BC Wheelchair Sports Welcomes Dr. Jacqueline Patatas to Our Team

BC Wheelchair Sports is pleased to announce that Dr. Jacqueline “Jackie” Patatas, PhD, is joining our team as a Program Manager.  Jackie comes to us from Sao Paulo, Brazil. She will be taking over the management of the BC wheelchair rugby program including athlete, official, and coach recruitment/development, event hosting and the administration of our provincial and development team programs.

Jackie has a PhD in Paralympic Sport Management from Vrije University Brussels and brings extensive parasport experience to the BCWSA team. Experience that includes serving as a Competition Coordinator at the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games, an Event Manager at the 2018 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships and, as a Sports Analyst for the Brazilian Paralympic Committee.

An accomplished researcher and academic, Jackie has been at the UNESCO Chair in Inclusive Physical Education Sport and Fitness and is currently a research fellow with the SPLISS group (Sport Policy Factors Leading the International Sporting Success) working on research to assess, evaluate, and advise high-performance managers on how to optimize their Paralympic sport system.   She’s looking forward to putting that research to practice on the ground in BC.

“I feel very honoured to join the BCWSA team because I will have the opportunity to put my years of research into practice, working on developing wheelchair rugby athletes, coaches, and officials’ pathways from participation to the high-performance level. I hope to add value and contribute significantly to the delivery of programs and the development of strategies targeting the growth of Wheelchair Rugby in BC. I am also very proud to join a team with significant experience in hosting high-level sport events and I hope I can help and support BCWSA in maintaining the level of success and excellence in the delivery of Wheelchair Rugby events”
-Jackie Patatas

We couldn’t be happier to welcome Jackie to the BC Wheelchair Sports Team and Wheelchair Rugby Program and can’t wait to see the impact she has on wheelchair sports in BC.  

“I am incredibly excited to welcome Jackie to our team at BC Wheelchair Sports.  Her extensive background in parasport competition hosting, combined with her education and research focussed on parasport management and policy will elevate the work that we do in every respect.  I believe that she will not only benefit our organization, but the parasport system in Canada as a whole.  I look forward to a rich learning experience and exchange of knowledge as we work together to develop our athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers!”
-BCWSA Executive Director, Gail Hamamoto

Jackie will be working remotely from Brazil for the next few months before making Vancouver home. She can be reached via email at Jackie@bcwheelchairsports.com and is excited to meet and get to know the members of our vibrant and active wheelchair sports community.