Kristen Bourne named WSF VanDerveer Fellow

St. Scholastica assistant nordic ski coach Kristen Bourne has been recognized as a Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) VanDerveer Fellow for 2021-22. Bourne is one of ten awardees in the nation to receive this coaching fellowship.

The fund is named after legendary Stanford University coach Tara VanDerveer, the all-time winningest coach in college women’s basketball and an advocate for aspiring female coaches in collegiate sports.

“The grant aims to get more women in coaching roles and to get more women to stay in coaching roles,” said Bourne. “Ultimately, with the grant, the hope is to gain experience to eventually become a head coach and I’m really excited about this opportunity.”

Fellowship recipients are encouraged to attend at least three professional development opportunities, connect with fellow coaches and members of their cohort and provide progress reports to WSF. Recipients are also given mentorship from an established collegiate coach. Maria Stuber, head nordic skiing coach and assistant cross country coach, will serve as Bourne’s mentor.

Stuber is eager to work with Bourne in defining her career goals and setting her up to succeed as a lifelong coach. She also recognized the influence of women coaches on the College’s current and future student-athletes.

“This has an impact on student-athletes, especially women student-athletes to demonstrate that women can lead in the sports environment,” said Stuber. “Student-athletes don’t always get to see a ton of women in leadership roles.”

Bourne is a former Northern Michigan University standout and four-time NCAA qualifier. She competed for the U.S. World Junior Team and U.S. U23 World Team, and was a First Team All-CCSA choice in 2018. Prior to St. Scholastica, Bourne trained and raced competitively with Lyn Ski and Team Obos in Oslo, Norway. During the summer of 2020, she was an intern assistant for Green Racing Project based in Vermont, where she assisted with biathlon and junior level training.