Meet Connor Keith

My name is Connor Keith, and I’m a Kinesiologist based in Kelowna, BC.

For most of my life, hockey was my identity. I played competitively from a young age and pursued the sport all the way through junior hockey, eventually playing Junior A in Ontario. At 19 years old, however, I was forced to step away from the game due to repetitive concussions and the lasting effects that followed.

Like many athletes, I wasn’t yet prepared for what was to come next.

When you’ve spent years pursuing one goal, having that chapter unexpectedly come to an end leaves you searching for direction and purpose. Following hockey, I returned home and worked full-time as a Community Support Worker while trying to figure out what the next chapter of my life would look like.

Over time, my own experiences with injury, recovery, and performance led me toward a new path. A year later, I made the decision to move across Canada and begin a Health and Exercise Science degree at UBC Okanagan. It was a leap into the unknown, but one driven by a desire to better understand the human body and help others navigate challenges similar to those I had faced myself.

Throughout that journey, I’ve had the opportunity to work with organizations such as the Okanagan Hockey Academy and the Okanagan Rockets, volunteer within a cardiorespiratory research lab, and ultimately build a career helping people improve their health, performance, and quality of life through kinesiology.

Growing up in a small town of roughly 15,000 people, opportunities to improve performance were limited. Experiencing that firsthand helped shape my belief that everyone deserves access to education, support, and resources that can help them move forward, whether that’s recovering from injury, returning to sport, or simply rebuilding confidence in themselves.

Today, I continue to seek challenges that push me physically and mentally.

On July 25, I will be participating in a 24-hour ultra marathon, an event where runners complete a 6.7 km loop for 24 hours, aiming to cover as much distance as possible.

This challenge represents far more than running for me. It is an opportunity to support BrainTrust Canada and raise awareness for individuals living with concussion and brain injury, injuries that often remain invisible despite their profound impact on daily life.

The effects of concussion changed the course of my athletic career, but they also played a role in shaping the person I am today. Through this event, I hope to help bring attention to the realities of brain injury recovery while supporting the individuals and families navigating that journey every day.

The hardest part wasn’t leaving hockey itself. It was losing the identity, routine, goals, and community that had shaped my life for over a decade.

My goal is simple: to turn one of the most difficult experiences of my early life into something that can positively impact others.