sweat OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE OCAA
DWAYNE HARRISON LAUGHING IN THE FACE OF DEATH TAKING CONTROL LEARN SELF-DEFENSE OCAA RECRUITS WHAT DOES IT TAKE?
sweat contents FALL 2013
In Every Issue 4 5 6 9 43 43
President’s note Letter from the editor Photo contest Gallery Coach’s corner Off the bench
Core Sports 10 12 15 16 19 20
Unbreakable: the star setter with cystic fibrosis Change of course Baseball is back Arms race: profiling OCAA fastball pitchers Germain Sanchez says goodbye A new level of commitment: recruits
Features 22 24 26 29 31
Part of the family: catching up with OCAA alumni Dwayne Harrison: road to recovery No paper trail: OCAA athletes’ database goes digital Bad call: OCAA officials share their stories Dealing with defeat: five tips for getting over a loss
Life / Health 33 34 36 39 40
The men who cheer Game changing uniforms Tough runner Eating like a champion Taking control: learning self-defence
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PRESIDENTʼS NOTE
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would like to welcome readers to the 2013 Fall Edition of Sweat Magazine, the official magazine of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association, and your source of information for collegiate sport in Ontario. On behalf of the OCAA Executive Committee and our 29 member institutions, I would like to thank the faculty at Humber College and the journalism students 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. Baseball makes its debut in the OCAA for the first time. It is exciting to introduce a new sport, and now with baseball we have gender equity across the board as it joins women’s fastball. The OCAA is known nationally for their hosting excellence, and I would like to thank all of the hosts for its efforts in the upcoming 2013 championships. Championships this year are truly province wide, with events being held all across Ontario. On the national front, I would also like to recognize our hosts of 2013/14 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association National championships. Humber leads off in the Fall semester with Cross Country, followed in the Winter semester by Seneca College with Women’s Volleyball and finishing up with Sault College hosting the Curling event. I am confident that all of our guests will leave Ontario with great memories of both the competition and our hospitality. The OCAA is proud to welcome its newest member, Lakehead University – Orillia Campus. I would also like to acknowledge and send best wishes to Nipissing University and Algoma University as they leave the OCAA and enter play in the Ontario University Athletics. They have been long and valued members of the OCAA and will be missed. I would be sorely remiss if I did not send a special thank you and best wishes note on behalf of the entire OCAA community to Doug Fox of Humber College. He has served the OCAA and CCAA admirably, acting as president for both and being the “voice around the table” that all colleagues respected and learned from. I know I did! ▲
JIM BIALEK - OCAA PRESIDENT
FIND MORE - STORIES - PHOTOS - INFOGRAPHICS ONLINE
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
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ports teams often have to go through major roster changes which can severely shake up the chemistry of a group. The Sweat masthead has to go through these changes every year. New faces come in, some familiar with the content Sweat offers, others not so much. Some not even familiar with the sports themselves. The OCAA as a whole and the people within the league – coaches and athletes – that strive for excellence on and off the playing field are crucial aspects of our publication’s identity. Despite the number of people who came into this semester with a limited knowledge of sports, they greatly helped strengthen the bigger picture with fantastic story ideas and an undeniable focus on getting things done. It was mighty impressive witnessing members of our team accomplish so much while having to maneuver around other duties. From classes to internships, obstacles were aplenty. The trek to the final product, despite the occasional bump along the way, was relatively smooth. This had everything to do with members of Sweat managing their time to the best of their abilities, and staying motivated throughout the entire process. When it came to story ideas, we found that many people were sidestepping the generic storylines