sweat
SPRING 2015
TO2015 • JERSEY NUMBERS • ARCHERY TAG • EXERCISE ADDICTION
Official Magazine of the OCAA
RECORD BREAKERS
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2 | Sweat – Spring 2015
Letter from the President I would like to welcome readers to the 2015 Spring edition of Sweat magazine, the official magazine of the OCAA, and your source of information for collegiate sport in Ontario. On behalf of our member institutions and the OCAA Executive Committee, I would like to thank the faculty at Humber College and Jim Bialek the journalism students OCAA President who have contributed to this fine publication. We are blessed to see commitment and excellence on the field of play with our student athletes, and with Sweat Magazine, we see similar traits with the journalism students who spend endless hours researching, interviewing and writing for this magazine. This semester once again offered exciting provincial championship action, especially in the year-long league sports of basketball and volleyball. We have witnessed outstanding team and individual performances along the way. I would like to acknowledge our provincial hosts, who have truly provided all of the student-athletes great memories of both the competition and our hospitality.
I would like to offer a special thank you to Michelle Ball and her team at Mohawk College for hosting the 2015 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Basketball championships. The OCAA is known nationally for their hosting excellence and the efforts by Mohawk have further enhanced this reputation. Home cookin’ was on the menu in Hamilton as the OCAA’s Humber Hawks won the title, defeating VIU in the championship game. The OCAA continues to perform admirably on the CCAA national stage. Of note this year is the sport of badminton. The OCAA had its finest showing in history, claiming four CCAA National titles in the five disciplines and winning the conference supremacy award for the first time in recent history. In closing, I welcome this opportunity to recognize and sincerely thank OCAA executive director Blair Webster. After more than ten years of exemplary service to the OCAA and its 30 member institutions, Blair will be leaving the office to pursue other exciting opportunities. His value and commitment to the OCAA cannot be measured, as he has had a considerable positive impact on the association and all those involved with it. You do not have to look any further than Sweat magazine itself. With him at the helm, it has grown into a publication that all other post-secondary associations envy. Best wishes Blair!
Letter from the Editor The seemingly interminable winter has finally come to an end. Here in the Sweat newsroom we anxiously await the heat of summer. The brown and grey of spring have gradually turned to green. For the OCAA, however, those tones have been tinted with hues of gold. OCAA athletes and teams captured gold in seven of 11 nationNick Jean al championships in Editor-in-Chief March. At the same time, here in the newsroom Sweat celebrates its own gold. The Columbia Scholastic Press Association in New York City awarded a highly prestigious
Gold Crown to the 2013-14 issues of Sweat in recognition of the overall quality of composition and content of both magazines combined. It is under the auspices of these accomplishments that this masthead, the smallest in Sweat history, started out. As I write this, we are nearing the end of that process. Over the past weeks and months, I have been impressed by this small crew’s dedication and desire to win. The bar has been set high for us, but as Redeemer University, our OCAA Pan Am and Parapan Am attendees, and new all-time record-holders (all of whom you can read about in these pages) have shown us, even the smallest teams from the most humble beginnings can strive for and achieve the greatest feats. I hope you enjoy the product of our efforts. See you at TO2015!
sweat SPRING
2015 TEAM Editor-in-Chief Nick Jean Managing Editor Abdikarim Hashi Production Manager Janie Ginsberg Art Director Nick Jean Tiara Samosir Online Editor Jasmine Kabatay Special Sections Editor Dilara Kurtaran Photo Editor Alejandra Fretes Copy Chief Shoynear Morrison Copy Editor Janie Ginsberg Research Chief Dilara Kurtaran Editorial Adviser Terri Arnott OCAA Advisory Board Josh Bell-Webster Jim Bialek Ryan Kelly Contact
Humber College School of Media Studies & Information Technology 205 Humber College Blvd. Toronto, ON M9W 5L7
Phone: (416) 675-6622 Ext. 4518 terri.arnott@humber.ca
FOLLOW THE OCAA GAME WITH sweat
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sweat Contents Spring 2015
8 Pan Am-demoneum OCAA goes to TO2015
14 Push Too Far When exercise goes from an activity to an addiction
20 Small But Strong A look at just what lends the tiny Redeemer such varsity success
22 Sir Vagnini
Out of the Pool
28
Rolling Ankles
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One day they’re swimmers The next day they’re nothing
Physio says your sprain’s serious? They’re not pulling your leg
35
You’re It! Sweat tries Archery Tag
38
The tale of the Fleming Knights’ OCAA Coach of the Year
All For One The difference between male and female soccer players is subtle
How do you pick your number?
Funny Bones Tommy John surgery is no joke
24 Numbers Game
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On the Cover
It was a season of record highs in OCAA volleyball as Humber’s Terrel Bramwell and Fleming’s Clay Couchman knocked off three all-time bests between them.
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Standing Features
OCAA News 5
Photo Contest 6
Scoreboard 43
Off the Bench 46 & Coach’s Corner Cover Photo by Alejandra Fretes Contents Page Photo by Nick Jean
NEWS sweat OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE OCAA
Golden at Nationals It was a fantastic end to the winter term as seven qualifiers from the OCAA came out of their CCAA tournaments as champions. Both curling titles were taken by OCAA schools with the Fleming Knights capturing the men’s and the women’s going to the Fanshawe Falcons, while Humber brought home the men’s basketball title. But it was badminton from which the largest haul came. Of the five divisions, four turned gold for Ontario. • Men’s Singles – Owen Kurvits (Redeemer) • Women’s Singles – Olivia Lei (Humber) • Mixed Doubles – Tracy Wong and Adam Dong (Humber) • Women’s Doubles – Suzy Yan and Yan Zhou (Seneca) Congratulations to all the competitors.
DWAYNE HARRISON LAUGHING IN THE FACE OF DEATH TAKING CONTROL LEARN SELF-DEFENSE OCAA RECRUITS WHAT DOES IT TAKE?
sweat
BIKE POLO • NEW LIGAMENT DISCOVERY • CENTENNIAL VOLLEYBALL THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE OCAA
SPRING 2014
Vadim the Dream
Smashing OCAA records Out on the court
Creating a positive space
Sweat Crowned For the 2013-14 academic year, Sweat magazine was awarded a Gold Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), a part of Columbia University School of Journalism, in New York. The award was presented in New York City on March 13. The Gold Crown awards are selected each year by a panel of judges and represent the highest recognition given by CSPA in student media. This is the first Gold Crown for Sweat. In addition, last year’s publications received from Columbia a gold medal and several other awards for individual student work. The medalist awards are for overall excellence in production, writing and editing. Sweat took third in specialty magazine, overall design and first for its scoreboard graphic.
Hawks Back on Top BY ANDY REDDING After nine years in the desert, the Humber Hawks are the 2015 OCAA women’s basketball champions. On the shoulders of a dominant third quarter in the gold medal game at Centennial College, the Hawks pulled away from the Mohawk Mountaineers to be crowned the best in the OCAA. “It feels surreal, but it feels amazing to have accomplished one of the team goals,” said third-year shooting guard Natalie Hagopian. “We worked so hard throughout the whole year to be where we are today.” The 61-46 final score was not indicative of the whole game, as Humber was losing by three points at halftime. Mary Asare was awarded the championship MVP award after playing a key defending role throughout the tournament, constantly shutting down the other teams’ best scorers in every game. The final outcome of the gold medal game was Humber’s largest margin of victory throughout the tournament, after winning two closely contested games to reach the final. “It’s basketball – ebb and flow. Teams
Photo by Andy Redding
Hawks celebrate go ahead basket in the semi final. are going to come back when the game settles down,” said Humber head coach Ajay Sharma. “We talked about that in our timeout. People are going to come back and you’ve got to respond to it.” Humber hasn’t won the OCAA women’s
basketball championship since 2005. “This team is the greatest bunch of people I’ve ever played with and was coached by. There’s no other team I would have rather gone through this war with,” said Hagopian. www.sweatmag.com | 5
FIRST PLACE
Al Fournier 6 | Sweat – Spring 2015
sweat PHOTO CONTEST
SECOND PLACE
Chris Tanouye
THIRD PLACE
Zara Rizwan www.sweatmag.com | 7
TO2015
Conquer Toronto OCAA colleges’ presence at this summer’s Pan Am and Parapan Am Games will be plentiful. Here’s a handful of our stories. BY ABDIKARIM HASHI
T
he sights and sounds are everywhere. In front of Toronto city hall sits a huge clock counting down to the opening ceremony. York University is preparing its Class 1 track, suitable for an Olympic hosting. Participating players are eager to move into the Athletes’ Village, which organizers promise to have ready for use. The Pan Am and Parapan Am Games are right around the corner and whether you’re complaining about potential traffic jams or patiently waiting for tickets to arrive, you cannot ignore the sights. Canada has hosted its fair share of sporting events in the past – two Winter Olympic Games, two Pan American Games and one Summer Olympics. This will be Canada’s sixth multi-sporting event, its largest ever. The 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games is officially in Toronto, but has ven-
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ues scheduled all over Southern and Central Ontario. With an event this big, a large number of people are required to ensure its success. The Pan Am and Parapan Am Games recruited employees, volunteers and interns to help make the occasion a success. The Pan Am committee partnered up with colleges and universities across Ontario to offer qualifying students positions in their field. More than 170 interns have been hired since the start of the program in April 2012, in areas such as transportation, marketing, press operation, digital content and much more. “The purpose of TO2015’s Internship Program is to provide rewarding internships to students ... that fulfill the work experience required as part of their post-secondary studies and to provide students with practical experience and help strengthen their skills in a professional setting,” said media relations coordinator
for Pan Am Toronto Heather Irwin. There are many facilities being built near post-secondary institutes and George Brown College is one of the lucky ones. The Athletes’ Village, located at Toronto’s waterfront district, will become a dormitory for George Brown students after the summer games. It will also be the future site of affordable housing, new condominiums and a YMCA according to the Pan Am website. The OCAA will be involved in the games in more than one way: Humber College students Andrew Tucker and Jesse Buckingham are both on the sitting volleyball team for Canada in the Parapan Am Games, Durham College athletic director Ken Babcock is on the organizing committee for Pan Am Games Baseball, and Niagara College’s men’s volleyball coach Nathan Groenveld is on the short list for a coaching position for the men’s national team.
ANDREW TUCKER
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ucker, has always been physically active, participating in as many sports as he could. As a boy he would watch his mother play recreational volleyball and dream of playing it one day. During his time at Bramalea Secondary School, volleyball became his main focus and he played on the school’s team. In January 2012, Tucker started feeling very sick, which eventually lead to multiple organ failure. “My kidney shut down. From there I fell into septic shock, which lead to peripheral necrosis,” said the 24-year-old. “My hands and feet were okay, it’s just my right ankle was really swollen and the tissue was dying around it and I couldn’t move it. The doctors told me they had to amputate it.” He would lose his right leg below the knee. Tucker was in the hospital for nearly six months before the amputation. While undergoing rehab at West Park Healthcare Centre, Tucker encountered
JESSE BUCKINGHAM
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e remembers it like it was a dream. On April 10, 2014, the second day of his new job, Jesse Buckingham was crushed by a 30-ton excavator. When he woke up three days later his left leg was gone – amputated inches above his knee. What was a tragic accident would soon turn into a triumphant story. “Right from the minute I woke up, everyone around me was sad, but I told them to relax because I was going to be a Paralympian. That was pretty much my outlook from the time I woke up,” said Buckingham. He is now a part of Canada’s men’s national sitting volleyball team and will officially represent his country in the upcoming Parapan Am Games. “I’ve always been told that there was some sort of sporting future for me, even when I was younger. I just never played to my full potential,” he said. After his accident, instead of focusing solely on the near future and his next rehab session at West Park Healthcare Centre, Buckingham was pushed by friends to
two members of the sitting volleyball team, Jamoi Anderson and Jason Naval, who encouraged him to try out for the team. “At the time I wasn’t thinking about playing sports because I was fresh off my amputation.” Two year’s later, Tucker’s friends ran into into some other members of the team and his friend told them Tucker’s story. He was invited to participate in a one-on-one. After the sitting volleyball coach saw the video of Tucker’s skill, he was officially invited to the team’s camp in September 2014. Tucker officially joined the national team in October. He’s been practicing with the team, attending Humber College’s Recreation and Leisure Services program and interning as athlete ambassador for Para Sport Ontario. “My teammates were athlete ambassadors as well. When they told me about it, they introduced me to their supervisor and I was already travelling with them to do their presentation. She (the ambassador) thought it would be a good fit for the team was well.” Tucker and teammates go around to schools and hospitals demonstrating the importance of getting into physical acmeet members of the national sitting volleyball team – Jamoi Anderson and Jason Naval. From there, things fell into place. “I hooked up with them in July, started training with them. Probably in the second week of knowing them, they had talked to their coach about me and they had a camp in London, Ont. … so I went out there,” said the 25-year-old athlete. Despite not having much recent volleyball experience, Buckingham learned quickly and improved in less than a year with help from several organized games and training with Canada’s top athletes. While getting involved in the sport so heavily, Buckingham also wanted to continue his education, signing up for online courses at Humber College. During this time he attended physiotherapy and trained with his teammates at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alta. Before taking the big stage in Canada, Buckingham and the national team will head to Europe to face both England and Germany. “I haven’t gone across borders yet, other than the States, so that’s exciting,” said Buckingham about his first major competition with the team. Things have changed dramatically from a year ago, said Buckingham. Preparing to
Courtesy of Derek Stevens Photography
Humber’s Andrew Tucker (#17) tivity with a disability. They also talk to schools about how they can make their sports more inclusive. The 2015 Paraan Am Games will be the biggest stage Tucker has ever played. “The event itself is going to be really exciting but … I’m a little bit anxious.” play for his country in the largest sporting event at home is a “sigh of relief,” he said. “To be able to look in the mirror, look at my friends, look at my family, look at my teammates – most importantly – and just be like ‘wow, I’m here’. It was pretty much a dream going through what I went through with my accident. “It makes me feel good to know that this is what I wanted, and I’m very close to accomplishing that.”
