Faculty of Law student receives 2025 Lou Hyndman Glenora Award

As a former professional and two-time Olympic athlete, Kindred Paul, a second year law student at the University of Alberta, has learned lots about how to excel.

But it’s the sharing of her knowledge that’s made her the 2025 recipient of the Lou Hyndman Edmonton Glenora Award, which recognizes a U of A student who demonstrates outstanding leadership qualities through involvement in sports, cultural or political activities.

“Sports is really tough because at the end of the day there’s always a winner and a loser,” says Paul. “The challenge is, OK, you just had a terrible game, but you have to wake up the next morning and go get ready to play another one. To take those lessons learned and turn them into something positive, to go out and attack it again, that’s a big thing I want to pass on.”

Paul has dispensed that knowledge to her communities as an athlete and as a law student.

After competing as a member of the Canadian women’s water polo team during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Paul was voted co-captain by her teammates for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, because of how calmly she adapts under pressure. Since retiring from competition and entering law school, she continues to coach and mentor youth water polo at three levels.

For the Edmonton Riptides Water Polo Club she encourages those aged 14 and under to develop a love of the sport. For the Edmonton Tsunami Water Polo Club she trains under-18 year olds who compete across Canada. For the National Development Centre through Alberta Water Polo she teaches high-level performance skills to athletes aiming at the national teams.

Additionally, since 1L Paul has worked with Student Legal Services’ criminal law project, assisting low-income Edmontonians to access legal advice, first as a volunteer and now as a day leader who manages shifts.

A sports lesson she imparts to both athletes and SLS volunteers is, “all you can control is what you do every day. It’s the preparation you do beforehand that helps you succeed. The way you practise every day is the way you are going to play the game.”

Sport has taught the 29-year-old several other maxims. After graduating with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of California, Berkeley (where the Spruce Grove native played on a NCAA water polo team), she joined a professional water polo team in Budapest, Hungary, followed by teams in Sydney, Australia and Barcelona, Spain.

Hungary, Paul says, is crazy for water polo. Games were sold out and fans travelled to see the team play as far away as Greece. Under that much scrutiny, she realized that “going into games stressed out and nervous, that’s not what fans want to see. Usually, you’re playing your best when you’re relaxed, loose and taking risks.”

For her first Olympics, Paul was one of the last two team members to make the team. Believing that she could easily be cut any time led her to a sports psychologist who helped her reframe every practise as an opportunity rather than a test.

That period coincided with COVID-19 lockdowns which contributed to Paul’s stress. So her brother, lawyer Aidan Paul, ’24 JD, suggested she use the isolation to try studying for the LSAT.

“I did and I actually loved it,” says Paul. “Logic games, that kind of reasoning and problem-solving, I love that so much.”

With her experiences at SLS reinforcing that she wants to help navigate the justice system for people who find it frightening and foreign, Paul is leaning to a career in criminal defense law. The Lou Hyndman award, which is valued at $20,000 over two years, honours a Faculty of Law alumnus who was also dedicated to public service.

“It’s a substantial award that is really lovely to receive,” says Paul. “I’m really happy to represent what it stands for and to represent the faculty in this way.”