involving roster changes and teams’ statistical improvements from years past. Triumph, resolve, and family were themes that seemed to pop up on a regular basis. The OCAA houses a number of athletes who have some highly compelling, and emotional stories to tell. I think our team did a good job of not only finding them, but following through and creating stories that I’m confident will engage our readers, and help them relate to some of the amazing people within the OCAA family. Growing up, I was lucky enough to be involved in several sports clubs. I always wanted to extend that experience in a post-secondary environment; simply put, however, it just didn’t work out that way. I was never too down because of it, and I continue to play sports recreationally whenever I can. To this day, I’m amazed at the amount of hard work athletes go through to not only make a varsity team, but maintain that spot. I can’t imagine having to balance an internship, school, and varsity sports. It’d be flat out impossible. Well, that’s how it appears to me anyway, but I know I’m wrong, because the facts are quite glaring. OCAA athletes not only balance the three, but often excel at them all, and place themselves in promising situations where they must choose between continuing playing the sport they play at a higher level, or pursue their career upon graduation. A tremendous amount of hard work was put into this semester’s issue of Sweat. We hope it’s reflected in the stories we produced, and that they complement the tough grind athletes, coaches, and other members of the OCAA family go through on a consistent basis. ▲
ALEX COOP - EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
sweat Roster EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ALEX COOP EXECUTIVE EDITOR JADE LEUNG MANAGING EDITOR-PRINT JARED CLINTON MANAGING EDITOR-ONLINE TYRRELL MEERTINS ART DIRECTION KARA MATTHEWS SARAH STINCHCOMBE ONLINE DIRECTOR DERICK DEONARAIN PHOTO EDITOR MEGAN RACH SECTION EDITORS KAITLYN MORRIS BRIAN O’NEILL MICHAEL OSEI COPY CHIEF VICTORIA QUIROZ COPY EDITOR TAYLOR PARSONS RESEARCH EDITOR PETER DAVEY RESEARCH CHIEF MELISSA DEEDER RESEARCH, FC ESPE CURRIE JOSHUA SHERMAN EDITORIAL ADVISER LARA KING PUBLISHER CAREY FRENCH ADVISORY BOARD BLAIR WEBSTER JOSH BELL-WEBSTER JIM BIALEK SCOTT DENNIS RYAN KELLY FIND US ONLINE AT HUMBERJOURNALISM.COM /SWEATWIN2014 OR @OCAASWEAT sweat 2013 | 5
PHOTO CONTEST
PHOTO BY ELIA KOOLSBERGEN
CHECK OUT MORE CONTEST PHOTOS ONLINE AT HUMBERJOURNALISM.COM/SWEATWIN2014 6 | sweat 2013
2nd PHOTO BY RYAN MCCULLOUGH
3rd
WINNER
HONOURABLE MENTION PHOTO BY AL FOURNIER
PHOTO BY ELIA KOOLSBERGEN
sweat 2013 | 7
GALLERY
PHOTO BY KARA MATTHEWS
PHOTO BY PETER DAVEY
PHOTO BY PETER DAVEY
PHOTO COURTESTY AL FOURNIER
CHECK OUT MORE OF OUR PHOTOS ONLINE AT HUMBERJOURNALISM.COM/SWEATWIN2014
sweat 2013 | 9
CORE SPORTS
UNBREAKABLE A
t Canadore College’s home opener Oct. 26 in basketball team as well as the girl’s volleyball team a few North Bay, the gym is full of Loyalist fans. The times,” says Shemilt, her attentiveness to her partner’s health Panther bleachers are nearly empty, except for always apparent. “I would drive him separately so that if Paige Shemilt and Canadore coach Tim Ryan in people were sick on the bus in the confined space, I would the front row - hooked on the action. always make sure that he got where he needed to,” she says. Despite a lack of support, the first two sets are stellar. But “Just being around the guys is not that bad, unless somethe tide changes - in the third, the Panthers lose. And in the one’s really sick,” Gardiner says, but he has to be careful – he fourth, the two teams are tied neck and neck - straight into can get sick enough to end up in the hospital. Despite the overtime. hassle, Gardiner is lucky; things used to be very different for The game is punctuated by energetic efforts from Pan- children born with CF. ther star setter Jordan Gardiner. Shemilt, in the front row, is “When our organization was founded back in 1960, chilhis girlfriend - and she’s watching closely. Jordan’s brother dren who were diagnosed with CF were not expected to live Mitch is also on the team, and the two have a quick rapport - past elementary school,” says Melinda McInnes, of Cystic exchanging the ball in intense rallies. All four - coach, broth- Fibrosis Canada. Today, she says, “60 per cent of people er, girlfriend and Jordan - are crushed when the team loses. living in Canada with CF are adults. This is a tremendous But the fact that he plays at all is something of a miracle. success.” Jordan Gardiner has cystic fibrosis, his immune system Jordan was diagnosed at two months old – lucky again, so weak a common cold could put him in the hospital for in a time when CF screening in babies was virtually unheard weeks. “Once I do get sick it takes me a long time to get of. Baby screening is now one of the central tenets of Cystic better,” he says. Fibrosis Canada’s advocacy efforts. The disease affects his lungs, where mucus buildup can “They didn’t really treat for CF when I was born - whereaffect his breathing, and makes it hard for his digestive sys- as now they look for it right away,” says Gardiner. tem to absorb nutrients. The disease is genetic and fatal – “My mom brought me in because I was sick, and they just children and young adults who are diagnosed have a shorter said, ‘Oh, he’s just sick.’ She brought me to another hospital life expectancy, though and they did the tests.” with early diagnosis and Her determination to get to the good health, some can cause of her infant son’s constant illreach 50. ness wasn’t only a mother’s worry – Gardiner was a skinny her brother, Mike Croghan, is a past 12-year-old when he first president and current member of started playing volleyball. North Bay’s KinClub, a service club He played with his school, that raises money and awareness for but his mother also ran CF. She knew the symptoms. a charity league, raising “I’d started with the Kinsmen, money for cystic fibrosis but then, ironically, Jordan was di(CF) and his talent was agnosed with CF,” Croghan says. obvious. “I was pretty “You never think it’s going to hapmuch always playing volpen in the family, and obviously leyball,” he says. when it affects someone in your Now a second-year family it’s a different story. I got recreational therapy stumore involved.” dent, Gardiner is his “My whole family is really supschool’s star setter, travportive,” says Gardiner. He was elling with his team to recently the best man at Croghan’s compete across Ontario. wedding “Even at the wedding,” Shemilt, his girlfriend of says Shemilt, “they put donation four years, often drives boxes on every table to raise money him to these away games; for CF. It’s a big thing in their famhis immune system can’t ily.” handle the hours spent in“We put out CF boxes,” says side the stuffy bus with his Croghan, “And any other donations teammates. people wanted to make, my wife “Last year they were JORDAN GARDINER (LEFT) PREPARES FOR ACTION WITH HIS BROTHER and I matched the donations.“ MITHCH | PHOTO BY MARC POULIOT having to travel with the Kin Canada is still committed to
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LOYALIST VOLLYBALL PLAYER JORDAN GARDINER IS BEATING ALL ODDS AS THE STAR SETTER WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS BY ESPE CURRIE
raising money and awareness for cystic fibrosis – in 2014 they will celebrate the organization’s 50th anniversary of fundraising for the disease. The money raised goes to research, development, and to family support, crucial when it comes to some of the disease’s expenses. Croghan says Kin Canada has raised over $40 million in their 50 years of work. Between Shemilt and his family, Gardiner has a determined and devoted support network. But even with that support, he’s had his downs - before he started playing for the Canadore Panthers, Gardiner battled depression. “I went to my first year of school and ended up dropping out after first semester,” he says. “I took a year and a half off, and for that year and a half I’d just be sitting at home playing video games. I was just thinking
evident in every word: “The kid jumps probably close to 40 inches. When you watch him play it’s incredible, it’s really inspiring. He’s an amazing setter – probably one of the better setters in the league. And for him to play at that level is almost unheard of. It really blows my mind watching him play with his condition,” Ryan says. Jordan started playing for Canadore after a friend brought him to Ryan’s house for a volleyball game, in an effort to get him out of his funk - and it worked. “People, without knowing he has cystic fibrosis at all will come up to me and say, ‘Your setter’s amazing.’ He’s something else to watch play. He just wants to go for hours,” Ryan says. To keep his energy up, Jordan has to eat 4,000 calories a
without knowing he “hasPeople, cystic fibrosis at all will come up to me and say ‘your setter’s amazing.’
