Administrator | Advocate
Debbie Pyne has devoted a lifetime of work to create opportunities for young girls and women in sport here in British Columbia.
Her involvement with ProMOTION Plus and CAAWS began in 1994, almost thirty years ago, to pilot the “On the Move” program. A national program to inspire young girls to participate in sport and physical activity. Since then, Debbie has served 10 years on the Board of Directors of ProMOTION Plus, including Chairing the provincial organization from 2009-2010, and an additional 5 years as an Honorary Director.
She was awarded the 2010 CAAWS Most Influential Women in Sport in Canada and was a strong advocate for the inclusion of women ski jumpers in the 2010 Winter and Paralympics Games in Vancouver. Hosting a reception for the USA and Canada Women Ski Jumpers as they battled for inclusion in the Olympics.
Debbie has been actively involved with Sport BC, serving two terms on the Board of Directors. In 2009, she was a recipient of the Sport BC President’s Award and was instrumental in creating the category for “Female Coach Award” for the annual Athlete of the Year Awards. She provided leadership to ensuring gender equity and equality was kept at the forefront of the organization.
In her role as Executive Director for BC Ladies Golf Association from 2002-2004, she lead in the merger a membership of 20,000 girls and women to establish a new provincial sport organization, British Columbia Golf. Her focus during the amalgamation was on gender equity solutions and equal representation of women on the new Board of Directors.
Now in the capacity of Managing Director of Player Development for BC Golf, she has worked tirelessly to deliver new golf programs, services and opportunities to inspire girls to participate and to compete in golf.
Debbie was successful in creating and managing the first-ever school golf program, “Playground to Fairway TM,” in BC. The program introduced 40,000 elementary school girls to learn the fundamentals of the sport from 2007-2015, in a span of nine years. This was one of many initiatives that Debbie has undertaken in her career.
She worked hand-in-hand with the BC female players and coaches, notably helping to establish one of the best competitive girls and women’s golf programs in the country. Winning countless National Junior Girls and Amateur Women’s titles in Canada and a historic record number of gold medals at the Canada Summer Games for the junior girls. In 2022, 5 of the 6 junior girls on Team Canada 1 & Team Canada 2 at the World Junior Girls Championship were from British Columbia.
Debbie has a deep passion for advocacy and sport, has influenced many young people and worked to shine a light on girls and woman in sport. She loves reaching out and building trust and relationships to ensure every moment counts for girls and women to have the best sport experience in British Columbia.
