Courtney Leigh Szto (born 1984) is a Canadian assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at

Queen's University at Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and owns Herstmonceux Castle in East Suss ...

Early life and education

Szto was born and raised in North Delta, British Columbia and played roller hockey and street hockey as a child. When reflecting on her experience in sports, she said, "I’ve been very fortunate to have positive experiences, but what I’ve realized the more I study it is that I’m one of the lucky ones and that it’s by chance." She attended North Delta Secondary School and earned her

Bachelor of Human Kinetics A Bachelor of Human Kinetics (BHk or BHKin) or Bachelor of Science in Human Kinetics (BScHK) is a four-year academic degree awarded by a university upon the completion of a program of study of Human kinetics. Specializations within this degree can i ...

degree from the University of British Columbia. Upon receiving her degree, Szto travelled to Ontario for her Master's degree from the University of Toronto before returning to BC to earn her Doctorate of Philosophy from Simon Fraser University. As a graduate student, Szto received the 2014 Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation Annual Graduate Scholarship award and was a finalist for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Storytellers grant.

Career

Upon receiving her PhD in 2018, Szto accepted an assistant professor position in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at

. While at Queen's, she continued to research the relationship between physical cultures and intersectional justice. In this role, she co-authored a policy paper with

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urging hockey organizations and governments to enact policy changes and re-education of coaches, parents, players, and officials on the importance of anti-racism. After a lack of response from

Hockey Canada Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

, the

Canadian Hockey League The Canadian Hockey League (CHL; french: Ligue canadienne de hockey ‒ LCH) is an umbrella organization that represents the three Canada-based major junior ice hockey leagues. The CHL was founded in 1975 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey L ...

, and the National Hockey League, Bob Dawson, the first black man to play hockey at St. Mary's University, developed the idea for a Roundtable on Racism in Hockey with Szto's help. She also helped lead a study titled ''Changing on the fly'' in 2018, which found that discrimination and a lack of diversity within hockey was the reason for the lack of South Asian participation. Szto would republish the study in 2020 in the form of her first book titled ''Changing on the fly: hockey through the voices of South Asian Canadians.''

Selected publications

*''Sport for development and peace: A public sociology perspective'' (2011) *''Changing on the fly: hockey through the voices of South Asian Canadians'' (2020)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szto, Courtney Living people 1985 births Simon Fraser University alumni University of British Columbia Faculty of Education alumni University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston