Mike McMahon

What is your NIRSA “Why”? (What does NIRSA mean to you?)

NIRSA serves as a regulatory body to guide young professionals towards the tools they need to start their career. NIRSA serves as a network and development platform for mid-level professionals to fine tune their skills and learn or modify best practices to best serve their membership base. NIRSA serves as a multinational organization that senior leadership can utilize to develop their team and derive solution through collaboration with other leaders from similar or differing institutions. With work that has been done over the past 75 years NIRSA structure and values provide indispensable resources for all levels of professionals looking to improve the way they understand recreation’s role in the student experience. I find NIRSA does an excellent job at addressing relevant cultural issues while integrating potential solutions that can be delivered in across a wide variety of institutions.

On a personal level, I find NIRSA to be an excellent way to interact with other fitness professional working in recreation spaces. The more I interact with others who are motivated like me, the more energy I can bring back to my team. My team can in turn, deliver that energy to the participants in their programs thus enhancing the student experience.

NIRSA serves as a guiding light for social conversations as well. Whether is conversations around Black Lives Matter, LGBTQIA2S= rights or something simple like the perennial conversation around footwear or the lack there of in fitness spaces, there is always open and respectful dialogue that can take place.

Organizations like NIRSA allow individuals ln any level interact with current research to define best practices at their institutions as well. I think this is incredibly important as it forms the foundation of a better understanding of best practices and creates the more effective and streamlined networking opportunities (as the conversations are based off a shared understanding of current research)

If I was to speak plainly about NIRSA, it’s just a great space to network. I’ve had awesome conversations over the years with people I’ve never even met because we share the same passion for the industry we work in and have similar problems regardless of working in different countries. I guess that’s the nice thing about NIRSA, it brings people together.

What are the current trends in collegiate recreation and higher education that you see impacting our work and the Association? How would you collaborate with the members in your region and the Member Network team to solve these issues?

A current trend in Canada right now is the government’s decision to restrict the number of international students allowed to apply for VISAs. This of course lowers the amount of revenue generated by the school and is reflected in the funds distributed to the individual departments. All schools are facing this issue and can connect to share effective solutions to this common problem.

An initial round table to discuss the impact on each institution would be a good way to start the conversation. Of course, prefacing the Round Table with agenda items and a request for each participant to present how their campus is experiencing the cutbacks and presenting solutions would help facilitate the conversation.

I would suggest that connecting with some of the small program schools might help some of the larger schools that are not used to having as many financial constraints could help define some potential solutions as well.

In time, solutions will emerge. From this, a potential talk at a Annual NIRSA conference could help define strategies that were most effective over a large variety of campuses to create proactive solutions for campuses that might experience financial constraints one a more specific level not related to government restrictions.

How has your experience in your state, region, and/or NIRSA prepared you to serve on the Member Network? What unique skills or talents would you bring to the Member Network?

I would say that All Canadian participants in NIRSA benefit greatly from the ability to communicate with others in their field through the Member Network and NIRSA Connect. I know when I first began my role, I did set up a monthly meeting between other fitness coordinators across Canada to learn from them but also to bring people back together after the pandemic. I think there were a lot of shared stories in those times and there were such creative ideas that came out of a terrible circumstance.

I bring undying optimism to the team!!! I think that there is always a solution to any problem but I’m also realistic in the sense that there are no true solutions, only trade-offs. We do have to be clear about staffing, funding and time constraints when discussing potential solutions to any problem.

I do bring 15 years of experience from working in many roles across the for-profit, non-profit and educational sectors. I would also say that having worked as an educator for close to 15 years will give me the confidence to help lead groups, round tables, presentations and team meetings with relative ease. I’m confident in my skills and I think that shines through when I facilitate group discussion and lead projects.

I do truly believe in allowing all voices to be heard, it’s the only way we can get to the best possible answer for all parties involved.