New chairs named to Sport for Life, Physical Literacy for Life Boards of Directors

Both Sport for Life and its charitable foundation, Physical Literacy for Life, have named new chairs to their boards of directors.

Starting in September 2021 and January 2022 respectively, Ram Nayyar and Jacquelyn Novak have taken the helm of their operations. Both are familiar faces who have served on the boards previously, and will continue to champion the mission of improving the quality sport and physical literacy ecosystem in Canada and beyond our borders.

“I couldn’t be more excited to get this opportunity to lead our organization into the future. It’s such a dynamic and unpredictable time to be doing this work, but it’s more important than ever that we reach Canadians with our message,” said Novak.

Novak presently wears a number of hats in not-for-profit and sport. She is the Managing Director with Toa Consulting, a boutique consulting firm focused on the sport, tourism and not-for-profit industries. She’s an instructor in the Sport Management program at Camosun College focusing on sport technology and innovation. And on the athlete and coach development side, she acts as a coach developer for Softball BC. She most recently has taken on the important role of Director, Sport for I∙SPARC (Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation Council) supporting Indigenous sport programming and competition for communities across B.C. 

The other board will be chaired by Nayyar, a Badminton coach specialist who has traveled to over 90 countries globally and has coached at every major sporting event in his sport including the Olympics. Best-selling author of The Sport of Life and a Level 5 Chartered Professional Coach, Ram has received multiple awards in the field of coaching and believes that sport is a metaphor for life. He is a coach developer within the Canadian system as well as a Para, Level 1 & 2 Tutor for the International Federation. He has used his knowledge as a coach and coach developer to be the founder of Fearlessness Consulting Inc. a company dedicated to helping others to excel and reach heights yet not imagined.

“As I look at the world around me, what I see is people struggling in this time to find meaning for themselves and the anxiety that this causes them. As a person who himself grew up  being picked on, it was sport that gave me confidence and resilience. In these unsure times, it is movement and physical activity that have the ability to provide so much more than a simple physical health benefit. It is why, when I work with various clients, ths starting point is movement. It is a privilege to be on the cutting edge of that type of thought and to be able to help where we can,” Nayyar said.

‘There are so many threats to our health these days, including the pandemic, but one of the leading causes of disease and death continues to be sedentary living. People just aren’t moving enough. The work we’re doing will ensure the opportunities are there for everyone to become active for life.”