Courtesy of Derek Stevens Photography
Humber’s Jesse Buckingham (#9) www.sweatmag.com | 9
TO2015 NATHAN GROENVELD
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t’s been a long road for Niagara College’s men’s volleyball head coach Nathan Groenveld – both as a player and a coach. Last summer, Groenveld travelled with Canada’s men’s senior national team to the Pan American Cup in Mexico as an assistant coach. Rewind four years back and he was playing for the national team representing Canada. This year he has a chance to be a part of the team in the Pan Am Games. Groenveld has played or coached at almost every level of professional volleyball, from playing for the McMaster University Marauders and professionally overseas to coaching the Niagara College Knights and the U18 provincial team. Being qualified for the job is somewhat an understatement. His passion to coach came long before he ended his professional playing career. “I always knew, a little bit, that I wanted to get into coaching when I was done playing ... When I came back from playing pro, I wanted to stay in Canada. So when an opportunity came up here in Niagara I
KEN BABCOCK
K
en Babcock will add “Member of the Pan Am baseball tournaments organizing committee” to his resume this summer. “It’s an exciting opportunity, one to volunteer, but it’s going to be terrific, terrific competition. The Pan Am Games don’t come around often,” Babcock said. “So it’s really exciting that it’s in our backyard and I could be involved. And I love baseball.” A few months ago, Babcock received an email seeking volunteers for positions on the Pan Am baseball committee. He responded and within no time he was asked to attend a committee meeting. Since then he has been involved in the preparations for the Games. “I think offering my services and abilities to volunteer time to this event is going to be really rewarding,” he said. While attending Durham College’s postgraduate sports management program, Babcock interned at the school’s athletic department, which eventually led him to the role of athletic director in 1995. Combining his “infinite love for sports,” Babcock said, with the opportunities of the
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jumped all over it,” he said. “It has been a great experience so far and I look forward to continuing in that.” The Welland, Ont. native, fell in love with volleyball at a young age and has been a standout player since high school. While playing for the Marauders, he was named a Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) First Team All-Canadian, Ontario University Athletics (OUA) First Team AllStar and Player of the Year, and won an CIS championship. He was then recruited to the national team, playing for them from 2007 to 2010. That experience has helped him become a better coach. “You take a lot of that stuff back, from training, regimens, and programming to the way our vocabulary works with athletes.” A lot of it has been influenced by his time on the national team, he said. This experience at the national level helped Groenveld lead Niagara to a bronze medal at this year’s Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Championships in Charlottetown, P.E.I. He continues to fine-tune his skills by “doing a lot of research, watching a lot of matches, whether it’s international, OCAA, CIS, and just being able to see the way that program at Durham, including his internship, he found his passion and the career he wanted. The sports fanatic already had a lot on his plate. Besides holding the athletic director position, he also coaches the Baseball Oshawa minor peewee team and helps promote sports as the league’s president. The Durham alumnus, is one of the pioneers of OCAA baseball, landing the athletic director job shortly after Durham began competing in the Canadian Intercollegiate baseball Association in 1992. “We played against universities for a number of years. I’m really pleased and excited that a dream we had started, to have baseball at the college level in Ontario, has finally happened in the OCAA. I think they’re going to grow and become a national entity not too long from now,” Babcock said. After winning gold at the 2011 Pan Am Games, the Canadian national team will look to defend their title at Pan Am Ballpark where the baseball tournament will be played. Canadian baseball has been growning recently, and this excites fans like Babcock. “There has never been more kids drafted, never more kids going south on scholarship in the [United States], never more
Photo by Ryan McCullough
Niagara coach Nathan Groenveld the top-level guys are doing it,” he said. He hopes to continually improve as a coach and continue to network. “Some of the opportunities that I’ve been given are fantastic,” he said. “Working with the provincial (under-18) team is going to be fantastic again in the summer.” If selected to be a part of the final coaching staff for the Canadian Pan Am volleyball team, Groenveld said it would be an honour, adding anytime you have to opportunity to represent your country in a big light is amazing. kids playing the game of baseball right now,” he said. “With the [Toronto Blue Jays’] success and their rejuvenation, it looks really exciting for the game of baseball in the future.” Babcock continues to chase other goals and positions and hopes to soon land a role on the OCAA’s executive board. In the short term, however, Babcock’s eyes are focused on the job of getting ready for the big event. “I’m very excited Toronto has been chosen, and very excited to be involved.”
Photo by Al Fournier
Durham Athletic Director Ken Babcock
RECORD BREAKERS Season High Kills/Match
>36
2011-12
All-Time Kills Leader
1080 Season High Points/Match
>40
2010-11 2011-12
Photo by Alejandra Fretes
All-Time Points Leader
TERREL BRAMWELL
1291
BY SHOYNEAR MORRISON With the perfect set to assist him, number 15 jumps, soars into the air, spikes the ball and slams it to his opponents’ feet. The crowd jumps up, applauding thunderously – they’ve just witnessed history being made. The new OCAA all-time points scored record holder is in their midst. Terrel Bramwell will leave behind a legacy of OCAA record-breaking triumphs as the volleyball veteran bids farewell to his beloved Humber Hawks. Off the court, he doesn’t seem very intimidating. With an incredibly introverted personality, the soft-spoken Bramwell seems like a modern-day sport representation of the legendary Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. On the court, Bramwell is anything but meek and mild. He is an ambitious go-getter who allows his exceptional athletic performances to speak for themselves. He didn’t always know he wanted to play volleyball. As a child, Bramwell grew up playing softball and basketball. He didn’t transition to volleyball until he was 14. “I moved to Mississauga in Grade 8. All my friends played volleyball, so that’s what started my career – just being able to play
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with them. It was a sport that I had seen but wasn’t too sure of. I’ve always loved competitive sports,” Bramwell said. After playing left side for the Hawks 10 years later, graduating from the Business Management program at Humber College, Bramwell no longer questions his choice. This was his last year playing side by side with his Hawks teammates, but what a year. During his reign on the men’s volleyball team he’s broken four OCAA records. In a November 2014 home game against Conestoga College, he made history with the alltime points scored. He then turned his attention to the all-time kill record, which he broke the following month during an away game against the Niagara Knights. Bramwell also holds records for most kills and points per match in a season. “When I started at Humber, I didn’t always know I wanted to break these records,” he said modestly. He didn’t even know he was a contender until he started the volleyball season. “I saw the record and how close I was. I knew if I had a good season I could break it. Being able to reach the (points) record, especially in my last year, is very special.”
Bramwell describes his game against Conestoga as nerve wracking. “I didn’t really do anything differently to prepare for the game,” he said. “I was a little nervous when we started the game, but when we got into it I was fine.” Head coach Wayne Wilkins said he’s very proud of Bramwell’s accomplishments during his time with the Hawks. “It’s not an easy record,” Wilkins said with pride. “It’s a hard record, it’s a long record, and a lot of consistency is involved. He doesn’t take time off and because of those things that’s why he is where he is now.” Assistant Coach Paul Kamboi seconded Wilkins’ view of Bramwell’s character. “He’s a hard working man,” he said with certainty. Kamboi played with Bramwell during the record-holder’s first year on the team. “He has definitely come a long way from the time he came as a rookie until now.” Kamboi said he believes what sets Bramwell apart from other athletes is his sense of discipline. “That’s really something that we try to teach here at Humber. As good as you are as a player, if you’re not disciplined then there’s nothing you can achieve.” Going into the game against Conestoga they knew exactly what the game plan was, Kamboi said. “We tried to play the game. It was no different than any other game,” he said. “However, did we want him to break the record in the Humber gym? Absolutely. So that was part of the game plan.” Bramwell said he acknowledges that it was a team effort that helped him attain his goals. Michael Majcen, a setter and libero on the Hawks, assisted Bramwell with his record-breaking point against Conestoga. “I was happy,” he said with a laugh. “I knew what my job was that day…, to give good balls to Terrel so he could get the job done.” With a huge smile, Majcen said he is simply ecstatic he was a part of breaking the records. This is Majcen’s first year at Humber but not his first time with Bramwell. They played against each other in high school. “We actually beat him,” Majcen said with amusement. “He’s maybe not the loudest guy on the team but he’s still a leader, he leads with great example. Not every team has a guy they can rely on like Terrel.” Wilkins described Bramwell as entertaining and has high hopes for his future. “I hope he goes pro and has a long career. We’re going to do whatever we can to help him and give him the right contacts,” Wilkins said.
All-Time Blocks Leader
CLAY 242 COUCHMAN BY JASMINE KABATAY
Photo by Laura Ashmore
When he actually did it, the crowd was going wild for five straight minutes. It was quite the sight.
“The moment it happened, it was very special.” Fleming College’s Clay Couchman described his all-time record-setting block. He beat previous record-holder, Humber College’s Andre Brown, who had a record of 240 blocks. Couchman ended the volleyball season with 242. “I had a lot of people and friends in the audience, in the crowd, that I knew. It’s my last year so you know all those accomplishments in my last year just added to how special it was,” said Couchman. Left side Jacob White, one of Couchman’s teammates, said it was an exciting moment – both the atmosphere and the record-breaking block. “When he actually did it, the crowd was going wild for five straight minutes. It was quite the sight,” said White. “When it happened, everyone kind of just blew up and it was a lot of fun,” Coachman added. Those on the sidelines, including members of the basketball team who came to see Couchman, celebrated when the set was finished. The new record-holder received a standing ovation and got to keep the record-breaking ball. Couchman started his career in Grade 8, continued through high school, eventually transitioned to Fleming, where he’s been with the team for five years. Although volleyball is now his passion, it wasn’t always his first priority. “I was actually an all-star in basketball in high school,” said Couchman. “I came to Fleming hoping to play basketball – that was my sport. Back then, in 2009, they were ranked nationally. They were a really good team. They had Jovain Wilson and Tony Duran, so I knew I wasn’t going to play for the team.”
Fortunately for Couchman, basketball wasn’t his only option. He is also a gifted volleyball player. Among his many laudable attributes, Couchman is a great team-player, according to White and coach Mike Belsey. “He’s a very dedicated athlete, loves playing volleyball that’s for sure. He works hard, keeps himself in top shape. He’s always eager to listen and learn and try new things,” said Belsey. “I’ve brought on some different philosophies to the team that they weren’t used to. He adapted very well into it.” White said playing on a team with Couchman was the best experience he’s had in his life. Couchman even convinced him to come to Fleming to play volleyball. “He’s a very good teammate, very understanding. He has a good knowledge of the game, and he just connects well with everybody,” said White. “There’s nobody that will say he’s not a good person. Everybody likes Clay.” Couchman’s final year with the Knights has been bittersweet. “Every year we have an amazing group of guys. That’s one thing that I’ve been really lucky to have at my five years at Fleming. Every year, each guy on the team is family. I’ve never had that with any other team,” said Couchman. “This year was even more special because of what we accomplished as a team and our coaching staff was new. It was really just a great fit.” Though he’s finished with varsity, he plans to continue playing the sport he loves. “I would like to play pro and I really don’t care where I play. That’s my dream, so I’m still holding on to that,” said Couchman. “Hopefully I can make that happen in the next few years.” www.sweatmag.com | 13
Illustration by Raajan Bansal
When working out no longer works out Exercise is good for you ... to a point
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unning, jumping, lifting, sprinting, day in and day out, always wanting more. For some, running on the treadmill is the drug of choice, and feeling the burning sensation of muscles tearing and growing stronger gets them high. Exercise is part of a healthy, balanced life, and everybody knows that. But when does a natural high become unnatural? Raj Sohi, program director with the Addiction Medicine Service at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), said “the way we often think about addiction, sometimes it’s not even necessarily a matter of how much somebody is doing something, it’s the degree to which it impacts their life negatively.” So if someone were exercising to a degree that it’s causing harm it would probably qualify as an addiction. “But addiction as a phenomenon applies to a number of behaviours that people get caught up in … It’s the stuckness of the behaviour that characterizes the addic-
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tion,” said Wayne Skinner, deputy clinical director of the Ambulatory Care program at CAMH. Since there is no specific program designed for people suffering from exercise addiction, the two tend to encounter these situations through clients who originally come for substance-use issues. But in the process of addressing those problems, sometimes certain behaviours replace them, which could be exercise, said Sohi. Currently there is no definition for exercise addiction. But Dr. Kate Hays, a psychologist who specializes in sports psychology, said the generic way she understands it is that it’s physical activity that is above and beyond what the body needs for optimal well-being. It interferes in one way or another with a person’s regular life. Hays has a practice that specializes in sports psychology and said she saw her first patient with symptoms of exercise addiction back in the 1980s. The concept has been around for a long
BY JANIE GINSBERG time, she said. However, she questions whether the term “addiction” really applies. “I think it’s perfectly okay to use the term in relation to exercise metaphorically, but if one understands addiction as having a physiological component, then I don’t think it exactly fits,” she said. Certainly someone who has been exercising a lot and then stops will encounter certain physiological and psychological reactions, she agreed, “but I don’t see it as the same as a body’s reaction to chemical changes from substance use.” She said it’s more of an analogy or metaphor than anything else. There are many nuanced changes in a person’s behaviour that may signal a problem with exercise addiction. Sohi said that if someone develops health problems as a result of exercise, like an injury, but then continues to exercise despite these problems, it could be a sign. Additionally, issues with relationships can be present as well as people spending so much time with
exercise that they neglect other areas of their lives, he said. Skinner agrees that a lot of the changes that cause negative effects on a person’s life have to do with relationships. Are you showing up for the things people count on you for? Are you being a good parent? Sibling? These are questions that need to be asked. “We use a bio, psycho, social, plus type model, including culture and spiritual factors. And (issues) could happen in any or all of those dimensions,” said Skinner. Hays recalled a client who had a stress fracture but wouldn’t stop running, not allowing himself time to heal. “It became a thing for him that allowed him to put all the stresses of life to one side and just focus on running,” she said. Psychologically, a piece that is closely tied to exercise addiction is called overtraining, and there are definite symptoms associated with that. Depression, sleeping problems, eating problems, and irritability are a few Hays named. “The irony is in the ways in which exercise is supposed to be useful in counteracting those, but when it’s too much the body and mind really start reacting,” she said. College is an environment teeming with students who have intense sport-related and physical fitness goals. Brendan Hancock, Conestoga College cross-country assistant coach, said “I’ve noticed with some people, it’s all they know. They’re so focused on running that
Sometimes it’s not even necessarily a matter of how much somebody is doing something, it’s the degree to which it impacts their life negatively. school hasn’t become a priority, or work.” They’ll still go to work and do their shifts, he said, but they aren’t looking to move forward in that sense – only in sports. “They would keep the same position or just do enough to get by just so they can go to their races.” James Buhlman, head cross country coach at Sheridan College, has coached track and field for more than 20 years. He’s seen signs of possible exercise addiction from athletes that include irritability and weight loss. “Distance runners get obsessed with weight – the more weight to carry the more work you have to do generally,” he said. “I don’t think, even at the competitive levels, to be honest with you, that endangering your health by losing more weight so you can be a little faster on the road or track is a benefit. It leads to excessive and obsessive behaviours, I think.” He also said it just doesn’t set a good example. Other coaches have also noticed pat-
Photo by Janie Ginsberg
CAMH’s Wayne Skinner suggests keeping an eye out for exercise interfering with personal relationships as that may be a sign of exercise addiction
terns of obsession. Sherri Smith, manager of Academic Development and cross-country coach at Sault College, said, in her experience, people who are exercise-obsessed, or have eating disorders, or both, become very obsessed about the things they do. “Whether it’s the pattern of how they get ready in the morning … or how they organize their life, or anything, there’s just an obsessive quality to it,” she said. Tanya Deeks, cross-country coach at St. Lawrence College, has also encountered exercise-addicted individuals. She’s seen young people with injuries they just wouldn’t let heal, ultimately preventing them from reaching their full potential. Deeks is also a professional triathlon, cycling, and nordic skiing coach, as well as a personal trainer. “Unless you’re there all the time to hold their hand, there’s that push, that drive, good or bad, but it’s still there,” she said. These addictive behaviours manifest for multiple reasons, and are usually rooted in other problems. “I would say most addictive behaviours originate in something else. Even substance-use behaviour is a symptom of something. It becomes a problem unto itself, but usually the trigger to it is that there’s something else going on with the person,” said Sohi from CAMH. “It’s a way of escaping from sort of being with yourself and facing who you are, which may feel impossible to deal with in the moment.” Conostaga coach Hancock said one of the reasons is the drive to win. “It’s mental. It’s a mental thing, it’s a feeling. Being good at something is amazing, when you get that first medal, you want more, and, after a while, medals don’t become anything to you.” The infamous “runner’s high” is a play on the feeling some runners experience that takes them out-of-body. Coach Buhlman of Sheridan College said he looks at it in a two-fold way. “It’s an amazing feeling when you run, but one thing that a lot of people forget about is … you can have all the problems in the world on your shoulders when you go out for your run, and you come back later and those problems are gone.” As much as that’s a huge benefit of running and training, having this escape could become obsessive. “Without balance, I think that’s where the problems come,” said Buhlman. Head coach of George Brown College’s Cross Country and Indoor Track team Michael Lavigne, attributes the addictive behaviours to possible misinformation. www.sweatmag.com | 15
“I think the thought process is, if I do more, I’ll be better. Also, sometimes reading things online – that such athlete is doing so many kilometres a week – that they can also do that. But they forget to read the part that this person has been doing it for 10 years and has gone through the proper build up,” he said. Coach Smith from Sault College said, from her observation, there’s an intake and an outtake. “While there was counting calories, there was also the obsession to expend calories through exercise, so the obsession for exercise came out of the motivation to burn calories.” From her experience, exercise addiction is also often linked with eating disorders. When things aren’t going well at home or at work or in one’s social life, exercise can give you a great sense of accomplishment. Coach Deeks from St. Lawrence College said she herself went through two or three very stressful years at work, and it was training for an Iron Man competition that helped her deal with the stress. “So exercise can be extremely positive to help people feel good about themselves…. It’s crossing the line, when that’s all you’ve got in your life, or you think that’s all you’ve got in your life, and you just have to get on that treadmill or go for
Addictive behaviour is a problem unto itself, but usually there is something else going on with the person to trigger it. a run every chance you get,” she said. Deputy director Skinner from CAMH said his daughter played university hockey, but the pressure to be good was very high, which interfered with her academics. “There are tradeoffs that people make. Probably in a healthy school environment you’ve got people who are monitoring…, who are making sure you are keeping a balance,” he said. So how do schools or personal trainers help athletes strive in a balanced way? Hays said it’s important to set out goals with clients that are reasonable and realistic, and to help figure out why someone would want to have this level of physical activity in the first place. Giving [them] opportunities to reflect and see if it’s interfering with other aspects of their life. “If you’re a college student, looking at what are you not doing because you’re exercising as much as you are [is important],” she said. “Also very much paying attention to mood. Are there mood changes? Is there a kind of exhaustion that, no matter how
much sleep you get, your whole self is feeling tired?” These can be cues to back off, she said. Sheridan’s coach Buhlman emphasized the importance of an maintaining open line of communication. “Making sure that you’re communicating with the athlete not only as an athlete, but also as a person. Finding out what their stresses are … as college students. Know when midterms are, for instance. Know when reading break is so that you’re not overwhelming them.” Training seasons do have certain dates that you have to peak for, so make sure the athletes know and are prepared for that, said Buhlman. “But at the same time, being aware as a cross country coach, that they have a far more important world outside of what we do, and respecting that and even showing an interest in that, listening to the athletes.” Lavigne, George Brown’s cross country coach, said it’s important to set out a program. “What I do with my athletes is
Photo by Janie Ginsberg
Dr. Kate Hays, tries to find the root of the problem.
16 | Sweat – Spring 2015
that every week we’re in constant communication [with] weekly logs. They’ll send me, every Sunday, what they’ve done that week so that I’m seeing what their build up and progress is.” This way he is able to see inconsistencies and potentially tone back training if necessary. Not only do they send him the distances they’re running, but also their resting heart rate in the morning, which could be another indicator of sickness or overtraining, he said. This communication between coach and athlete is important, but it’s also crucial not to be overbearing. Lavigne said people want to do their own thing, and as a coach, it’s making sure you’re leading people in the right direction. Sault College coach Smith said as much as she’d like to say that she’s helped students overcome exercise addictive behaviours, she’s only led them to the right resources. “There’s reasons for why these things manifest themselves in somebody, and that’s well beyond what I’m capable of as a coach in terms of approaching. I can relate to an individual, I can listen to them … and I think that’s what I’ve done to this point,” she said. St. Lawrence coach Deeks said it’s really about awareness. The key thing, particularly with athletes that are very committed to their sport … is to follow up on how they’re doing. “As a coach, I think it’s my responsibility to go beyond just the workouts. Their welfare, their health, their recovery … their whole wellness I think is really important,” said Deeks. Smith preaches a message of moderation. “That’s how I coach. I never restrict my athletes from French fries during the season, or lying around and watching Netflix for a long time. I certainly want them to have those things while they’re working hard,” she said. Coach Buhlman agreed that a balanced life is really important. “I told my Sheridan kids this year to make sure they have things outside of this and school, have a hobby, have your friend groups.” “I think to truly understand when an athlete can be bordering on that obsessive part, I think it’s really important for
Photo by Janie Ginsberg
Raj Sohi, program director with the Addiction Medicine Service at CAMH them to have other athletes, because if other athletes think you’re being obsessive then you probably are. Whereas a person … who doesn’t train … they’re just going to think you’re obsessive all the time,” he said. Aside from coaches and fellow athletes, having non-athlete friends in many cases can be really good, said Buhlman. He also advised students to find something that relaxes them, that’s not super stressful, and preferably not related to your field of study, to have that balance in life. In the way of treatment, Skinner said that most commonly people think that if you could find out what the problem is you can fix it, and you’d be done. But although you may understand it, you’re still wired into those behaviours and you’d have to learn your way out of them. “The terrible thing about addictive behaviours is that, while you’re preoccupied with this, you’ve been deskilling yourself and all other healthy behaviours. You have to learn those back…. So that’s where it’s a process, really.” Recovery is all about getting balance back in your life, and sometimes with ex-
ercise you don’t want to quit it altogether because we know that exercise is a big part of well-being, Skinner said. “Our approach to treatment isn’t treating people as objects. It’s working with them collaboratively, because they have to carry this stuff out after they’re long gone from seeing us,” said Skinner. There is no formula, and it has to be personalized. Sohi said part of the initial step might be to have a conversation to look at how this behaviour is affecting multiple dimensions of their life. “We use different standardized instruments that help us gage where the person is in relation to the rest of the population, as a way of using that info to provide feedback to the person,” said Sohi. “The idea being, if the person can see where they are in relation to others … it may make them stop and think ‘I should probably take a closer look at this.’” This reflection alone may be enough to trigger some behavioural change. “There are going to be people who are involved in athletics for different reasons. For some people it’s like a career. It’s part of their college career to be involved in sports teams above the intramural level,” said Skinner. He used the example of working with people with gambling problems as a comparison of how people need to be treated differently. “You have to treat a professional gambler different than a recreational gambler,” he said. In school, you have the professional athlete and the recreational athlete. Also, people have different motives. If the motive is body image and you’re bodybuilding then, in many ways, those individuals are willing to take more risks with their health to achieve a certain kind of body. “So all of those things need to be factored in when you’re trying to make a person-centered approach to caring,” said Skinner. Hays approaches her clients by trying to understand where the problem might have come from and whether there are other ways of handling whatever those issues are. She tries to figure out a way they can allow themselves to be physically active in a way that would also be functional. “There’s something called motivational interviewing,” she said. It’s a method that
To truly understand when an athlete can be bordering on that obsessive part, it’s really important for them to have other athletes, because if they think you’re being obsessive then you probably are. www.sweatmag.com | 17
was developed around chemical addictions that, through inquiry about a persons’ essential values, you can help them come to their own conclusions about what their motivations are and how to achieve them in a constructive way.” There isn’t just one prescribed way to treat exercise addiction. “Addiction treatment isn’t about stopping something. It’s about finding healthy alternatives,” said Skinner. There are also huge societal and cultural factors that impact exercise-addicted behaviours. “There’s such cultural reinforcement for
being physically active that a person may not recognize that there’s a problem until there’s a [bigger] problem,” said Hays. There’s a lot of support for bigger, faster, stronger, at many levels and it’s important to separate oneself from that pressure, she said. Skinner gave the example of professional athletes. “Essentially, they’re putting long-term health at risk for short-term gain…. All these pro athletes are thriving. They’re living in a world where the more you can do this the more they’re successful.” A lot of college and professional ath-
letes have joint injuries that affect them the rest of their lives. “But they’re the heroes right? We watch TV to see these guys play. We show up at rinks and stadiums to see them play,” said Skinner. Typically, when people think about addictions they think in terms of substance use, but the definition has moved far beyond that. “The first area that we’ve moved towards is gambling, actually, then a broader area of behavioural addictions,” said Skinner. This is where exercise fits in. But this specific problem is harder to recognize. “Unless someone self identifies as exercising too much, and it’s causing problems, we aren’t going to know,” said Sohi. “So we don’t have a clear sense about to what degree this is really a problem.”
Illustration by Raajan Bansal
“It’s not that we’re telling people they’re addicted and trying to grow the business,”
18 | Sweat – Spring 2015
At CAMH, they ask everybody about gambling, even if it’s not the reason they’re coming to them. However, people generally don’t tend to pathologize exercise, so the problems are harder to recognize. “The reason the definition [of addiction] would get broadened is not because people in the treatment field are necessarily broadening it, but because the people who are being impacted by the problem, whether that’s the individual that’s engaging in the behaviour or their families, or friends, are coming forward and saying we have a problem and we need some help with it, so then the treatment providers are responding to that,” said Sohi. “It’s not that we’re telling people they’re addicted and trying to grow the business,” Skinner said, laughing. It takes time for treatment systems to catch up with demand, said Sohi. “So I think in terms of the exercise piece, we’re not there. We’re not even asking about it.” St. Lawrence cross-country and professional coach Deeks said she thinks society doesn’t see exercise addiction as a problem. The first step is to discuss it, she said, just to be aware. She gets a lot of paperwork coming to her desk on coaching from various coaching associations. “But I really haven’t seen anything come through about exercise addiction, and yet I truly do believe that it’s there.”
ONTARIO COLLEGES ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION STUDENT-ATHLETES TODAY. LEADERS TOMORROW.
SCHOLARSHIPS & FINANCIAL AWARDS OCAA institutions can offer athletic scholarships and financial awards to student-athletes providing they are administered in accordance with OCAA policies and procedures. OCAA member institutions are not required to offer a specific number of scholarships or awards, nor must they offer them in every sport. The following outlines OCAA athletic scholarship and financial award limits for student-athletes: SCHOLARSHIPS • Athletic Scholarships can be offered to a specific student-athlete for the purpose of recruitment or retention to compete at a particular institution. • Student-athletes can receive an Athletic Scholarship Award of up to $1,250 per semester • Receipt of an Athletic Scholarship is dependent upon the student-athlete maintaining a minimum 2.0 GPA. • Academic Scholarships may also be awarded to student-athletes achieving honours at their institution (maximum award of $150 per semester). ATHLETIC BURSARIES • Student-athletes can receive Athletic Bursaries of up to $2,500 per calendar year. • Athletic Bursaries are defined as an award, open to all students at an institution where athletic participation is considered as a selection criteria • Athletic Bursaries cannot be promised or offered to a specific studentathlete in advance and are normally presented at the end of the academic year.
/TheOCAA OCAA.com
www.sweatmag.com | 19
SIZE Redeemer won’t let its small enrolment get in the way BY NICK JEAN
I
n the familiar Old Testament tale of David versus Goliath, the diminutive future King of Israel stands tall with sling and staff and slays the mammoth Philistine Goliath with a well-placed stone slung straight at the centre of his forehead. Over the past decade or so, Redeemer University College’s athletics programs have been accomplishing a similar feat. But where David stood down only one giant, the Redeemer Royals face several.
doesn’t matter
“They’ve got some challenges,” OCAA president Jim Bialek said. “Being a university college, being an institution with religious ties to it, they’ve got a different set of rules they play under, and obviously they are not a large school.” Not large at all. This year’s enrolment at the undergraduate Christian institution in Ancaster, Ont. is 760. In their entire existence, their student population has never broken 1,000. Yet despite all of this, their athletes have taken home 16 OCAA medals since the 2004-05 campaign – three gold, two silver and 11 bronze. The only sports in which the Royals participate, but have not taken home medals, are soccer and basketball – but there are signs of great improvement. “Redeemer, being a small school, has
Photo by Nick Jean
The Royals’ men’s basketball team set a school-record this season, finishing fourth in the West. They lost to St. Lawrence – Kingston in their Provincials qualifier match.
20 | Sweat – Spring 2015
never really traditionally been a strong basketball school,” said the Royals’ men’s basketball coach Jamie Girolametto in the thunderous Humber gymnasium while the women’s team played. “Each year’s been a success on its own. This year’s another step in the right direction. We qualified for the playoffs for the first time in school history. It’s a pretty proud moment moving forward.” Girolametto said the small pool athletes from which his team draws is a significant disadvantage. He said in his three years at the university he’s had a total of five players that weren’t deliberately recruited show up at tryouts. “So it’s not like some of these Toronto schools (where) you’re coming to tryouts with 60 guys in the gym,” he said. “But the fact that we’ve recruited people, we know who we’re getting, what skill sets they have. So there are some advantages to that as well.” Redeemer athletic director Dave Mantel also finds advantages in his school’s relatively small size. “A lot of times the conventional thinking is that institutions are small because they don’t attract as many people,” Mantel said. “In our case, we’re small not because we don’t attract but because we serve a niche market.” Athletics at Redeemer, Mantel said, “doesn’t take a lot of numbers. It takes quality of student athletes. We’re proud and very blessed to have and have had so many athletes come to us and be part of our programming.” Those athletes are the first of four things Royals badminton coach Benno Kurvits highlights as key to the success of their varsity athletics. “The second thing,” Kurvits said, “is we’ve had and continue to have quite a knowledgeable, passionate and dedicated staff at Redeemer across the board in all sports.” That staff stands out particularly well to Kurvits’ son, two-time OCAA badminton men’s singles champion Owen Kurvits. “Redeemer’s awesome,” Owen told Sweat the night of his last practice be-
fore Provincials. “The staff, they really care about the students and the athletes. They’ll make every effort to do what they need to do so that I’m feeling good and I’m ready to go. “It’s a really good home feeling here,” the soft-spoken champion said. “You can’t say enough good things about the staff here.” The setting of the cozy Ancaster campus is the third of coach Kurvits’ aspects. “We are a small Christian school that has a small Christian school atmosphere,” he said. “It creates a very close-knit student body which tends to transfer over to our sports teams ... They develop relationships of trust. And when you play on a team you know and you have
literally wear on their sleeves. Each team has somewhere on their gear the phrase “Whatever you do … Col 3:23.” This is a reference to the passage 3, verse 23 of the New Testament’s Book of Colossians. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” This is the fourth and final trait Benno Kurvits sees as key to their success. “Basically, whatever you do, do it in a way that pleases the Lord,” coach Kurvits said. “A lot of our athletes, being Christian athletes, they can kind of play beyond themselves and not just for themselves. “What I think this does for a lot of our players,” he said, “it kind of frees them up a little bit. There’s lots of pressure to perform and to succeed, but when you have this
that kind of trust and camaraderie, it can give you an extra level of performance.” Given the small size of the student body, it’s possible for everybody to know everybody else. It’s also possible for them to all to show up and cheer on their friends at home games, which, Owen said, they usually do. “It’s an awesome environment,” he said. “The entire fanbase, we’re behind all our teams.” Basketball coach Girolametto needed just three words to describe what that home game atmosphere is like. “Loud. Extremely loud. “Our last home game against Mohawk, it was standing room only,” Girolametto said. “I’ve never seen that for a basketball game (at Redeemer). The walls just echo in there. It’s a great atmosphere for a game.” Despite the volume, the Royals’ home gym is a very considerate place. R-Rating banners hang from the walls. But in this case, R stands for Respect. The banners tell attendees “This is a respectful zone. Everyone will treat each other with respect.” That attitude is present both in the fans watching and in the players on the court. “We respect our opponents,” Benno said. “We love them. We treat them with a lot of respect and I think that helps us play well against them, too.” “For us to win without high character,” athletic director Mantel said, “we would not be achieving our vision. Our coaches are committed to those two things, excellence and character.” It is that character that athletes quite
higher motivation, sometimes it helps you to push beyond the pressure, get through it and play more freely and maybe reach your true level of potential more consistently.” All of these factors, as well as innumerable others, tangible and ephemeral, have combined to produce the multi-championship winning programs at Redeemer. But taking home hardware isn’t everything there. “Our vision is to try to win medals (but), ultimately, the goal is to have excellent programs and a student-athlete experience,” Mantel said. “Winning championships and podium finishes and Players of the Year, being able to celebrate that at your own banquet, that’s going to be special in different ways everywhere,” Bialek said. “But knowing every player is going to get a terrific student-athlete experience, which means winning games, I think that’s paramount.” Unlike David, Redeemer’s Goliaths won’t stay down for long. They’ll be returning, more competitive than ever. But the Royals will stand ready to face them with slings loaded with strength of staff, strength of recruitment and incredible strength of character.
Redeemer’s Owen Kurvits went home this year with his second consecutive OCAA gold and the national championship from the tournament at the University of King’s College in Halifax, N.S. Photo by Nick Jean
www.sweatmag.com | 21
Changing Attitudes
R
epresenting St. Clair College with pride, head women’s soccer coach, Steve Vagnini was named 2014-15 OCAA Coach of the Year. “It’s a classy game,” he said as he reminisced about his journey from player to coach. Starting from his own post-secondary career, he explained how he ended up in Windsor, Ont. “I picked my university like any foolish kid. I picked who was ranked the highest
St. Clair’s Steve Vagnini has turned his whole team’s attitude around, earning him OCAA’s 2014-15 Coach of the Year honours BY JANIE GINSBERG
(in soccer),” he said. But for him it worked out. Vagnini continued to play for local leagues, won championships, and did “all the good stuff an amateur player can do.” He made the transition from player to coach at a young age, helping his local high school league, and got started coaching youth soccer with his daughter’s team. It wasn’t until 2000 that he really got into the mix of things and was asked to be a coach at the University of Windsor. “From that point on, I took it a little more seriously,” he said. “The levels you want to be at are different, and there’s so much more to learn about.” He got all the coaching licensing necessary and made it to the provincial coaching level, getting involved with the Canadian Soccer League. It changed everything. “It basically really changed a lot of my philosophy on coaching because it was at the highest level that we had available to us,” he said. Eventually stepping down from the university to take on other projects, he returned to coaching in schools at St. Clair College in November 2013 after a job opened up. He’s had one indoor season with them already, and this year was his first outdoor. “You look at things from a bigger perspective. You look at the whole team,” he said. “As a player you did your job, and as a coach you’re basically taking care of everyone’s job, or training them to prepare for that responsibility.” His chief motto from player to coach is that players win games and coaches lose them. “You lose, that’s your coach’s responsibility,” Vagni-
Photo by William Smith
22 | Sweat – Spring 2015
ni said, describing a situation. “When you make a substitution and that player goes in and scores the winning goal, they don’t look and say ‘wow that coach is amazing,’ they’ll say it was an amazing goal.” At the University of Windsor, he went back and forth coaching women and men, a couple years with the girls and a couple years with the boys. He coached men at the Canadian Soccer League and went back to women at St. Clair College. “Everyone says you don’t coach a gender,” he explained. “I won’t do anything different than what I do with women, and what I do with men, and what I do with kids. It’s the exact same thing, same principle, same technical idea that you approach them with.” Vagnini described the biggest challenge he had this year as having to change the culture. Before him, St. Clair never really had a strong program, he said. And everyone looked at it that way. “I had been used to practicing every day, two hours a day, going from the Canadian Soccer League where game prep took a whole week,” he said. “You analyzed other teams’ film, you broke everything down. It was a lot of homework.” But at St. Clair, they had no clue about this, and he wasn’t prepared. “I had to kind of break it all down again, and change that culture of thinking.... They just wanted to play the game, they didn’t want to win it,” he said. “They didn’t believe in it.” The culture was much more laid back than he was used to. “Not to knock previous coaches or anything, it’s just that when you allow your team to think losing is okay, it’s not something that I buy in to.” To Vagnini, winning is everything. According to him, at the post-secondary level or any professional league for that matter, the athletes are there to win, not just compete. “St. Clair was a huge help. They were really, really great at helping me change the mindset, but I started right at zero,” he said. Over the past year he’s had many proud moments, but the one that
Photo by William Smith
St. Clair College head women’s soccer coach, Steven Vagnini was named 2014-15 OCAA Coach of the Year. tops them all was “walking off the field that last day in Ottawa, when we got knocked out.” They lost 1–0. “It was the quarter-final game and seeing the girls … they were mad losing against the number two team in Canada, and walking into that dressing room and seeing them bummed out showed that they cared,” he said. “They truly believed Ottawa was a much better team, well coached, great players, and yet when my players walked off – they were actually pissed.” As a coach, seeing the passion was a success, even though they lost. “I think they’re learning…. They learned how to lose to understand how to win.” Going from player to dedicated coach, Vagnini describes a real sense of appreciation and devotion for his position. He coaches because he loves it. “Coaching allows me to give back that passion…. It’s the most beautiful game in the world. If I could coach the way I feel that it should be played, then I’d love to keep that passion alive,” he said. “I want them to understand how fortunate they are to have the ability to play this game.” Does Vagnini see more coaching in his future? “When I first got hired, I told them at my press conference that I wanted to win. I’m here to win, and if I can’t win within a couple of years then they need to find someone else that can bring the team to that level. “I’m here to stay for a while,” he said. “But I won’t overstay my welcome, if I can’t win. I won’t do that to these players. But I’ll stay as long as I can.”
