New athletic director to expand services

Leslie Dal Cin has been appointed the new chair of Athletics and Recreation by Queen’s Athletics, the first woman to hold this position since 1873. Dal Cin replaces John McFarlane, who retired last year, ending a 30-year career at Queen’s, the last 11 as chair of Athletics and Recreation.

“Those are big shoes to fill,” Dal Cin said of succeeding McFarlane.

Dr. Jean Cote, acting director of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, stated in a press release that “[w]e are confident that we have found a strong leader to guide the athletics and recreation team at Queen’s.”

Dal Cin takes over Queen’s Athletics [xx].

“I think that the things I’m going to bring are a little more focused on the high-performance end of the sport, the business opportunities that are created by linking up with the community a little bit more,” she said. “But I’m also looking at expanding the services that we offer in our campus recreation and intramurals.”

In addition, the results of the upcoming Queen’s Athletics Review will give Dal Cin more tools with which to improve athletic programs across campus.

“Putting the recommendations into place is going to be a priority,” she said.

Prior to her appointment at Queen’s Athletics, Dal Cin was heavily involved with sports administration and coaching. She was also a high-profile athlete in her own right.

She graduated from York University with a degree in Physical Education, where she also played basketball and won an Ontario Championship.

Following her playing career, Dal Cin completed a coaching certification and began her first of several coaching stints, which included time at York University, the University of Waterloo, Laurentian University and the University of Toronto. While Dal Cin worked for a number of institutions in sports administration, one of her more substantial accomplishments came as executive director of Canada Basketball, when both the men’s and women’s basketball teams qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Dal Cin left Canada Basketball in 2004 to start her own consulting company and found herself in New Zealand working on a consulting contract with Basketball New Zealand.

“I left Canada Basketball knowing that I accomplished everything that I set out to do,” she said.

Dal Cin said she believes that the Queen’s Athletics program will revolve around the development of the Queen’s Centre and the new West Campus Stadium, which is still under review by the Campus Planning and Development Committee.

“I sense from the people that hired me that they’re looking for a little bit different direction with our athletics and recreation program,” she said. “And that direction has to fit into what we look like in the Queen’s Centre, when we have this unbelievable facility.”

Dal Cin knows that she will face challenges, especially concerning resources and funding.

“Our league has just approved first-year athletic awards, and it’s a big chunk of money,” she said. “We’re going to have to restructure to allow ourselves to become marketers and event promoters so we can capitalize on achieving activities that are going to contribute to raising funds for those athletic awards.”