Christine O’Connor... soccer family (wife Christine, sons Brad, Adam and Dylan)... married to husband Cavan (they raised children Brad, Adam and Dylan)... earned degree in Business/Commerce from the University of Salford in 1970... she was 22 years old when her family moved from Manchester to Winnipeg in 1974... her and her husband Cavan ran the Sweat Shack store in Winnipeg for 33 years...

honoured as a Manitoba Soccer Life Member... honoured by the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Soccer Hall of Fame... named in her honour, the Christine O’Connor Award honoured Manitoba Soccer’s Outstanding Senior Female Player of the Year... her club Winnipeg Sweat Shack Spirit’s 1987 squad was honoured by the Manitoba Soccer Hall of Fame (she was team manager)...

as owners of the Sweat Shack store in Winnipeg, made Team Canada’s gear for the Opening Ceremonies of the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg... as Manitoba Soccer President after Canada Soccer earned the right to host the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, attended matches in Germany at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup...

her youngest son Dylan was a Canada Soccer National Championships winner in 2009 with Winnipeg Hellas SC (as a goalkeeper, he posted three clean sheets in five matches at the final tournament in Saskatoon)...

said O’Connor on 6 November 2010 when she was inducted to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (incidentally the same day she became the first woman elected as Manitoba Soccer President), writer “Ashley Prest said to me ‘upon reflection how did it feel that I was instrumental in creating history,’ (but) I never considered having such a good time (in soccer) as creating history, but I suppose it was”... said O’Connor in 2012 to Ashley Prest in the Winnipeg Free Press, “we became a retail store where we sold our own products (at Sweat Shack) and it evolved into selling equipment. We evolved into being, probably, everyone always says this to us, one of the best soccer stores”.... also said O’Connor to Prest in 2012, “we are builders: we built a life, a store, a team, anything we can in soccer. That’s what we do”..

said O’Connor in 2010 to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, “soccer is our life, my family’s life, everyone lives and breathes it, doesn’t matter what level. It’s given me so much to me”....

For Sport

served on Canada Soccer’s Board of Directors (2010-11 and 2011-12 for Manitoba)... served on Canada Soccer committees, including the Task Force for Women’s Soccer (1987), the Women’s Advisory Committee and the Competitions Committee...

was Canada Soccer’s first Women’s National Team Tour Manager from 1986 to 1990 (with coach Neil Turnbull), including camps in Canada, USA and Chinese Taipei (1987 World Invitational Women’s Tournament)… as a Canada Soccer Board Member, served as Canada’s Head of Delegation at the 2012 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship in Panama (Canada qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup)...

served as President of Manitoba Soccer (2010 to 2012)... became the first female Board Member of Manitoba Soccer in 1983 and later served as Manitoba Soccer Vice President (1993 to 1996)... during her time as Manitoba Soccer President, helped lobby Winnipeg to become an Official Host City for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015... in Winnipeg, the record-setting FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 drew 194,632 cumulative spectators across seven matches, hosted 33 training sessions on three community fields, and generated $42.4 million in industry output for the Province of Manitoba as well as $35.9 million in industry output for the City of Winnipeg....

served as the first President of the Winnipeg Women’s Soccer League (1983 to 1985)... served as Team Manager for Winnipeg Sweat Shack Spirit women’s soccer team...