Photo by William Smith
Saints midfielder Robyn Preston was named OCAA all star. www.sweatmag.com | 23
Photo by Dilara Kurtaran
BY THE NUMBERS “Jersey numbers, in some people’s eyes, are everything,” said Jim Bialek, OCAA president. “If you have the opportunity to select a number, almost all the time there is a history behind it, whether it’s a hero, whether it’s a prominent figure in your life, whether it’s a parent or guardian.” BY DILARA KURTARAN 24 | Sweat – Spring 2015
#11
#8 #3 RJ Ramirez Humber Basketball
This past year my mom passed away. So from now on, whatever jersey or whatever team I play for, I’m going to change my number to the month that she passed away, which is the 8th. It’s in August. That is my future number.
#14
Kojo Afari Mohawk Basketball
I chose to wear 14 at Mohawk because it reminds me of my time playing at Sault College and the many lessons I’ve learned from playing there. I would say one lesson that sticks out in my mind is the fact that, as a student-athlete, you are a student first. No matter how talented you may be, if you aren’t pulling your weight in the classroom you won’t be eligible to play. All of that talent will go to waste. I learned that lesson the hard way. The first semester of my third year at Sault College was coming to a close and I was enjoying a pretty successful season
Kamyn Wilkins Humber Volleyball I chose my number because of my mom specifically. My mom played here back when I was born and wore number 3. So I wear number 3, just like her. She was on the women’s volleyball team and I’m on the men’s volleyball team now.
with the Cougars. We were going into the break with the best record the school had seen. We were named Team of the Week and we had the possibility of making a serious push to the playoffs. I wasn’t pulling my weight in the classroom (and) I ended up being dismissed from my program and had to return home. I was pretty devastated, not only because I wouldn’t be able to play the sport I loved, but also because I lost that opportunity simply due to laziness and passivity. So when I reached out to the Mohawk coach and he gave an opportunity to practice with the team, and possibly play with them in the fall, I took it and ran with it because I knew it was a chance for me to do it all over again, but to do it right this time.
Photo courtesy of Humber Athletics
Elizabeth Deakin-Poot Humber Volleyball As a rookie this year for the Humber Hawks varsity women’s volleyball team, I had to pick a new number for the upcoming season. I had been number 12 all of my life, but the number was taken. So I had to choose from 7, 8 or 9. I thought about dates or anything significant I could pull from those three numbers and decided on number 9 because my birthday is July 9, but the real significance of my number didn’t really come until after I had chosen it. At my first home game, my
parents came up to me and we had been talking about me being number 9. That is when my dad told me that 9 had been his number when he played sports. This made my number so much more important to me than any other number I’ve worn before, because my dad is such a huge influence in my life and he is my number one supporter. For as long as I can remember, my dad has worked endless hours of overtime, working up to 12 hours a day to make sure that we could have every opportunity to play and progress as athletes. So wearing number 9 is the ultimate way to honour everything he has done for me.
Photo courtesy of Humber Athletics
#9
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#24 Brandon Terdik Canadore Basketball I have always chosen number 24 because, growing up as a kid, I always followed Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers. I remember when I was young, I used to go out to my net during halftime and try to do the moves that I saw Kobe do during the game. Watching Kobe play is the reason I fell in love with the game.
Photo courtesy of Canadore Athletics
#8
Jonathan Jealouse Durham Volleyball
My birthday is August 8 so that’s the main reason why I chose my number. The consistency is nice, going between different sports and teams just having 8 as my number the whole time, it just has significance to me.
Christopher Cifuentes Seneca Indoor Soccer
#14
It’s been a dream of mine to play at the college level. I’ve been playing soccer since the age of eight. My first-ever number was 14. I wasn’t the kind of guy to be picky with my number, but making the Seneca team made me realize that the number 14 was something very meaningful to me. At the age of eight, soccer was already more than just a sport – it was my passion. I never knew what the number meant at the time, but I now realize that the number defined who I am today. Through the years, I just kept picking 14 because it was what I started with, but today I pick 14 because I had a dream, my dream to play where I am today and I made it here. The number 14 is more than just a number, it’s who I am. It’s my birthright. It’s the number that was there with me. The number that saw me cry and bleed but stayed there on my back through this whole journey. Until the day I cannot play soccer, the number 14 will always be on my back and in my heart. It is what I live for.
#3 My jersey number is 3 because, growing up, I’ve watched Allen Iverson and he was my favourite player, so I had to choose the number. He influenced me because he is a small guard just like me. I’m pretty small compared to the people I play against. Every night he went out there and was able to score points. That’s what I try to do.
26 | Sweat – Spring 2015
Photo by Dilara Kurtaran
Gibson Eduful Humber Basketball
Changing Lanes With one last touch of the wall, retiring swimmers are finished – stripped of their routine, their community, their whole identity BY MATTHEW PARISELLI
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Photo by Matthew Pariselli
28 | Sweat – Spring 2015
ungs screaming and muscles burning, Annamay Pierse surges toward the wall in the final of the women’s 200-metre breaststroke at the 2012 Canadian Olympic swimming trials. She summons every last ounce of power and drives into the touchpad. Whipping her head around to check the scoreboard, she’s confronted by sinking dreams. Her eyes tell her brain something she cannot compute. The number five stands next to her name, indicating her placing in the race. She has failed to earn herself a ticket to the London Olympics. With a flood of emotions coursing through her, the former world record-holder exits the same Montreal pool where she won the event and qualified for her first Olympic team four years prior. Heartbroken and in disbelief, the realization that her career as a professional swimmer has ended washes over her. Before she can process it herself, she is ushered into a press room where reporters thrust their mics at her and fire away with a question she has no answer to: “What are you going to do now?” Canadian competitive swimmers rarely dive into the thought of retirement. In fact, for some, like Pierse, it crashes into them unannounced and uninvited. According to Judy Goss, mental performance consultant at the Canadian Sport Institute – Ontario, it is
the “unanticipated and unplanned” retirements that are particularly challenging for swimmers and most athletes. The retirement transition for swimmers has garnered some attention in the swimming-captivated nation of Australia. But, aside from Mark Tewksbury, the Canadian gold medalist from the 1992 Olympics who was candid with his troublesome transition, the subject matter has fallen under murky waters in Canada. However, the winds (or waves) of change may be blowing through. With Toronto hosting the 2015 Pan Am Games this summer, and the introduction of Game Plan, a program designed to assist Canada’s athletes as they transition into, within, and beyond sport, this topic is finally getting dredged up from the deep end to the surface. In Jeff Pearlman’s 2004 Psychology Today article “After the Ball,” sports psychologist Steven Berglas wrote that elite athletes go “from the pinnacle of adulation, excitation and the confirmation of worth to nothing.” High-performance athletes live a slightly coddled life, but with retirement, all safety nets are withdrawn. For elite athletes, retirement When Canadian swimmer Annamay Pierse failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games, her career ended in a split second and she was left floating in a pool of uncertainty.
It takes time and I’m still learning. I’m still learning how to be a real human being. signifies a loss of structure, a challenge to one’s identity, a loss of physical fitness and a dissolution or transformation of one’s support network. Additionally, as was the case for Pierse, the daunting “what now?” question sets in and demands an answer. In a sport as enveloping as competitive swimming, Canada’s swimmers experience these challenges to a high degree. As retired two-time Canadian Olympic swimmer Alexa Komarnycky said, being an elite swimmer means, “living, eating, breathing swimming.” After retiring in 2013, she is still navigating the adjustment period: “It takes time and I’m still learning. I’m still learning how to be a real human being.” One of the adjustments Komarnycky is still making relates to the loss of structure that comes with retirement. Kirsten Barnes, lead mental performance consultant for the Canadian Sport Institute – Pacific, and a retired Olympic gold medal-winning rower herself, alludes to this and argues that routines form the basis of a swimmer’s environment. Practice and competition schedules demand strict adherence to structure, and if the swimmer is enrolled in school while competing, the value of structure is even more pronounced. Komarnycky’s Olympic teammate, Tobias Oriwol, reiterates Barnes’ assertion. Oriwol swam for Canada at the 2008 Olympics, retired and enrolled in graduate school. He completed his studies and then returned to swimming in 2010. His return was a successful one. He went on to swim in the London 2012 Games before retiring permanently. Oriwol said framing time in the context of a school year is akin to knowing when practices and competitions are in swimming. During his first retirement, the clear path that school paved was crucial to his smooth transition out of swimming. “There was no searching around or finding my way,” he said. Having “something that structured … and finite as a swimming season or swimming cycle,” offered him a familiar and comforting sense of direction. Heather MacLean, a recently-retired member of the 2012 Canadian Olympic swim team, echoes Oriwol’s sentiments on the influence of structure, but also calls the re-identification process that comes with retirement tumultuous. Having retired in the fall of 2014, she currently finds herself in the throes of this stage, and, according to Gretchen Kerr, professor and
vice dean of academic affairs in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, her case is not an isolated one. “Retired athletes have to renegotiate their identities…. For so long, they’ve been identifying themselves and others have been identifying them as athletes. So when they’re no longer athletes, what are they at that point?” she said. This is a difficulty reinforced by Ashwin Patel, Sport Management professor at Humber College. Patel, who has worked with elite swimmers and has helped guide several athletes through the retirement process, said those who self-identify solely as swimmers encounter the toughest transitions. In his experience, “the ones that really struggled with it were the individuals whose identities were so strongly tied to the sport of swimming.” For MacLean, losing swimming from her self-image has been the scariest part of her retirement transition. She sees herself as a person of lesser value and frequently questions who she is now that swimming is part of her past. She admits she worried about how people would perceive her decision to retire. “I was really nervous about what my teammates would say, what my coaches would say, what my friends would say,” she said. “Swimming was who I was
and I was really nervous that people would view me … as a lesser person.” Swimming keeps its athletes impeccably fit. With between eight and 10 workouts a week, the body becomes sculpted and trimmed. When a swimmer retires, it is natural for this shape to fade, and this can be a hurdle in the retirement journey as well. Not wanting to completely get out of shape is a common fear. Oriwol said juggling graduate school and the need for physical activity was incredibly frustrating. MacLean revealed her fear of gaining 30 pounds and how she is trying to strike a balance between healthy eating and exercise. Komarnycky delved into how badly she missed intense physical exertion and how it led to a new job as a personal trainer at Goodlife Fitness. As Goss mentioned, it is essential for retired swimmers to find a means of exercise, both for their physical and mental stability. Drawing on her experiences with athletes through her work with Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), Goss also suggested a loss of community may be problematic in the retirement transition. There is a sense of camaraderie that develops when swimmers compete and train together, and when a swimmer exits the pool, that support system may also be left behind. This is a condition of retirement that both Kerr and Barnes relate to. Barnes said in extreme cases, some swimmers are
Photo by Savannah King
The London Olympic pool was the sudden end for many swimming careers, a shock-filled transition that often proves damaging to athletes’ mental health. www.sweatmag.com | 29
struck with a feeling of “abandonment” when they retire. If a swimmer has to return to his or her hometown following retirement, contact with former teammates is often severed and this can be a source of shock and grief. Despite all of the pitfalls with retirement, there are ways to mitigate the struggles during a swimmer’s transition. The key is planning and preparation, or as Goss phrases it, as “one wheel stops turning with [a] sport career, the other wheels [should] already [be] moving.” This notion is substantiated by Barnes, Patel, and Kerr. To properly do this, Kerr stressed planning at a very early age by developing interests and friends outside of swimming. Identifying preferences, hopes and personal characteristics can expose young swimmers to a variety of avenues to follow after their athletic careers. Martha McCabe is a current Canadian national swim team member and 2012 Olympic finalist and has qualified for the 2015 Pan Am Games. She has always taken it upon herself to prepare for her future. With an interest in the human body, she studied kinesiology at the University of British Columbia. After she completed her undergraduate degree, she explored the
Photo by Blake Worsley
30 | Sweat – Spring 2015
You need to be so dedicated. You need to expend so much time towards that singular focus that you basically become defined by your sport. possibility of working in medicine and investigated writing the MCATs. Once she learned of the RBC Olympians program, which funds Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes and provides them with skills to better prepare for life beyond sport, she educated herself on it, applied for selection, and was accepted. She now works part-time at their head office in Toronto where she gains valuable work experience while still training fulltime. After seeing teammates struggle with retirement in the wake of the 2012 Olympics, McCabe knew she did not want to confront the same obstacles. “I want to have something that I’m passionate about when I’m done swimming ... I want to put that energy toward something,” she said. Patel emphasizes this idea of transferring energy. He said it is vital that swimmers, and elite athletes in general, pinpoint other interests or passions to explore so the energy they once reserved for sport
can be shifted towards something else upon retirement. Rechanneling that energy is of the utmost importance. Although McCabe has been proactive in her efforts to locate a passion beyond swimming, this has proven extremely difficult for others. To achieve her great heights in the sport, Pierse, for example, had to entirely dedicate herself to swimming. In hindsight, she sees how this may have been a hindrance to her future, but still believes that excellence in swimming comes from having it as the sole focus: “If you’re thinking about what you’re doing after swimming, you’re not really thinking about what you’re doing while you’re swimming.” This is reiterated by former swimmer Sandy Lockhart. Lockhart, who never competed at the Olympic stage, but represented Canada internationally and won events in the pool at the university level, retired in 2008 and admits to never fully developing an outlet from swimming. Even though it was
his choice, swimming consumed his life. When he unexpectedly reached retirement’s doorstep, he said that he was ill-prepared for his future. He had an undergraduate degree, but it was in an area he was growing further and further disinterested in, and recognized that he now needed to, “go back and put those blocks in place to do what it was that (he) wanted to do.” Having a resource to help identify this would have been welcome, he said. Following the 2010 Olympics, Barnes was asked to put together a debriefing report. Her findings were startling and sparked a move toward better assisting Canada’s athletes with the various transitions they encounter in their careers. One of Barnes’ more alarming discoveries was that two of Canada’s gold medalists from the 2010 Olympics were struck with distressing realizations days before their final performances at those Games. These epiphanies came from recognizing they were at the end of their careers without the faintest clue as to where they were headed after the Games. Clearly, something needed to be done to help better prepare athletes. September 2014 served as the launch pad for Game Plan, a program aimed at assisting athletes with integrating life and sport through all phases of their athletic careers, including their segue into post-athletic endeavours. Rolf Wagschal, athlete career transition advisor for Game Plan, said planning and preparation are what Game Plan strives to emphasize. “Let’s not build the house; let’s just lay good foundation,” he said. As it pertains to swimmers, Wagschal understands their struggles when competing at a high level. “You need to be so dedicated. You need to expend so much time towards that singular focus that you basically become defined by your sport. Your entire support structure is made up of swimmers. Your entire daily routine, your financial life, your physical life revolves around swimming. And when you remove that person from swimming it be can very traumatic if they haven’t done any preparation …. There’s a massive hole there,” he said. Pierse, who said she was “basically just dumped by Swimming Canada,” calls Game Plan and its benefits invaluable. Following her disappointment at the 2012 Olympic trials, she emphasized her need to consult a sports psychologist in the aftermath, but her efforts to have that service covered by the governing body were denied. In her most vulnerable state, lost in a “dark, dark space,” as she called it, she was stranded. She turned to food and alcohol, lost sight of herself, and handled the entire process in an irrational, unhealthy manner. But she knew no other way. Game Plan ensures that there is another way, and, as Wagschal said, it aims to help athletes “find their way” beyond sport. Although retirement has proven challenging for some notable swimmers like Ian Thorpe, the Australian superstar and multiple Olympic gold medalist, who publicly grappled with depression following his competitive career, it is not an agonizing process for all. As Goss underlined, the number of elite swimmers who wallow in despair for an extensive time following retirement is quite low. After two years, most manage to swim through the retirement wave successfully. It would appear that Goss’s estimate rings true for Pierse. Three years out of her failure to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games, Pierse is back in school to become a teacher. “I’m so happy. I absolutely love being in school, I love teaching. It’s absolutely what I’m supposed to be doing,” she said. Pierse did not have an answer for reporters when they asked her what her plans were in 2012, but it is clear that she has now found a new life for herself in a different lane.
