Like so many kids of his generation, Dan McDonogh often found himself late for supper – too busy playing road hockey to heed his mother’s call to the table.

Twenty years later, the 32-year-old McDonogh is still frequently late for dinner as he follows his lifelong passion for sport and recreation.

As a full-time personal fitness trainer, a speaker and the founder of a company that teaches alternative fitness programs such as yoga, boxing and cardio-kickboxing to children, his days tend to stretch far into the evening.

McDonogh recently spoke to students and parents at Mount Royal College in Calgary about the opportunities to turn their own love for sport into a career. He was joined by other MRC grads, staff and keynote speaker John Forzani, chairman and CEO of Canadian sporting goods retailer The Forzani Group.

The symposium focused on an innovative four-year degree program that begins next fall, called the Bachelor of Applied Business and Entrepreneurship – Sport and Recreation, a program heavy on business fundamentals and two four-month co-op work programs.

Mike Sturk, Business Edge
A climber tests her skills on the expansive climbing wall at Mount Royal College. The new recreation wing opened this fall.

It’s a program that McDonogh would have gladly enrolled in when he was an MRC student. Instead, he earned a two-year recreation management diploma, and at the same time developed the concept for the children’s alternative exercise program. After he graduated in 1999, he formed his own company, called Fit4Play.

“MRC was great, the instructors really helped me identify what I wanted to do. But the courses, things like entrepreneurship and accounting, I’ve had to learn on my own time,” says McDonogh, whose company now works with 15,000 kindergarten-to-Grade 12 students annually.

Wendelin Fraser, dean of the Bissett School of Business, says that graduates of the new applied degree program will be able to build on a solid business foundation after they graduate.

Few programs of its kind are offered in Canada: a mixture of business school studies and courses offered by the Department of Physical Education and Recreation. Although it’s new, Fraser explains that the college isn’t starting with a blank slate.

The degree program builds on the strengths of the Small Business entrepreneurship program established in 1995, which has been followed by degree programs in International Business and Computer Information Systems.

Similarly, the sport and recreation components draw from the best of previous diploma programs that have been phased out, or will be by next fall.

Demand for the four-year degree program has come from students who believe a degree is valued more than a diploma, from people who currently offer practicums to MRC students and from industry leaders, including Forzani.

“The industry has provided overwhelming support for this,” says Fraser. “People like John have been willing to put their name forward to gain attention from the community because they believe students need this opportunity.”

Fraser notes that sport and recreation has become a billion-dollar industry in Canada. A brief presented to the federal government’s standing committee on finance this October by a national coalition of sports groups noted the sports sector employs more than 260,000 people, involves two million volunteers and boasts a GDP on par with the printing and publishing industry.

The new program will allow students to work with mainstream sports and recreation organizations, but also provide them with the tools to recognize emerging markets.

“I think Calgary is known for its innovative and entrepreneurial spirit,” says Fraser. “People want to take charge of their lives and do something on their own, as opposed to getting a traditional business degree and waiting for a big organization to come by the institution and give them a job.”

David Legg, an instructor in the physical education department, says that the new program will take in approximately 50 students, the same number enrolled in the current diploma program.

“What is exciting about this course is that it gives young people a solid foundation in business, and that’s important because that’s what the parents tell them they need,” says Legg.

“But at the same time, they also know that their passion is in sport and recreation. So students will be learning about strategic management, or accounting, and applying it in the context of sport, something they are excited about.”

In Calgary, the potential for employment exists in Olympic, high-performance, professional sport and burgeoning grassroots recreational fields. Legg adds that MRC students this year are also establishing their mark by landing jobs in places including Texas Tech University and in London, England, with a professional basketball team.

“The entrepreneur component of the program will help students explore new opportunities that perhaps we haven’t considered,” says Legg. “As an example, I think as the population ages there will be tremendous potential for graduates to start businesses to meet the needs of older adults.”

Legg says that McDonogh’s Fit4Play business is the perfect example of creating a niche product.

“Dan has identified the problem of obesity in children, and is trying to give them options that will create an interest in sport and recreation.”

McDonogh acknowledges that the business has sneaked up on him, to the point he has taken on two partners and a full-time employee.

“I started teaching the mobile fitness classes as a part-time thing because it was fun and meaningful,” he says. “It’s been so popular that it’s evolved into something much bigger.”

While Fit4Play has been a critical success, McDonogh and his partners are finding that start-up businesses do face hurdles.

The skyrocketing costs of insurance and the need for highly paid professional instructors have eaten into the profit margins, he says. Nevertheless, he and his partners are willing to work other jobs in order to support Fit4Play, and McDonogh hopes to secure corporate sponsorships to help address what health experts consider a critical health issue in Canada.

It’s about changing mindsets, he says, recalling that when he was a kid, his mom had to drag him off the street when he was playing road hockey.

Today, parents have to force kids out the door to play.

“Our goal in the program is to get kids interested in one of the activities we teach, something where they say: ‘Yeah, I really like this.’ And hopefully that will help lead them to a healthier, more active life.”

And once in a while, even make them late for dinner.

Web watch:
www.mtroyal.ca/Calendar/applied_degrees/BABEpd.htm
www.fit4play.com