Bulletin: B115.1 - Meet The New ALA Executive Director - Robin Bauer

Hello ALA Members,

The ALA Board of Directors are pleased to usher in a new era of the ALA starting with the hiring of our new Executive Director, Robin Bauer. Robin is extremely excited and honoured to be joining the ALA.

Robin joins the ALA family from Calgary, where he has resided since 1999 with his wife of 20 years, and their two teenage daughters.

Robin is passionate about sport, has extensive experience throughout the sporting world, and is very excited and keen to take on the ED role to help frame a new vision for the ALA, and with it, a new culture of collaboration, communication, and transparency in a way that helps our Members drive lacrosse into the next decade in the most productive and positive manner possible.

If we were to use two words to describe Robin it would be passion and drive, but we also asked Robin to share a few things about his life and what brought him into the world of lacrosse and the ALA.

MEET ROBIN BAUER

ALA: How has sport impacted your life?

Robin:From the earliest that I can remember we played sport together as a family. Me, my brother, and my dad, we all played everything and even our vacations revolved around our sports. At the age of 15 I moved to Banff and attended a ski academy to pursue my dreams of competing in the Olympics. I didn't make it that far, but I did compete on the World Juniors Team for Canada, qualified to be on the National Development Team, and held a top 15 rank in all of North America for a couple seasons.

That entire experience, where sport was the central theme to everything we did, was just the start of my lifelong involvement in sport. I met my wife playing sport, both my daughters are involved in sport, so it's safe to say that sport has impacted me far beyond just wins and losses, and that is why I'm so excited to embark on a career inside a sporting organization.

ALA: What role do you see sport playing in the lives of kids now?

Robin: I'm not sure how unique my experience was, but the role sport played for me was massive and I think there's an opportunity today for sport to play a bigger and bigger role. Not only does that experience of stepping onto the playing field to compete (no matter what you're playing field is and no matter at what level) hold the possibility to be an amazing experience time-after-time, but the opportunities to develop strong connections, social skills, goal setting, time management, physical health, positive mindset, just to name a few, are second to none.

Sport doesn't always live up to this ideal, and issues certainly exist throughout sport, but I think the present moment, with all that's going on around us, is a great time for everyone to work hard together so sport does live up to those ideals so that kids get the very best experience possible every time they step onto a floor or field, one that maybe even lasts a lifetime.