Nearly 40 years ago, Sandra Sinclair became her only daughter Christine’s first soccer coach. About 10 years later, she watched the little girl from Burnaby, B.C., debut with Canada’s senior women’s national team at 16 and grow into a sporting legend.
Sandra witnessed her daughter earn her first Olympic medal, a bronze in 2012, another bronze four years later and 2021 gold, a thrilling penalty-kick battle against Sweden in Tokyo.
Christine was the 2012 Northern Star Award recipient as Canada’s top athlete and a 14-time winner of Canada Soccer’s player of the year award.
She also scored more goals on the international soccer stage than any woman or man (190 in 331 appearances) before retiring from international play in 2023.
“If my mom was here, she’d say, ‘Yeah, I was the one who taught you everything,’” said an emotional Sinclair. “My mom played such an important role in my life [and] not just as a mom.
“She gave me a lot of perspective in life. About what truly matters, what a hard day looks like.”
The 42-year-old watched Sandra “battle” 40 years with multiple sclerosis, keeping her diagnosis and discomfort hidden from Christine and her older brother Mike for 12 years.
After Christine captained Canada to Olympic gold, she was inspired by her mother to write her memoir Playing the Long Game, which was released a few months after Sandra died in February 2022.
Sandra now plays a prominent role in Christine’s short animated film, Christine Sinclair: Kind of a Big Deal, a seven-minute documentary about her life and career which launched Friday.
Christine Sinclair discusses new film featuring Ryan Reynolds
“I love how [the documentary] ended up being about the record, the evolution of the women’s national team [and] sprinkles of my family because they’ve meant the world to me,” Sinclair said to Anastasia Bucsis during a recent visit to CBC Sports headquarters in Toronto.
In a powerful moment, the documentary begins in Sinclair’s childhood years.
“You say, ‘Hey, mom, over here,’” Bucsis reminded Sinclair, as the latter’s lower lip began to quiver. “She says, ‘I see you,’ and passes you the ball.”
“You’re doing to make me cry,” Sinclair told Bucsis.
Sinclair was involved in several sit-down interviews, sharing her story with Eoin Duffy, an award-winning Irish writer and director of animation based in Vancouver, and expressing what she wanted to achieve with the documentary.
“You can only do so much in seven minutes,” she said, “and [Duffy] captured a lot in a unique way with my family, my mom, but also soccer. It was a process. It was fun, like therapy.”
Sinclair’s family was always heavily involved in the sport, with Sandra serving as president of South Burnaby Metro Club, where her daughter began playing as a four-year-old. Sinclair’s dad, Bill, played in the Pacific Coast Soccer League and Mike also was an athlete.
The documentary, narrated by Vancouver-born actor and film producer Ryan Reynolds, was a creative way for Sinclair to share her story and reach a different audience.
“It is so outside of my comfort zone,” she said. “I’m the most uncreative person and thankfully there was a team … that got the ball rolling and kind of pushed it over the edge.
“There’s a reason I chose a team sport — I like working with others. I don’t like being in the spotlight. I enjoyed throughout my [athletic] career going about my business, doing the work and stepping back. This is different.”
Previously, Sinclair had a role in The Pitch, a feature-length documentary that follows Olympic gold medallist Diana Matheson as she ends her playing career to build the Northern Super League, Canada’s first professional women’s soccer league.
In October 2024, Sinclair was named co-owner of the NSL’s Vancouver Rise FC.
One of Canada’s most revered athletes, she represented her country on national teams for 23 years. Sinclair also played 11 seasons with the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League, scoring in her celebratory retirement match to lead the team to a playoff berth in November 2024.
Sinclair helped Thorns win the first NWSL championship in 2013 and additional titles in 2017 and 2022. She’s among five players to appear in six Women’s World Cups and one of three to score in five.
“Anything’s possible, and it shouldn’t change who you are,” Sinclair said when asked what she hopes people take from her achievements. “I hope people still see me as the same kid from Burnaby playing in the backyard with my brother and parents.
“Stay humble, put the work in when no one’s watching and anything’s possible.”