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about how we die a lot younger than the average person, so what’s the point in doing something, going to school and getting a job, if I’m just going to die young anyways?” After that year and a half, Gardiner returned to school, largely because of a renewed passion for volleyball. “My mom encouraged me a lot, and my friend brought me to play volleyball at Tim’s house, and then Tim said he wanted me to play,” Gardiner says. Tim Ryan is Canadore’s volleyball coach and an emergency room nurse. He’s coached Jordan for two years, and even looked after him in the ER. “I think with me being a nurse, I really understand how sick he is. It’s a horrible disease. It’s one of the worst ones you could ever have,” Ryan says. He unabashedly gushes SETTER JORDAN GARDINER SETS HIS TEAMMATES UP DURING A MATCH about Jordan, his admiration PHOTO BY MARC POULIOT
PHOTO BY MARC POULIOT
day, “And he’s still tiny!” says Shemilt. This feat is made easier by his brother, also on the Panthers, who works at McDonald’s and lets Jordan in on some of the perks. Gardiner has to take up to 30 enzyme tablets a day to digest all the food. “I always have an extra bottle in my purse because he tends to forget them,” Shemilt says. “Everyone with CF tends to take them – we don’t absorb fat. If I eat something without enzymes, it will just go through me. Those enzymes make it possible,” Gardiner says. After graduation, Gardiner wants to be a paramedic, something that would have been impossible only a few years ago, but recent advances in CPR technique make it a potential career. Now, instead of mouth-to-mouth, paramedics use tubes, so Gardiner won’t be at risk. “If I wasn’t active I’d definitely be a lot more sick. Staying active and doing everything I do has kept me pretty healthy. To play varsity past high school [with CF] - I don’t know anyone else who does that,” Gardiner says. ▲
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CORE SPORTS
CHANGE OF COURSE BY JARED CLINTON
12 | sweat 2013 DURHAM COLLEGE’S BRENT CLEMENTS TAKES AIM ON THE GREEN | COURTESY AL FOURNIER
CORE SPORTS players and assistant coach to Martin. While sometimes a coach can only be as good as the players on their roster, what both Martin and Shaw praise was Duggan’s ability to let them prepare mentally. “As a coach, he was a bit behind the scenes. He wasn’t in the golf industry. He wasn’t trying to change our swing or give us lessons. He was getting us ready for the round, for that given day, for that tournament. He coached that style,” says Martin. Shaw, who has been friends with Martin since childhood and caddied for him while he was on the professional tour, said Tyler and he use similar strategies in coaching up the fresh faces. “We’re very player first, so we allow the kids to make all their own decisions,” says Shaw. “We just try to help them when they want help, the same way Mike would. Other than that, whether they want to ask us for help or not, that’s up to them. We’re around
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We’re very player first, so we allow the kids to make all their own decisions.
