Faces of U of T Medicine: Rachel Dean

Rachel Dean works as an Appointments Administrator at the Department of Psychiatry. But in her time off, she is a star hockey player on Canada’s National Power Wheelchair Hockey Team. Recently, the team travelled to Australia to compete in an international tournament. She spoke to writer Julia Soudat about what drew her to the sport, travelling outside of North America for the first time and the best parts of being on Team Canada.

What is your role at U of T?

I work in the Department of Psychiatry as an Appointments Administrator. I help doctors who are applying to become faculty members through the application process. I also facilitate junior promotions for faculty members to get promoted from lecturer to assistant professor.

I love my job! I find it very rewarding to help recruit so many wonderful doctors and researchers who contribute to the culture of excellence at U of T and provide the best education possible to our future psychiatrists. Selfishly, it's also always a great feeling to be able to tell someone that they have been approved as a new faculty member or that they have been promoted.

When did you start playing hockey? What drew you to the sport?

I started playing power wheelchair hockey in 2010. I was introduced to the sport when I moved to Ottawa for my undergraduate degree at Carleton University and some students who lived in my residence building recruited me to try it out.

I had never found a competitive sport that I can play in my wheelchair before being introduced to power wheelchair hockey. I knew that there was sledge hockey, but that’s more for people who have strong upper body strength to propel them on the ice, whereas power wheelchair hockey can be played by anyone with any ability level as long as they can drive a power wheelchair. I've also been a big hockey fan my whole life, my favourite team are the Toronto Maple Leafs, so I thought it would be cool to get a chance to play a sport I love watching.

What is it like being on the National Power Wheelchair Hockey Team?

This was the first year that I was selected to be on Team Canada for power wheelchair hockey. I play defense and I am number 16. I’ve played on the Toronto team since I moved back to Toronto from Ottawa in 2015 and we have tournaments each year playing against other teams from Canada and the United States. We have won the gold medal in Canadian tournaments twice within the past few years and came in third in the last North American tournament.

However, Team Canada gets to travel internationally outside of North America to compete against teams from all over the world. It is a huge honour and I was so excited to make the team. The team is made up of individuals from different cities throughout Canada such as Toronto, Ottawa, and Calgary. This past November we travelled to Sydney, Australia for a tournament. We got third place and the bronze medal, which was great because the team had never medalled before. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I hope to get to continue to travel with the team in the coming years and get better and better.

The best part of being on the team are the friendships and bonds I have formed with the other players, as well as coaches, volunteers and everyone else involved. I look forward to practicing with the team every Friday night as it's not just a chance to play a sport but also a great social activity. Being part of a team sport has provided me with a lot of skills that can be transferable to working at U of T such as teamwork, communication, and leadership.

How was Australia?

Australia was amazing, it exceeded my expectations. I’d go back in a second. It was my first time there, in fact, it was my first time outside of North America. I didn’t plan on having such a long flight for my first big trip!

The best parts of the trip other than playing hockey were going in the ocean for the first time, playing with kangaroos in a wildlife sanctuary, seeing the sights such as the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Tower, and getting to travel by boat most days. The most challenging part about the trip was getting on/off the planes, as you can imagine, 14 people in wheelchairs boarding the same plane was a bit chaotic. We definitely caused delays on each flight, but fortunately people seemed to understand. I thought the flight would kill me and it was really tough, but apparently didn’t deter me enough from wanting to go back.

Do you have any hobbies outside of work and hockey?

Outside of hockey I enjoy spending time with my family, friends and boyfriend. I love to explore Toronto and try out as many restaurants and activities as I can. I can also be somewhat of a homebody and love binging Netflix on the couch with my two dogs Charlotte and Ginny. I'm currently condo-hunting with my boyfriend in Toronto so that takes up a lot of time. I'm also a big theatre buff and love to go see as many Mirvish shows as I can as well as going to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

What is something about you that most people don’t know, or that people would find surprising?

I think it’s surprising to see someone who looks like me playing hockey. I’m one of three girls on the team out of 14 people. It’s so fun for me to play with the boys and get to be competitive at the highest level for our sport.