On the third day of practice with the McMaster varsity women’s soccer team, Jenine Alkhatib suffered a knee injury that sidelined her for the rest of the season.  

It was, objectively, a terrible way for the goalkeeper to start her second year at Mac.  

“Preseason starts and I already know I won’t be playing,” Alkhatib, now in her fourth year, said. “It’s really easy to feel disconnected from the team, knowing that everyone’s prepping to play; meanwhile, I’m doing rehab.”  

It would have been easy to wallow: Instead, she kept showing up to everything, and set herself to supporting her team off the field. “I just wanted to find a way to still help out,” she said.  

She started helping with the team’s social media and photography. She now runs their accounts, along with much of their outreach work. She also helps at events and represents the team on the Women’s Athletic Leadership Committee.  

The summer before her second year, another opportunity also arose: To be part of the founding group of the McMaster LGBTQ2SIA+ Athletic Advocacy Group (LAAG), which aims to make McMaster’s athletic and recreational spaces more inclusive. Alkhatib served as the executive lead on outreach and engagement in the club’s first year. 

“We were just this small group of like six of us,” Alkhatib said. “We got started with big, big dreams.”  

Over the next year, the group started to turn some of those dreams into reality: A fundraiser to raise money for the Hamilton Trans Health Coalition, inaugural Pride games with the men’s and women’s basketball teams.  

“As athletes, we’re definitely on a bit of a stage,” Alkhatib said. “Your fans come from many different demographics, and we want to show that we support and we recognize people.”  

In her third year, Alkhatib was happily back on the pitch with a healed knee. And she kept going with LAAG: They ran community-building events, such as Drag and Desserts, organized the Nikki Hiltz Pride 5K run to support LGBTQ+ nonprofits, and ran a Pride game for the soccer teams, which Alkhatib particularly loved.  

“It was such an amazing night,” she said. “We had so many people in the stands… People were so happy to be there.”  

On October 31, 2024, Alkhatib received the OUA Champion of EDI award for her work driving inclusion and advancing support for 2SLGBTQIA+ community through sport.  

Alkhatib, who is grateful for the recognition, makes a point of noting she’s not working solo: “There’s so many people that are behind the scenes working hard.”  

A national pitch

In addition to the soccer team, LAAG, and her studies, Alkhatib is also a teaching assistant at McMaster and works as a patient care specialist and pharmacy assistant at the Ontario Prevention Clinic (PrEP) in Toronto, which offers assessment, treatment, medication, support and other services related to HIV prevention.  

It’s not easy to juggle it all. “I think being a student athlete, inherently, you have to thrive on busy-ness a bit,” Alkhatib joked. “But… in my mind, you make time for the things that you’re passionate about.”  

Alkhatib started at Mac in the kinesiology program, which she loved. But her experience at the PrEP clinic has inspired her to switch into nursing. She’s starting in Mac’s accelerated nursing program this fall, giving her two more years here.  

While she feels she’s already done most of the things she wanted to do as a student – “I made friends, made memories” – there are a few bucket-list items that remain: Restaurants to check out around Hamilton with her mom. Donning navy-blue scrubs for her nursing clinicals this year.  

And the biggest of all: Getting to play with her team at nationals this fall.  

Nov. 6-9, McMaster will be hosting Canada’s best university soccer teams at the USports women’s soccer nationals. 

 Mac, as the host, is guaranteed a spot; it’s a testament to their success over the last couple of years with head coach Garrett Peters.  

“He lives and breathes soccer and McMaster,” Alkhatib said. “We went on a bit of a run that no one expected.”  

Playing in nationals is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “Many, many people who have played in this country will never get to experience that,” Alkhatib said.  

It’ll also be the first time in 30 years that Mac has hosted the event. Alkhatib is already figuring out ways to get the campus – and the entire Hamilton community – involved.  

Ever since it was announced, “I’ve been in grind mode,” Alkhatib said, from brainstorming ways to bond as a team, to planning outreach to local clubs and elementary schools. They want to have ball girls at the games, and walk onto the field holding hands with youth players.  

“We really want nationals to be a Hamilton thing,” she said. “This city is going to be hosting the best players in the country.”  

She plans to enjoy each and every minute of it. Busy as she is, she knows the importance of embracing the journey, and not hyperfixating on the goals. Being sidetracked – or sidelined – can come with its own rewards, eventually.  

People can get caught up thinking they have to study every available hour of the day, Alkhatib said. But she hopes that when there’s something exciting happening, whether it’s a soccer game or an end-of-year festival, students take a study break and go to check it out.  

“Skip studying for a night. There’s so much to do in the university, in Hamilton. Go on a hike, go to a waterfall,” she said. “This is an experience that you will never get to do again.” 

All Marauder home games are free to students with a Mac student card. The women’s soccer team kicks off their season at home on Friday, Sept. 5.