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here’s an old adage used when athletes move on in their careers: the contributions they made to their team can’t be measured. However, if one were to try and measure the impact Mike Duggan had on the Durham Lords golf program, they could start with the coach’s five OCAA gold medals. Then his overseeing of seven individual gold medalists and four national champion, or you could look to his ability to convince a former student and golf pro to take over the program he loved so dearly. The mark Duggan made on the Durham Lords golf program won’t end with him – it will continue on through Tyler Martin. He’s the new head coach of the program, one of Duggan’s former players, and attributes much of his success to his experiences under Duggan at Durham. “This program was huge for me,” says Martin, 28, a former Canadian Tour professional. “I certainly never would have turned pro if I hadn’t played on the golf team at Durham. It was the kick in the pants that I needed, and it made me realize that maybe I did have a shot to go pro.” Martin, who played on the pro tour for four years before moving on to a career in his family’s construction business, said he never saw the opportunity to be back with the Lords coming. It was a message from his former coach that brought him in, and Martin couldn’t believe it when he read it. “When I first read it, I was very surprised. I thought Mike would never give it up. He just loved it so much. I remember my first reaction was, like, ‘Are you serious?’ I volunteered while I was around and on the tour, but I think Mike knew I had some interest in getting involved and giving back,” says Martin. Duggan was right. Duggan – who says it was time for him to step down in order to spend more time with Ethan, his 13-year-old son – says Martin always offered to lend a hand. “He’s always been involved. To me, it was a no-brainer. If Ty didn’t accept [the head coaching position], I’d probably still be coaching. He was the ideal candidate. We had the same philosophy, and he was a great fit,” says Duggan. Duggan’s success as an OCAA coach didn’t really come around until the mid-aughts when Martin arrived at Durham. Duggan speaks about Martin with the utmost respect. The choice of Martin for the next head coach clearly meant just as much to Duggan. “It’s special because he was my captain for three years. He’s a great young man. He had a lot of potential and it showed on the course by winning all those awards. It wasn’t only that, it was his success on and off the course,” says Duggan. Don Shaw is another of Duggan’s former
the course and there for them, and Mike was that way.” Martin agrees with Shaw, but added the mental aspects of the game are what can plague golfers the most. If anything, Martin wants to guide his students in the ways they prepare for a round. Craig Conroy, a second-year player who was coached by both Martin and Duggan, says the similarities are apparent. “They have very similar coaching styles - but Tyler brought a different element to the team. Tyler could relate to our age, and relate to playing in the tournaments as well,” says Conroy. Despite Martin’s ability to relate to the current players on the team, he admits he struggled during the early stages of his pro career. “I did it the hard way when I turned pro. So as far as learning how to prepare for a round, doing what works for you specifically, I thought I had to be like Tiger Woods and I changed everything that got me to that point. I regressed and I wasn’t playing well. I want to tell them to do what they want to do to prepare, and to
have confidence in themselves.” It’s clear that Duggan’s teachings had an impact on Martin’s attitude towards the game, as Duggan says his own approach was handsoff and to teach the golfers about more than just golf. “[The golfers] had to respect the game of golf, respect themselves, respect their opponents, and respect the college name. We instilled that in them all around the game of golf, they have such a golf etiquette. No matter how you performed, how you looked, how you dressed, how you did on the golf course – what you did on the course was what you did off the course. “It came from what you did in the classroom; you did all around the college. I took on the idea of what golf is all about. It’s a gentleman’s game. I tried to teach that to all my golfers. We developed a reputation over the years, being down to earth and friendly,” says Duggan. “A lot of us grew up playing golf, so we know the basic rules,” says Brent Clements, who just completed his second season in the program. “But Mike expected us to thank everyone who ran each tournament, which to some people might be obvious, but to others it’s not.” Duggan was a proprietor of the gentlemanly side of the gentleman’s game, and Martin is taking that and adding in a little bit of self-confidence. Martin says the one line he hopes to beat into the brains of his students is: “Do what you do, because that’s why you’re good at what you do. That’s why you’re good at golf.” Though Martin doesn’t talk about being a professional without being prompted (fitting