UFV’s Kinna Fisher channels leadership into FISU ambassador role

As a fifth-year member of the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) women’s volleyball program, Kinna Fisher has embraced a leadership role that extends well beyond the court, using her platform to connect athletes, strengthen campus engagement and promote sport as a force for positive change.

“I’ve just seen how sport can really positively impact so many people,” Fisher said. 

“Not even just from an athletics perspective, but developing community and learning valuable lessons.”

That philosophy inspired Fisher’s involvement in the 2025-26 FISU Student Ambassador Program, where she is developing initiatives focused on community engagement and collaboration across Canadian universities. 

“I just thought it looked like a really neat opportunity,” she said. 

“Sport has had such a positive impact in my life, and I wanted to kind of broaden that sports outreach and use it as a tool to help make a positive impact.”

At UFV, Fisher’s leadership is perhaps most visible in her role as president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), where she works to strengthen connections both within varsity teams and across the wider campus community. 

“Our big goal this year is to just try to get students really engaged in UFV athletics,” Fisher said. 

“Getting the teams to connect with each other, and then trying to connect with some of the students on campus.”

Fisher said the committee, which includes representatives from each sport, is driven by a shared desire to help the university’s athletic culture grow.

“Everyone that volunteers to be in this position, they are really motivated,” she said. 

“They want to help UFV succeed and do a bunch of cool things.”

Through her ambassador work, Fisher is now looking beyond her own campus, developing plans to connect student-athlete leaders across the country by highlighting community initiatives and fundraising efforts underway at Canadian universities.

“If you’re a student in B.C., you don’t really hear about what’s going on a lot on the East Coast,” she said. 

“My idea is to reach out to some SAAC leaders and see what they’re doing in terms of community initiatives and fundraising.”

By compiling and sharing those stories, Fisher hopes to create a resource that can inspire future leaders.

“People can be educated on what’s being done, but also be inspired by it,” she said. 

“If future leaders are thinking, ‘How can we help out?’ they can look to that and get ideas.”

Fisher’s perspective on leadership and community has been shaped by a volleyball journey that began long before she arrived in Abbotsford. Raised in Edmonton, she was introduced to the sport in Grade 6 by her mother, who played university volleyball at the University of Calgary.

“She kind of got me into it,” Fisher said. 

“I was playing a bunch of other sports at that time, but I really, really loved volleyball.”

That early passion led Fisher into the Junior Pandas Volleyball Club system, where she competed from the U13 to U18 levels and developed in an environment she describes as both supportive and empowering.

“It was a really supportive environment with a lot of strong female athlete role models,” she said. 

“That really helped me continue along in that sport.”

Her path to UFV was shaped by both opportunity and timing. Fisher had previous familiarity with Cascades Head Coach Janelle Rozema through club volleyball, and when Rozema took over the UFV program during its transition from the PacWest collegiate league to U SPORTS, Fisher was intrigued by the chance to help build a developing program.

“She contacted me and said, ‘We’re building this program,’” Fisher said. 

“It was a really neat opportunity to be able to build something.”

Drawn to UFV’s smaller class sizes and close-knit environment, Fisher committed to the Cascades and has since grown alongside the program, evolving from a first-year student-athlete into one of its veteran leaders.

Now in her fifth season, Fisher has watched the program establish its identity within U SPORTS, a process she credits to culture and shared values.

“It’s a really tight-knit community and team,” she said. 

“Everyone’s on the same page of our goals and where we want to end up.”

As she prepares to graduate, Fisher hopes her message resonates with the next generation of student-athletes.

“No impact is too little,” she said. 

“You have to start small, and those small things pile up and build up, and they end up making massive impacts.”