Bursary recipient Laurence Beauregard is wrestling with greatness

Laurence Beauregard dreams of working one day for an organization that supports young athletes, especially female athletes transforming the sport of wrestling.

“There aren’t a lot of women in this sport who are from Quebec,” says Beauregard, a Concordia Stingers wrestler who is completing a double major in marketing and accounting at the John Molson School of Business.

“I’ve been wrestling competitively since I was 15 years old. I love this sport, I’m very passionate about it and I would like to help it grow.”

Beauregard got a boost when she was awarded the Donald E. Meehan Athletics Scholarship and Bursary, which was established at Concordia in 2017. Donald Meehan, BA 72, is president of Newport Sports Management, ranked by Forbes as the most valuable National Hockey League player agency in the world, with $1.25 billion USD in contracts under management.

“I met the criteria, applied, then was awarded a $1,250 bursary for my 2019-20 academic year,” says Beauregard, who works as a lifeguard when she isn’t studying or wrestling. “The bursary really helped me out because I usually work parttime. But this past year was much more difficult than usual, juggling school, sports and work during a pandemic.”

Beauregard placed fifth in her category at the Canadian Olympic Wrestling Trials in Niagara, Ontario, in December 2019, and is grateful for the support she got from Alliance Sport-Études, which offers services to high-performance athletes pursuing post-secondary studies in Quebec.

“I would definitely like to stay in the realm of sports when I graduate,” says Beauregard.

“I would also like to further develop women’s wrestling in Quebec, especially on the business and marketing end of things. It’s still male-dominated on a mass scale and has only been an Olympic event for women since 2004. But the sport is changing and it’s exciting to see more and more girls wrestling each year.”