids. I think in your life, as you go through your life and you have challenges in your life, I think that also gives you incredible perspective. As you go through life, and you have your ups and downs, and challenges, and opportunities, and victories and so on, I think you also gain perspective on life and you can be so thankful for all of the wonderful things you've had. (16:05): Also, as you move forward in life, put things in perspective and not to get too upset about things. Does it really matter? It gives you a perspective in life. I think as you get to my age, you've had those things in your life, and I think it's really important as perspective, and that has allowed me to move forward, because I have that perspective. Although, I think sport is really, really important, you have to keep it all in perspective, in terms of why we're here on this planet. I think that's important, as well. Interviewer (16:46): It's interesting, because I've only been with Canada's Sports Hall of Fame for just under two years, but even in my time, a lot of times as a builder, you've had those different perspectives. Obviously, [inaudible 00:17:05] losing your brothers is another perspective that affords you the balance of that, because I think sport is a piece of a bigger picture. It plays such a big role. Tricia Smith (17:20): It gives you those skills to pick up and move on, as well. I think no matter what challenges you have in your life, there's something that you get out a sport that does give you those tools to figure out, "Okay, that's the way it is. What are we going to do about it?" I think that's something that I see a lot in the Canadian teams these days. With COVID, "Okay, that's the way it is. What are we going to do about it?" I was really proud of the teams going into the last couple of games, always at the Olympic Games, but these teams faced a lot and they really had that perspective, "Okay, that's it. What are we going to do about it?" Then, move forward in a very positive way. That's something I've learned through life, too. |
Date |
2022/09/06 |
People |
Smith, Tricia |
Search Terms |
Tricia Smith Rowing Coxless Pairs 1984 Olympic Games Los Angeles IOC COC International Olympic Committee Canadian Olympic Committee World Championship Commonwealth Games International Rowing Federation Court of Arbitration for Sport Pan Am Sports |