Photo by Matthew Pariselli
Pierse hasn’t been back in the pool since that fateful day three years ago, but she’s now found herself and knows not only where she’s going but how to get there. www.sweatmag.com | 31
Not Just Another Pain BY DOMINIQUE TAYLOR
Up to a third of all sport injuries are ankle sprains and less than half are treated, greatly increasing the chance of recurrence and future fractures
I
t’s close to the end of the second-half and the heat is on. Hearts are pounding, coaches are yelling, fans are shouting and players are running down the field at full speed. There’s a brilliant pass up the right wing and the defense cuts quickly to intercept the ball. But suddenly she fumbles. She’s rolled over on her ankle and missed the play. She stumbles to regain her footing and then keeps on running. She’s got to get to that ball, even if it kills her. For any sports enthusiast who’s had an ankle sprain, this is a very familiar scenario. For some athletes, it’s a recurring fear. And it doesn’t matter whether the surface is grass, turf or court; the setup for injuries is quite often the same. A quick directional change, a pivot, a jump or a bump from another player, and the foot unexpectedly rolls over. “It always takes me by surprise,” said Alexis Borges, 19, defenseman for Sheridan College’s varsity soccer team the Bruins. “It happens when I’m tired and want to get to the player faster. So I change direction quicker and then I go over on it.” Borges has a long history of ankle sprains, starting at just 10 years old. She said she’s sprained both ankles at least three or four times each, but never sought treatment until she injured herself in the 2014/15 season with the Bruins. The last time she injured herself, she ended up with a hairline fracture of the fibula bone in her ankle. Getting early treatment and the right form of therapy are key to avoiding repeat ankle sprains. If ignored, this problem can sometimes lead to long-term issues such as chronic ankle joint instability or early osteoarthritis. Or it can lead to a knee, hip or back injury down the road, said Nancy Botting, a sports physiotherapist and owner of Physical Edge Physiotherapy in Oakville, Ont. “The more times you do it, the greater the chance of fracture,” said Botting. But only about 45 per cent of people seek treatment for a sprained ankle, according to a 2009 study published in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. And 10 to 30 per cent of people with
32 | Sweat – Spring 2015
Photo by Alejandra Fretes
ankle sprains continue to have problems such as pain, swelling, muscle weakness and frequent giving-way of the ankle one to four years after injury, reports a 2009 study published in Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation Therapy and Technology. “The athletes are just looking for pain, but they don’t usually see what we see,” said Steven Pauhl, athletic therapist to the Bruins. “They might have really lax joints or might have sprained it enough times so they get swelling and pain on and off but they can deal with it. With us, we look at it and say ‘okay, this is pretty bad!’” Ankle sprains account for 10 to 30 per cent of all competitive and recreational sports injuries. Some sports, like soccer and volleyball, have rates as high as 40 per cent, according to a 2007 review of 227 studies, published in the journal of Sports Medicine. Ankle sprains occur when an athlete lands a jump awkwardly or the foot is suddenly and forcefully turned or rotated inwards compared to the leg and knee above. Once the ankle or foot is into a position where it can no longer support the weight of the body, it will roll over. The ligaments on the outside of the ankle are the most commonly torn or stretched as a result, and can take four to eight weeks or more to heal, depending upon the severity of the sprain. Early range of motion exercises, taping, bracing, ice, and compression are the usual ways to begin treatment for a sprained ankle. After that, it’s the progression of a gradual strengthening program that targets the full body, including the large muscle groups of the leg all the way down to the smaller muscles of the ankle and foot, said Pauhl. “You need to be able to use that whole lower body muscle system,” said Pauhl, “even a squat uses your ankle, so you have to be able to do the movements that are specific to your sport and just daily life.” But it’s the effectiveness of the “proprioceptive system” or “body, brain, and joint awareness” that is often a deciding factor on whether an ankle will be sprained again. “There’s little nerve endings in our joints that tell us where our body is in space, and there’s nerve endings in the ligaments that give us constant feedback of where our foot is relative to our shin and the rest of our body,” said Botting. After a sprain, the brain doesn’t receive the right messages about where your foot is in relation to the rest of the body and this increases a person’s chance of injury, said Botting. It’s why extensive proprioceptive and balance exercises are so important to any good rehabilitation plan. Training balance includes weight shifting, forward shifting, rotation and twisting in a very controlled way, said Botting. Once the athlete can master shifting they can try a soft surface where the foot has to react to something that is no longer stable. Soon it’s a progression to balancing exercises on a wobbly surface and then variations of speed, frequency and duration of exercise are added to the mix. It’s also important to try eyes open and closed to see how the body reacts to staying on that foot or ankle, said Botting. Once the athlete is doing better, dynamic exercises like jumping, running, footwork and cutting drills can be added. Another big factor in the bounce-back after ankle sprain is sports-specific training. It doesn’t matter if it’s a varsity sport or a recreational sport. It’s just as important for a “weekend warrior” or a college-level athlete said Pauhl. “If you don’t train the movements specific to a sport then you don’t know what you’re doing out there. You’re more apt for injury because your body doesn’t know what to expect. You don’t have the proper strength for movement that you need.” Sport-specific drills can also be used to help therapists know
Photo by Dominique Taylor
Sheridan Bruins soccer player Alexis Borges works with athletic therapist Steven Pauhl on strengthening her troubled ankles. when an athlete is fit to return to their sport. “It gives us a guideline on whether they are ready or not, and it helps us to progress the load on the ankle,” said Botting. “Then we get a chance to see how it reacts before they actually go back to their sport. It’s an integral part of the decision on return to play.” Sports drills can also be helpful to an athlete or coach. The athlete might not have enough confidence to play but the drills can show them they are ready, said Botting. Conversely, the athlete or coach might think they are ready but once they are running through some sport-specific drills, “they start falling apart and having pain and limping on the foot,” said Botting. At any rate, it’s the hard work to get better that counts. “Alexis has been one of the more dedicated players,” said Sheridan’s varsity soccer coach Paul Angelini. “She always shows up for her therapy and does her away-from-soccer exercises.” Borges agreed. She completes an hour of strengthening and balance exercises a day and has attended treatment regularly for several months so that she can continue to play soccer. “You really need to focus on the therapy, that is the biggest factor,” said Borges. “If you’re not doing it on your own then you’re not improving at all.” Borges returned to play in January and successfully finished four games in an indoor-soccer weekend tournament in February. As she flies down the Sheridan therapy gym, she displays some very fancy footwork as her therapist Pauhl shouts out increasingly difficult instructions to her. Borges is incredibly determined and no ankle sprain will ever stop her from achieving her goals. Dominique Taylor is a journalist and a registered physiotherapist with 20 years of hands-on clinical experience. She’s worked in both private practice and hospital settings, treating ankle sprains and other musculoskeletal injuries.
www.sweatmag.com | 33
O
utside, it was a frozen February afternoon. But inside, the action was hot and furious. Arrows ripped through the air as people, myself included, ran for cover. I wasn’t attending an underground medieval fight club, but rather trying my hand at the latest sporting activity to catch fire across the globe – Archery Tag. “The best way to describe it,” Archery Tag creator John Jackson said, “is like dodgeball with bows and arrows.” The base game involves two teams of five players facing off on either side of a 20-foot ‘safe zone.’ When the game starts, players will exchange volleys while spinning and dodging incoming fire. That may sound dangerous, but there is no risk of a puncture wound. Jackson’s Global Archery Products has developed a special foam-tipped arrow that looks like someone took a shot at a large marshmallow.
BY NICK JEAN Photo by Nick Jean
“The most you’ll feel [when you’re hit] is like getting slapped by someone,” said Toronto’s Archery District co-owner Derek Wang, an Archery Tag licensee. In addition to the special-made arrows, each player is required to wear a paintball mask that serves a dual purpose. While protecting players from getting a shot in the eye, they also drastically cut down on your peripheral vision. Several times in my hour-long session, I was whacked by a shot I never saw coming. “It’s very interactive,” Jackson said, fending off comparisons to laser tag. “You’ve got the physical component. When playing laser tag, sometimes I didn’t realize I’d been hit until I looked down and saw the flashing lights. With this, you can definitely tell when you’ve been hit.” Paintball also has a physical component but Jackson said the bow and arrow “really adds a whole different element. [You’re not just] sitting there in your bunker, unloading your hopper of paintballs. “Unlike paintball, you can see the arrow coming at you,” he added. When your mask doesn’t hide it from you, at least. Setting archery tag apart from dodgeball, if you’re shot in the opening seconds of the game you aren’t forced to sit on the sidelines until the next round starts. “Each team has what we call a five-spot target,” Jackson said. “It looks basically like a dice with the five spots on it.” When a player knocks out one of the spots on their opponents’ target with a shot, one of their eliminated teammates is allowed to return to the field of play. The only other way for players to return from elimination in the base game is if a teammate catches an arrow. This allows one or two eliminated teammates to return, depending on the rules of the game variant, as well as eliminating the player who shot the arrow. The chances of this happening are slim, however. Archery District cofounder Manson Leung told us before the game started that, on av-
Shoot ‘em Up www.sweatmag.com | 35
erage, they only witness a caught arrow once in every three hour-long sessions. The first team to eliminate all the opposing players, or knock out all their opponents’ targets, wins. The dual win conditions lend themselves to a high-octane environment. Throughout my time playing, I could never sit still. “Camping” behind cover may keep you safe, but it leaves your five-spot vulnerable, a classic Catch-22.
