Sportsnet Tonight host and Vancouver Canucks’ reporter Mira Laurence is coming back to Victoria to lend her talents to Pacific FC as part of the soccer club’s management team.
See also: Pacific FC releases full schedule with home-opener just two months away
A CTV Vancouver Island sports anchor for 13 years, Laurence is excited to return to the island and to help build Western Canada’s first ever professional soccer league.
“What I’m most looking forward to is being part of something new and something Canadian-wide,” Laurence told Victoria Buzz. “This brand new professional Canadian soccer league is something we’ve never had in Victoria and never had in Canada.”
“To be a part of that in Victoria, right here at home where I’ve had such a big part in the community [is great].”
#Canucks win 4-0! Goldobin, Biega, Horvat x2 🚨!
Elias Pettersson (2A, +1) joins @laurence_mira rinkside now!@alexjauld @CoreyHirsch @kenwardskorner with instant post game analysis on now! Travis Green post game presser coming up!https://t.co/mDLZc4EUQN pic.twitter.com/fAC4liuPys
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) February 26, 2019
A lifetime lover of sports
Laurence moved to Victoria in 2001, and for 13 years she helped establish CTV’s sports coverage of the island.
But in her younger years, she was just a Canadian girl living on the prairies watching hockey.
“I hung around with my Dad and he was in broadcasting so he would be doing hockey games in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, so I sort of grew up at the rink,” she said.
It was her time at the rink that lead her to a lifelong appreciation for sports and competition.
“Sports builds character in people,” she said. “It’s more than just winning and losing, it’s how to work as a team and how to be compatible.”
When Laurence’s interest in sports steered her into a career, she found that the athletes themselves provided the most compelling stories.
“I’ve always loved getting to know the people involved and being able to tell their stories,” she explained. “The story within the story when it comes to talking about the athletes.”
The Future
Now on the other side of the microphone, Laurence joins Pacific FC management team to run the club’s day-to-day communications.
She looks forward to keeping fans up to date with the team, and to help establish the club as Vancouver Island’s own. She hopes that “the community knows the team is here to stay and that it belongs to Vancouver Island.”
“This doesn’t work without the support of the Vancouver Island community,” she said.
“Come out to a game, I’ll be there.”
See also: Pacific FC signs Canadian international Marcel De Jong from Whitecaps
