Behind the scenes
Any Mount Royal Cougars game, final result or special event doesn’t happen without the knowledge of events and communications coordinator Kyle Henry.
Henry graduated from the broadcasting program at SAIT in 2006. He completed his degree at Royal Roads University before taking his first job with the British Columbia Government. The 24-year-old saw the available position at Mount Royal, took the job after a phone interview and has been here since last June.
Henry said it was a thrill to come back to Calgary, as he was familiar with the sports community and could get back to sports, something he cares about.
“I kind of found with my last position with the government that if you don’t really care about the content that you’re working with it’s kind of hard to be passionate about your work, so if it’s sports related it’s easier for me to care about and in turn I can give my full commitment and passion to it.”
A typical day for Henry includes various media interviews, either print or television, promoting recent game results and developing stories based on student athletes.
“I definitely like working with people and working with media, giving a voice to our department,” he said.
“I like to be out there promoting something I care about.”
Mount Royal’s Athletics Manager Karla Karch said that Henry is the main liaison with the media whether it is within the school or within the city. She said that student athletes are ambassadors for the school and through stories about those athletes, “it’s basically free marketing (for Mount Royal).”
Working with Cougar Athletics means that Henry has to maintain a close relationship with coaches, “because we work so much hand-in-hand.”
“I need a lot from them and they need a lot from me so we kind of rely on each other.”
It’s not only a good relationship with coaches that is important, Henry said it’s also nice to have support for Cougar Athletics from higher echelons within the college, namely Mount Royal President Dave Marshall.
“He comes to our games all the time. When you have that level of support right at the top — from people like the president — it makes it a lot easier to market and sell what you have to offer.”
With the recent success of Mount Royal’s men’s basketball winning CCAA gold and the men’s and women’s hockey teams bringing home silver medals from ACAC play, Henry is proud to work for the Cougar Athletic association.
“We’re known as one of the top collegiate athletic programs in Canada so for me to be able to work with an organization as successful as Cougar Athletics is a huge thrill.”