Name: Amy de Bree
Degree: BA'08, BEd'10, MEd Coaching Studies
Current Profession/Employer:
High School Teacher (Sir Winston Churchill Secondary)
Video Coordinator (UBC Women's Ice Hockey)
Hockey Coach, Owner of athletetransitions.ca

Favourite T-Bird memory: 
The countless road trips, especially the bus trips to Lethbridge, and all the post-game dressing room celebrations. Win or lose, we celebrated….and we definitely lost more than we won.

Favourite place on campus: 
The Arena, nothing compares to the feeling of walking into an ice rink and feeling the cold hit your face.

What was your first job after graduation?
I continued playing in the WWHL and worked part time as a receptionist/personal trainer at a local gym.

What advice do you have for current student-athletes? 
Enjoy the process, it is rarely the games that you remember, but the memories you create with your friends and teammates along the way. It is the time on the bus, or in the airport. It is the feeling how you came together a big loss, the tears, and the feeling of picking yourselves back up and getting ready for the next game. It is all the laughs and inside jokes you have as a team. We recently lost one of our alumna, Laura Kosakoski, and when I remember Kos, those are the things I remember. The laughs, the tears, singing in the car, dancing in the dressing room.

How and where do you find inspiration? 
I am continually inspired by the next generation. As an alumna, it has been amazing to see what the current women's hockey team has accomplished on and off the ice. The culture that has been developed within the team is inspiring, they continually push boundaries and strive to leave the program better for the next generation.

Anything particular insights during this quarantine? 
Practice gratitude. It is so easy to focus on what we have lost or what I can't do right now, but if we can flip our mindset and focus on what we have it makes the challenges and struggles we face more manageable. Even if it is just one thing a day, expressing our gratitude can go a long way.

What are your books/movie suggestions?
I am currently reading "The Obstacle is the Way" by Ryan Holiday, it is a really fitting book for this time and for athletes. It is about using obstacles to our advantage rather than letting them stop our progress. I am also reading "Dare to Lead" by Brené Brown, I take any opportunity to ingest Brené's work, books, videos, podcast, she is a favourite of mine. 

What are your go-to songs and podcasts? 
Brené Brown's "Unlocking Us" podcast

Can you share any new quarantine hobbies/goals? 
I have taken up gardening, it helps me get outside and gives me a way to work with my hands. Working from home has me sitting and spending more time inside than normal, so gardening reconnects me with nature.

What question would you ask other T-Birds/mentors?
What skills from your playing career have you found most useful in the working world? And how did you learn to articulate the life skills you learned from your playing career to potential employers?

What question do you wish we had asked you? 
I really struggled with my transition away from sport because I had an exclusive athletic identity, so I don't think I was in a place to ask questions, but I really wish someone would have told me about the need to expand my identity and to invest in all aspects of myself. 

How can other alumni/student-athletes connect with you? 
@athletetransitions.ca on Instagram, athletetransitions.ca (website) or athletestransitions@gmail.com