It’s really exhilirating. It’s very energetic, fast-paced. You’ve always got to be on your toes.
Photo by Nick Jean
The innovative new game, in the manner of all schoolyard-type activities, has itself been a source of inspiration. Jackson remarked with delight on the twists Archery Tag licensees have put on his invention. “A licensee in New York added dodgeballs in. So you can either shoot an arrow or throw a ball.” At Archery District, they have developed a game mode they call Medic. When playing Medic, catching arrows and shooting targets no longer revives fallen allies. Instead, one player on each team, the medic, is given a small shield. When their teammates are hit, they sit where they fell and call for help. The medic must then touch their shoulder for three seconds in order to revive them. All this time, the medic is completely exposed. At one point during my time playing, the opposing medic had to dodge two or three shots in rapid succession. If he had been hit and eliminated, it would have been a big blow to their chances of winning. Archery Tag isn’t just fun and games for some, Wang said. “A lot of returning customers [talk about] coming back and using Archery District as an alternative to the gym,” he said. “I think this is a better alternative for people that want to have fun and work out at the same time. When you’re having fun, you don’t feel like you’re working out.” OCAD University student Victoria Denstedt agreed. “It’s an extreme workout, which is awesome,” said Denstedt, one of my teammates. “If you had a large group, it would be like arrows flying everywhere. It would be like World War III.” Seneca College graphic design student Coleen Dorazio concurred. “It’s really exhilarating. Oh my gosh. It’s a lot to do,” Dorazio said. “It’s very energetic, fast-paced. You’ve always got to be on your toes. I love it.”
36 | Sweat – Spring 2015
Left The paintball mask helps keep players safe and ups the tension, limiting participants’ field of vision. Opposite When running games, Archery District cofounder Manson Leung will often join in when the pace slows, loosing rounds at participants who are playing a little too cautiously.
Photo by Nick Jean
www.sweatmag.com | 37
Women of the Pitch Coaching women’s soccer is exactly the same as coaching the men, and yet completely different
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omen’s soccer dates back to the 1860s, according to the Football Association (FA), England’s football governing body. Although women were banned from playing on the Association’s grounds in England from Dec. 5, 1921 until the end of 1960 because it was considered “quite unsuitable for females,” interest in the sport continued to grow. The Mirror, the U.K.’s best-selling daily tabloid newspaper said 55,000 fans filled Wembley Stadium for last year’s international women’s friendly between England and Germany. For inspiration, female players can look to Mariel Margaret “Mia” Hamm, a former U.S. women’s soccer player who retired in 2004. According to FIFA, Hamm helped women’s soccer to grow during her 17-year career. She scored 158 international soccer goals, the all-time international record for both men and women’s soccer until fellow American Abby Wambach broke it in June 2013. Hamm is also one of just two women included in the FIFA 100 list of the greatest living footballers, created by the legendary Pelé for FIFA’s 10th anniversary in 2004.
BY TIARA SAMOSIR In the OCAA, women’s soccer has been a varsity sport since 1983-84, with the indoor variant joining seven years later. Their varsity coaches are clear – there are few differences in the way male and female players train and play, everyone has to train hard. “I’m a true believer that you don’t coach gender,” said St. Clair College women’s indoor soccer coach Steve Vagnini. “Women are just as capable as men.” Vagnini said coming from being the head coach for men’s soccer team for the Windsor Stars, a Canadian soccer team based in Windsor, Ont. to coaching women at college, everything stays exactly the same. “The only difference that I found a little bit is the strength. The strength and the speed are a little bit stronger on the male side, but the ability is the same,” said Vagnini. Vince Pileggi, women’s indoor soccer coach at Humber College, has a different philosophy about coaching men and women. He said the main difference might be in how coaches treat the athletes. “They’re the same in some aspects and
Photo courtesy of UTM Athletics
University of Toronto Mississauga women’s indoor soccer team cheer before game.
38 | Sweat – Spring 2015
different in others,” he said. From the technical point of view, basic fundamentals and progression are structured, and training for both genders is exactly the same. Natasha Agaoglu, a women’s indoor soccer coach at St. Lawrence College, said, because the opponents are the same – women play against women and men play against men – she doesn’t necessarily train women to play the same level as men. “I would just look at what are the common injuries in female athletes in the years past and what are the common injuries in men,” she said. “That would be the only thing that I would adapt for their training.” Agaoglu said when playing soccer, women are notorious for having knee injuries, which means they need more exercises for their knees. Gaining trust from men’s and women’s teams can be tricky for a coach said Pileggi, who has been the head coach for both women’s indoor and outdoor soccer teams at Humber College since September 1996. Pileggi said women have to understand that you, the coach, are a part of the team and have their best interest at heart before they decide to trust you. While men, he said, have to acknowledge that, as a coach, you do have the soccer knowledge and the technical ability to understand the game before trusting you. Female players tend to rely more on team relationships, while male players are more about the strategy, tactics and the competition, said Pillegi. Damian Yearwood, women’s indoor soccer coach at University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) agrees. He said team spirit is likely found in the women’s game because they build relationships within the team. “Women want to compete because they compete for each other, for the team,” said Yearwood. “They have the idea of responsibility where men, I find in my experience, are just competitive by nature.” Yearwood said if given the scenario where he puts a ball on a court with two women, they’re most likely to take turns shooting and play with each other. If he has two men instead, they’re going to play one-on-one against each other.
“Women get competitive, not when facing another person, (but) when facing another team,” said Yearwood. Whereas men are “just competitive all the time, and that’s the biggest difference I find.” Coaches may have different philosophies about the game but their mission is the same, get their players to perform their best. Yearwood said he is approachable and understanding with his athletes, but he likes to push them to their best potential. “If I’m having a fitness session or a coaching session isn’t going so well, maybe they’re not putting in the effort required, and then, yes, I will be harder on them, if necessary,” he said. Vagnini, on the other hand, believes in tough love. He said he pushes his players hard, while being rewarding. He said pointing out mistakes can help players to get better in terms of allowing them to work on the mistake itself so it won’t happen again, even though a lot of players feel like he’s on to them. Vagnini’s favorite line: “It’s not personal. It’s soccer.” Diarmuid O’Connor, women’s indoor soccer coach at Centennial College, said making soccer fun when training hard is very important. “I always want to make sure that when they finish playing the game or practice, they still feel good about themselves,” said O’Connor. Vagnini said the way he makes training fun for his players is by starting practice with a warm up called “ticky-tacko.” Players must pass the ball with one touch, instead of dribbling the ball first. Vagnini said playing one-touch soccer is hard, but if they know how to prepare themselves, everything else is easy. He said it helps the players to focus.
Women want to compete because they compete for each other. “Right from the beginning of our practices, we get them to (focus) on mindset while having fun, then we get into the technical part, which you have to do every day, then we get into tactical to prepare for the team we’re playing against,” said Vagnini. Luca Sirianni, Seneca College’s women’s coach, said physical preparation is not enough. “Technically, you are working on the
Photo courtesy of Humber Athletics
Humber College women’s indoor soccer took the field against Flemming College. skill. Tactically, you work on the organization for the whole team and the system of play. Physically, we have to make sure they’re in best shape. Mentally, we have to ensure that they’re focused and prepared to compete,” said Sirianni. Sirianni said he believes being a varsity coach requires being responsible for more than just the sport – making sure players are healthy, fit, and doing well in school are also part of the responsibility. “The most important part is treating the players as people first,” he said. “Then understanding them and the problems they’re going through that might affect their performance.” He said whether reading books, taking coaching courses, or watching other teams play, there’s always something new to try. Inspiration can come from anywhere. “Each year, I learn something from athletes that I wasn’t expecting, such as the way they approach the game,” said UTM’s Yearwood. “Sometimes it inspires me to want to coach even better, to learn even more things.”
Although all coaches agree that women’s soccer is a popular and competitive sport, St. Lawrence’s Agaoglu said she’s the only woman who coaches the women’s soccer team in the OCAA. “There’s a lack of female coaches in soccer,” said Agaoglu. “I’m trying to support a lot of our female athletes to continue on with coaching.” Jennifer Soehner, a UTM women’s indoor soccer player and a third-year environmental management student, said the greatest challenge is juggling activities. Not only is Soehner a soccer player and student, she is a don-on-duty on residence and has a part-time job. Soehner said women, herself included, are very passionate about soccer and it really shows on the field. “I think women have done an excellent job of proving themselves as strong athletes. You can see the passion on the field and it’s one of my favorite things to see, how much we care about the game and how much we’ve got to give ourselves to it,” she said. www.sweatmag.com | 39
Mend these broken wings Tommy John surgery has turned what was once a career-ending injury into a short-term inconvenience BY TIARA SAMOSIR
I
t’s true that practice makes perfect, but for pitchers, some adjustment is needed. Practice hard, but limit your practice in order to keep throwing the perfect pitch. Overthrowing can be very dangerous for baseball players, especially pitchers. It puts extremely high stress on the elbow and may cause injuries if it’s overdone. The American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) reported the number of elbow injuries for pitchers has been increasing over the years. In many cases, overthrowing was hurting the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) – the ligament on the inside of the elbow that holds bones together and helps to control the movement of the joints. If damaged, a UCL reconstruction, also called Tommy John surgery, may be needed. The number of professional pitchers in the U.S. needing Tommy John surgery has risen dramatically in the last few years. In an interview with USA Today, James Andrews, an orthopedic surgeon who has been the go-to doctor for baseball players in major league baseball called the rise “an epidemic.” In 2014, 19 pitchers had the surgery, more than in the entirety of the 1990s. On average, 16 surgeries a year were performed between 2000 and 2011. According to ASMI, the injury leading to Tommy John surgery in young professional pitchers actually begins while they are still amateurs. Research shows that when an orthopedist performs surgery on a torn UCL, the surgeon will almost always see a ligament
that has frayed over time from overuse and repetition. “Today, we see too many examples of young pitchers who are asked to throw … with inappropriate rests and mechanics or technique and that leads to the much higher risk of injury to the elbow,” said Pat Doyle, president of California-based Doyle International Baseball Consulting Services. Doyle had a 29-year career as the head baseball coach of San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, Calif. He said there’s a phenomenon in baseball called “travel ball.” It happens to kids who are supposedly better athletes when their parents feel they need to play more games to get scholarships or professional contracts. The pressure from these parents can cause problems, Doyle said, “Not because the parents or coaches were trying to hurt them, but they are trying to force the situation on [the players],” he said. Other than overuse, the major concern is throwing with inappropriate technique, which can abuse the arm. Dave Cooper, a baseball coach for St. Clair College said teaching kids the proper throwing technique right from the get-go is important and it can save their arms in the end. “The key is to teach young players, as young as eight years old, how to throw properly,” said Cooper. “A lot of children start to play at that age and, if they don’t throw properly, they can hurt their elbow and shoulder.” Cooper said starting at age 12 and 13, kids are on their own a lot. Damage will start when they play catch with their friends without using the proper technique, or when they start to throw curveballs when they’re 14.
A lot of young players were in great throwing condition between 13 and 15, but couldn’t throw by the time they are 17 because their arms have been abused, said Cooper. The history of UCL reconstructive surgery dates back to 1974, when the elbow reconstruction surgery was first performed on former Major League Baseball pitcher Tommy John. The surgery repairs the UCL, which is torn to the point where a pitcher cannot throw any more. The UCL is one of the most important ligaments to connect the upper arm bone, the humerus, and the ulna, located on the opposite side of the forearm from the thumb. The UCL is the main source of the stability of the elbow. If damaged, the elbow will be loose, unstable, and will cause pain, affecting the ability of a pitcher to throw. If ignored, and the arm doesn’t get enough rest, the damage will become more serious until the surgery is needed. Following surgery, minimal exercises are needed to increase motion ability while waiting for the arm to heal. Research suggests mobility and stability exercises such as gentle handgrips and shoulder and wrist mobilization shortly after surgery. Chris Kelly, an athletic therapist at George Brown College, who has previously dealt with pitchers who have had the surgery, said range of motion in the arm is
Ulnar collateral ligaments Illustrations by Kirsten Sterby
40 | Sweat – Spring 2015
very limited at first, but with proper exercises, strength and endurance will return. “Usually with pitchers, [the recovery process] takes between 10 and 12 months,” said Kelly, “because they throw more frequently and at a higher velocity.” According to a 2012 report by ESPN, titled Force of Habit, before Tommy John surgery was developed, a damaged UCL meant the end of a pitcher’s career. Kelly said the result of the surgery now is usually positive. “Almost 90 per cent come back to full competition,” said Kelly. “It’s pretty successful, and gets to the point where [pitchers] can play in professional careers.” Even though Tommy John surgery is mostly performed on baseball pitchers, the injury isn’t limited to baseball. Other athletes, such as football and tennis players, are also vulnerable. Richard Sherman, a football cornerback with the Seattle Seahawks, played in the 2015 Superbowl with a damaged UCL. Doyle said the injury can occur in any sport that puts stress from the shoulder down to the wrist. Pitchers tend to get the most UCL injuries because the pitching motion can put a lot of stress on the ligament. Spotting the signs of injury isn’t easy. Durham College baseball coach Sam Dempster said a lot of pitchers wouldn’t speak up when their arm or shoulder is hurt, and that is when a coach has to be attentive to their movement. “Their performance will drop very, very quickly,” said Dempster. “Let’s say a pitcher throws 85 miles an hour and he drops to 78. You get the idea that something’s wrong.” According to Cooper, pitchers using other throwing techniques can be another way to spot an injury. “If a pitcher’s arm or shoulder is hurt, he might start dropping his arm angle to reduce the pain,” said Cooper. Coaches also need to pay attention when pitches start coming high, it means the pitcher is tired and that’s the time to get him out of the field, Cooper said. Every coach has their own method to protect their players from UCL injury. Seneca College men’s baseball coach Brian Bates said being careful from the start is one way to prevent injury in a packed varsity baseball season. The twomonth 2014 program involved 22 games. Bates said coaches have to really watch the players when they come in the fall. The first thing Seneca’s coaching staff do is complete a physical of all players to figure out what to do and where to focus.
