About Van

I grew up in Cape-Breton, Nova Scotia, studied Biology at Acadia University in Wolfville, and then Physiotherapy at Dalhousie University in Halifax. I worked for many years as a Physiotherapist. I also spent some time doing health promotion, contracting some video scripts to Ever Active Schools and writing for Active for Life from time to time.

In COVID, I picked up paintbrushes and grew a successful art practice. My early pieces were heavily influenced by our family’s time on the ski hill, and I particularly enjoyed painting girls in positions of power.

As a kid, I loved PE, and I could not understand why one would not. Later in life, I was blessed with three great kids to learn endless life scenarios. Both my girls couldn’t wait to drop PE. I sought to understand why. One of them, the less athletic one, enjoyed non-sporty and non-competitive ways to be active. The other one, although quite athletic, with a competitive edge, also had a hate on for gym class. Why? One repeated answer was that they played the ‘classic’ sports in gym class. The ones that most of the kids were good at but that my kids had never played. And though Phys. Ed. class is supposed to be a safe space to learn new skills, to become physically literate, and to be exposed to new sports, it was not that safe space for my girls. It was a confidence buster.

After endless discussions with my kids, other kids, parents, and educators, I can see that we are missing the mark on the overall goal of a lifelong joy for active living through PE. Despite the people who step outside the box and champion evolving PE into a more positive directions, there is still a lot of work to be done. There are no easy solutions, however it is clear to me that we need to have more open dialogue to enable conversations to try and find better paths forward.

I began writing this book to reinforce the mantra that I have preached to my kids for years: “You don’t have to be sporty to be active.” I wanted my characters to show that we are missing the mark on PE. If we have kids who are spending hours at the gym, or the dance studio, or the XC ski trails, or the pool, or outside on the trails, why aren’t their efforts recognized nor rewarded at school? They could be the kids who become active for life and so we could stand to learn something from them.

Currently, Van lives in Fernie, British Columbia. You can email her at van@vancoldenart.com.