Growing up in Guelph, Ontario, Christa Eniojukan loved playing sports. Her father, Gary Lodge, encouraged her to play, and combined with Christa’s enthusiasm and determination – a point guard was born. She played Varsity basketball at Laurier University, where she was captain. Christa realized her passion for leading others and enrolled in the York University consecutive teacher education program, where she also played basketball for the York Lions.
She graduated with a specialization in physical education and began her career at the Toronto District School board as a Grade 8 teacher. Christa is a committed, dedicated educator who chose and often was asked to lead in various positions within the schools she taught. She led teams to city championships in multiple sports – most notably in basketball. As the Grade 8 Chair, she worked with other educators to improve education and create unique opportunities for students.
While teaching, Christa also attended basketball camps, and during a Centre Performance camp, (Canada Basketball training sport programs) one coach, Sefu Bernard, captivated her attention.
She was in awe of how he spoke to the players. What was more remarkable to Christa was how Sefu treated his players off the court, and the unique development opportunities he created for them. She was mesmerized, “Sefu made a lasting impression on me. I thought to myself, I wanted to be like that before even I started seriously coaching. I knew at that moment I still had a love for the game and wanted to pursue coaching at an elite level.” In addition to being asked to attend various camps to coach future Canadian players, Christa was inspired to learn how to be a better coach. To date, she is a certified NCCP Level 3 coach and is constantly seeking ways to equip herself with tools that enhance her skills and coaching programs.
Challenges As a female coach, Christa was no stranger to being treated differently or unfairly. She was the head coach on all of the school teams and referees would often bypass her to speak to male assistant coaches.
Similar to other female coaches, earning respect on and off the court as a coach is an ongoing battle for Christa that she handles with tenacity and great decision-making skills. She is not only often the only female in the room, but also the only women of colour.
In referencing inequality, Christa points out, “If a situation presents itself where I know I am being treated unfairly, I will take steps to either improve or remove myself from the situation”. She has also dealt with other coaches questioning her ability as well as her success as a coach. Christa has experienced firsthand gender inequities including an unequal allocation of resources within programs. Christa took a bold step as a young coach and decided to establish her own prep team, ASAD (Academy for Student Athlete Development) Durham Elite. Her team is officially a part of the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Academy (OSBA). 
At one point in her coaching career, Christa had a young son, was pregnant, full-time teaching, the assistant coach of the provincial team and staring up Durham Elite. Each team presented massive demands. Some responsibilities included extensive weekend travel, fundraising, running practices, recruiting, coaching plans, coordination of travel and liaising with parents.
During this time, Christa began to question herself and if she could handle being a high-level coach, working full time and having a family. Christa revealed, “When I was pregnant with my daughter Zaria – I thought to myself, I am not going to be able to coach anymore.” In addition to balancing family, coaching, at times, can be costly, often spending your own money for travel, coaching clinics, equipment and recruiting trips. She remarks, “It couldn’t be I was always putting out money to coach, once you get to a certain point – you can’t be taking food out of your children’s mouth to coach”. Statistically, most mothers of young families simply stop or opt not to coach altogether. Christa discussed her options with Basketball Ontario who was now asking Christa to be the head coach of the provincial team. 
The Executive Director Jason Janson and the Director of Basketball Development, Lou Walsh worked with Christa to come up with a plan to better support her coaching pursuits with the organization.
The Gameplan
As Provincial Team head coach Christa knew she was going to be spending a huge amount of time away from home. She encouraged Basketball Ontario to include childcare into their overall budget for the team.
Basketball Ontario agreed.
What did this mean for the budget? How did this move help Christa? Being the innovator that she is, Christa then secured a partnership with Seneca College and their child and youth worker program where students had to complete a placement that involved working with children. This partnership allowed for a student to travel with Christa on the weekends and be the primary caregiver. The cost associated with this accommodation allowed Christa to be more at ease with her demands as a coach and resulted in success on and off the court. During her tenure with Team Ontario place, they secured 2 gold and 2 silver finishes over a 6 year period. Lou Walsh, has known Christa for over 20 years and states, “Christa embodies what anyone would want from a leader in their community, she cares most about the personal development and success of the athlete, going well beyond teaching them how to ‘put a ball in a hoop’”.
Support Network
In addition to Basketball Ontario, Christa shared “If I didn’t have a supportive husband, family, mentors and friends, I would not be able to do what I love to do – coach basketball. My network is truly my net worth when it comes to me being able to balance my life with coaching.”
Having a full-time job at times was challenging to juggle and Christa has since transitioned out of teaching and began her own journey of self-discovery.
Team Ontario
Active Scholars was then born. Christa envisioned a program where sports meets education by immersing campers in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education while instilling movement skills, character development, health consciousness and teamwork values through sports training.
This past year she had over 200 kids enrolled in her camps and built the organization from the ground up. Still very new, Christa’s hope for Active Scholars is to combine education with sports and expose the benefits while equipping kids with technology skills. The newest program in the fall is specifically for girls that introduces basketball with S.T.E.M.
New beginnings
Christa has been tapped on the shoulder a few times to coach and lead endeavours, but when an opportunity came up with UOIT (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) Ridgebacks to apply to be their inaugural Head Coach of Women’s Basketball, Christa was uncertain;
“I knew I wanted the job and recognized that creating an entire program was going to be hard work but my ultimate dream”. If hired, she would be building a program from scratch – the University has never had a team before! She decided to apply and was chosen!!!
As Christa embarks on her newly appointed position, she is humbled and still in disbelief that she now is able to do her passion on a fulltime basis. On her new role, Christa is elated, “I am so excited to get to coach basketball all day, literally I get coach ball, talk ball all day“. She recognizes that the position is new and will be met with many unknowns.
“This is my passion – I am looking forward to what can really come of it when I put in the work required to build a successful program. I am excited for the growth, what is to come”.
The University has welcomed her with open arms including her work with Active Scholars. What do her kids think of all this? Christa smiled, “I overheard my son telling another kid – “yeah my mom’s a coach, she is coaching at a university now”. Yes, you do, and we are all proud of you and the coaching community will continue to hear about Christa Eniojukan and her prowess on and off the court.