“When they come in the fall program, the first thing we do is find out how long they have played, if they’ve got a concern related to [pain,] when they last played, if they’ve shut down for a period of time and if they haven’t. We ask if they’ve got any concern related to injuries,” he said. Bates said it’s mandatory to have good knowledge of any concerns in order to avoid further injury. In terms of what needs to be done, Doyle has a list of things that have reduced risk of UCL damage. Perhaps the reason he has never had a pitcher who needed Tommy John surgery under his watch. Continuous education is key. Coaching requires more than just teaching pitchers the proper throwing technique, Doyle said. Both physical and emotional management of players, especially young athletes, are very important. “If you want young people to continue to play a sport, they have what we call their emotional tanks that need to be filled,” said Doyle. “They need to have fun and enjoy what they do. You have to treat them as a person, not like a number or something that relates to ‘do this, do that.’” Setting expectations between parents and coaches can be very beneficial in terms of keeping both sides from pushing and overusing the players, he said. Coaches need to understand and explain to parents what certain age groups can do and what to expect. If parents understand what expectations they can have in terms of improvements in technique and understanding of the game, it’s unlikely they’ll pressure the coach to push the players, Doyle said. Proper physical conditioning needs to be used up to the age where players are going to decide if they are going to college or be involved in professional ball, he said. Up until the age of 16, players should get more practice and training than game time, but, Doyle said, reality is the exact opposite. Young pitchers play too many games, they don’t practice enough, and they don’t learn proper techniques. This results in vicious cycles of injuries and kids losing interest. He said it’s because they’re tired of competing, playing, and being told what to do when what they need to do is have fun and enjoy the sport. Doyle emphasizes that there is a process in coaching baseball to young athletes that cannot be ignored. “Many people try to cut corners and try to speed up the process to get the result. You probably are not going to get the result you need if you speed up the process,” he said.
Tommy John Surgery Step By Step Humerus
Radius
Ulna
Drilled tunnels
The surgeon opens the patient’s elbow and drills holes through the upper arm’s humerus and forearm’s ulna.
A tendon harvested from somewhere else in the patient’s body is threaded through the holes and anchored.
After the incisions heal, the patient can rehabilitate the injury back to a full range of motion in their elbow. www.sweatmag.com | 41
YOUR NUMBER ONE SOURCE FOR EVERYTHING OCAA
VISIT OCAA.COM TODAY FOR THE LATEST NEWS, STATS, FEATURES, SCORES AND MUCH MORE! 42 | Sweat – Spring 2015
Winter Scoreboard
Badminton
OCAA Championship Men’s Singles Women’s Singles
Men’s Doubles
Women’s Doubles
Mixed Doubles
Gold
Owen Kurvits (Redeemer)
Olivia Lei (Humber)
Ross Golding & Ogyen Dorjee (George Brown)
Suzy Yan & Yan Zhou (Seneca)
Adam Dong & Tracy Wong (Humber)
Silver
Jesse Assing (Humber)
Cindy Fu (Humber)
Ryan Chow & Darcy Schmidt (Humber)
Christina Duong & Michelle Chow (Humber)
Victoria Hall & Kianoosh Moslemi (Mohawk)
Bronze
Milan Kkharel (Seneca)
Jessica Murray (Conestoga)
Allan Tong & Tommy Cheung (Seneca)
Riley Hogan & Jodi Grobbecker (Fanshawe)
Hans Agnihorti & Taylor Cond (Cambrian)
Men’s Basketball
Women’s Basketball
East Division (20 Games) Team
Team
GP
Wins
Losses
Points
PF
PA
PDiff
Wins
Losses
Points
PF
PA
PDiff
Humber
18
17
1
34
1306
924
382
Durham
17
3
34
1742
1477
265
Mohawk
18
16
2
32
1330
1054
276
Georgian
14
6
28
1621
1441
180
Algonquin
16
15
1
30
1269
690
579
Seneca
13
7
26
1646
1537
109
St. Lawrence (K)
16
15
1
30
1225
689
536
Centennial
12
8
24
1685
1609
76
Fanshawe
18
12
6
24
1182
978
204
St. Lawrence (K)
12
8
24
1530
1486
44
St. Clair
18
12
6
24
1193
1000
193
Algonquin
11
9
22
1424
1376
48
Centennial
16
11
5
22
991
803
188
George Brown
11
9
22
1558
1485
73
Niagara
18
11
7
22
1167
1066
101
Loyalist
10
10
20
1608
1587
21
Sheridan
18
9
9
18
1024
1055
-31
Canadore
6
14
12
1607
1729
-122
Durham
16
8
8
16
967
1022
-55
La Cité
3
17
6
1625
1893
-268
Loyalist
16
8
8
16
866
905
-39
Fleming
1
19
2
1584
2010
-426
Seneca
16
8
8
16
824
817
7
Lambton
18
7
11
14
1086
1127
-41
West Division (18 Games) Team
Wins
Losses
Points
PF
PA
PDiff
Georgian
16
5
11
10
879
993
-114
Humber
17
1
34
1540
1225
315
Redeemer
18
3
15
6
1141
1340
-199
Mohawk
15
3
30
1801
1484
317
George Brown
16
2
14
4
765
1048
-283
Fanshawe
13
5
26
1486
1303
183
Cambrian
18
2
16
4
866
1247
-381
Redeemer
11
7
22
1449
1403
46
Sault
18
1
17
2
742
1246
-504
Lambton
10
8
20
1457
1425
32
Fleming
16
0
16
0
395
1214
-819
Niagara
8
10
16
1440
1380
60
OCAA Championship
Sheridan
7
11
14
1555
1446
109
Gold
Humber
St. Clair
7
11
14
1436
1410
26
Silver
Mohawk
Sault
2
16
4
1135
1453
-318
Bronze
Algonquin
Cambrian
0
18
0
944
1714
-770
OCAA Championship Gold
Mohawk
Silver
Humber
Bronze
Durham
sweat www.sweatmag.com | 43
Winter Scoreboard Men’s Volleyball
Women’s Volleyball
East Division Team
East Division Wins
Losses
Points
PF
PA
PDiff
Durham
18
0
36
54
11
43
Canadore
12
6
24
44
33
Fleming
12
6
24
43
Trent
11
7
22
Seneca
10
8
Algonquin
8
Georgian
Wins
Losses
Points
PF
PA
PDiff
Georgian
16
2
32
48
17
31
11
Canadore
13
5
26
45
17
28
28
15
Trent
13
5
26
45
23
22
39
30
9
Durham
13
5
26
44
19
25
20
37
33
4
Seneca
13
5
26
43
25
18
10
16
30
35
-5
Algonquin
7
11
14
30
35
-5
8
10
16
34
37
-3
Loyalist
7
11
14
28
42
-14
George Brown
5
13
10
30
43
-13
George Brown
5
13
8
20
43
-23
La Cité
4
14
8
18
44
-26
La Cité
3
15
6
17
47
-30
Loyalist
2
16
4
15
50
-35
Fleming
0
16
0
2
54
-52
Wins
Losses
Points
PF
PA
PDiff
West Division Team
Team
West Division Wins
Losses
Points
PF
PA
PDiff
Team
Mohawk
17
1
34
53
18
35
Humber
18
1
36
54
9
45
Humber
13
5
26
46
24
22
Niagara
15
3
30
49
18
31
Fanshawe
12
6
24
42
33
17
Redeemer
12
6
24
43
30
13
Niagara
12
6
24
40
28
19
St. Clair
12
6
24
42
22
20
St. Clair
12
6
24
44
25
16
Sheridan
12
6
24
40
26
14
Sheridan
11
7
22
39
28
11
Cambrian
8
10
16
34
37
-3
Redeemer
7
11
14
30
38
-8
Fanshawe
5
13
10
24
45
-21
Cambrian
3
15
6
18
47
-29
Conestoga
4
14
8
22
43
-21
Conestoga
3
15
6
19
46
-27
Mohawk
4
14
8
18
44
-26
Boreal
0
18
0
0
54
-54
Boreal
0
18
0
2
54
-52
OCAA Championship
OCAA Championship
Gold
Niagara
Gold
Humber
Silver
St. Clair
Silver
Durham
Bronze
Mohawk
Bronze
Niagara
Indoor Soccer
Curling
OCAA Championship
OCAA Championship
Men’s
Women’s
Gold
Humber
St. Clair
Silver
Centennial
Fanshawe
Bronze
George Brown Sheridan
44 | Sweat – Spring 2015
Men’s
Women’s
Mixed
Gold
Sault
Fanshawe
Sault
Silver
Fleming
Humber
Humber
Bronze
Fanshawe
Mohawk
St. Clair
Robert Lynch Men’s volleyball head coach St. Clair College
COACH’S CORNER
Making the Most of Your Time on the Court The coach is about to substitute you into the game and a hundred thoughts go through your head.
Photo courtesy of St. Clair Athletics
This is the first set you have been in this year. The moment you have been waiting for is finally here. You have put in your time, attended practice and done all the drills. Met all expectations. The coaches have seen you step up and are now giving you the opportunity you deserve. As a player going into the match you take instructions from the coach. The coach will let you know exactly what is needed from your play. The player hustles to the substitution area and supports the outgoing teammate. The player is set to play physically and mentally when entering the court. It is important to stay warmed up and ready to go while on the bench. The player’s mindset is just as crucial as their physical abilities. You must be confident and prepared to compete and support your team. This is that player’s moment to shine and to show what they are made of. The coach’s instructions are to serve the
OFF THE BENCH This year I’ve thought a lot about time – the things that time affects and how we can properly use it – the best way to use it and what should we use it for. One of the main reasons I’ve thought about it so much is because of something my pastor said. He said that what you find yourself putting the most time into is where your heart is. Your true desires in life are found in the things you are spending the most time on. This was a good reality check for me, and I began looking at my own life. What were the things I thought about most, talked about most, and spent the most time doing? It’s no surprise that near the top of the list was badminton. However, I began answering the question differently: “Why do I play badminton?” This was a question I didn’t think about too much before this. When I thought about it, I was simply playing because I loved it. I loved the athletics, the people, the training, and close to everything about it. This wasn’t a bad thing, but was that
46 | Sweat – Spring 2015
worth the amount of time I was putting into it? This led to a bit of a readjustment for me. When I put everything into perspective, like my family, friends and my relationship with God, badminton was lucky to crack the top five on my priority list. Because of this, I played a bit differently. Instead of playing to win or even just playing for fun, I was playing for the experience, for the friendships I had made along the way, and for Christ. I realized what impact I had on the people around me both when I was on and off the court. This didn’t make me try any less than if I was simply playing to win. What it did was let me play freely and with a positive attitude. It also made me less afraid of failing. At the end of the day, the feelings of making memories and friends last longer than the feeling of winning a piece of metal. Needless to say, I’ve had the best season of my life, and I hope God may get the deserved praise.
ball tough and to dig every ball in your hitting lane. You must be alert and in the game. As you play your three rotations in the back row, it is your job to recognize the tendencies of your opponents. You have observed and discussed your opponents at length in the players pit with the other non-starters throughout the game. After a good tough serve, a perfect pass on serve receive and two digs in transition, you rotate to position four and are subbed out, leaving the court with the same zest and enthusiasm you came in with. Your head is held high and you are supportive of your replacement on the court. Your coach gives you the first high five followed by the rest of your teammates in the pit. You have achieved all that has been asked of you and will now be getting more time on the court because you have earned it. You can feel proud of yourself. You worked hard for yourself and the team and helped teammates improve their game as well.
Owen Kurvits OCAA & CCAA badminton champion Redeemer University College
Photo by Nick Jean
www.sweatmag.com | 47