for a man Shaw described, in one word without hesitation, as modest), he knows it can help him get through to the players. “I think that’s what is unique about me. I’m not necessarily a golf coach, knowing the swing inside and out, but I have the experience a lot of people haven’t had. I found even helping amateurs – things like strategy, preparing for a round – they tend to play better just making those little changes as opposed to changing their entire swing,” Martin says. During his time at Durham Martin may have had one of the best swings on the team, and some of the best scores on the course alongside a couple of national championships, but his legacy will remain as the humble man that Shaw stands alongside. Duggan praises him as the only man he could have seen succeeding him. “Ty wasn’t out for the individual accolades. OCAA athletics are team sports, even though golf may be an individual sport. And it was all about team for Tyler. It was all about succeeding as a group,” says Duggan. “He’s probably going to go into our Hall Of Fame one day. He’ll be humbled by that.” ▲
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COMING HOME
THE SENECA STING BASEBALL TEAM RETURNS TO ACTION PHOTOS BY SARAH STINCHCOMBE
day…they were looking for a coach for the baseball program. Rick was kind enough to say, ‘Brian used to play on a very high level and he’s been coaching with me for a lot of years, and he’s the guy to grab,’” says Bates. There are few things you probably wouldn’t know by just looking at Bates. A middle aged man with kind eyes and skin that looks like it’s spent long days in the hot sun. Before his days of coaching the Sting, the Boston Red Sox drafted Bates in 1961 as a pitcher. He has also played countless years in the minors, as both a pitcher and centre-fielder. “As a player I’ve played in the minor system for a number of years,” says Bates. “Quite
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The boys did have one win and that was a big deal for them as a team.
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trike three – you’re out! This is a call Seneca College hasn’t heard from the dugout since 1981. However this baseball season is different because the sport is returning to Seneca and the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association. Seneca players, proudly wearing their jerseys, are bringing their gloves and bats back to the diamond. The roster for this year’s team is composed of 21 young men finalized in September. While this is the first time baseball has been played as a recognized sport at Seneca during this century, what some would consider a lifetime ago, baseball was brought to Seneca right around the time professional baseball was brought to Toronto. “Our baseball started when the Blue Jays started in Toronto,” says Seneca’s athletic director Linda Stapleton. “That became the reason for us to have a college baseball team in fact we had a tie to the Blue Jays.” That “tie” linked the college’s coaching staff with one of the Jays’ talent seekers. “The then coach [for Seneca] was Bruce Prentice. His brother Bobby was a scout for the Blue Jays,” says Stapleton. “With this connection, the Blue Jays were hoping that baseball in Canada would develop at the college level so they could develop more Canadian players.” Initially, when the 1981 Seneca team started, there were no college teams in Canada. So Seneca had to travel south of the border to play. “We found that there was a league called the National Junior College Athletic Association. It started off with about 18 games and there was reluctance from the American teams because they really didn’t think we were any good,” says Stapleton. The current Seneca Sting baseball team is lead by modest coach, Brian Bates, and although the team is brand new this fall, Bates has many years of experience both as a player and as a coach with his own pro ball connections. “I was at Seneca, helping work out the one
BY SARAH STINCHCOMBE
a few years actually, too many to remember. I’ve played at a very high level, also at a lower level, so I have a lot of ball experience in that regards.” Bates has worked with a number of players from the Blue Jays organization, has taken two major league teams to the world championship, and was once the Ontario baseball coach of the year. Yet despite this more than impressive history, coaching for the Seneca Sting baseball team is exactly where Bates wants to be. “It was really exciting to get back into baseball. I’m loving it.” Unfortunately, three decades out of action is a long time, which means the Seneca’s baseball team has a lot of catching up to do. “I’m not making excuses, but they are a young team. A lot of the boys are perhaps not quite as experienced as the others that they are
BRIAN BATES AT A HOME GAME
playing against. So that is going to take some time to work at,” he says. Stapleton agrees that their team has a lot of work to do. “Seneca coming in as the newbies have some distance to cover and we’ve got some catch–up to do,” says Stapleton. “Getting the team operationalized is our first success, it’s always a hurdle offering a varsity program that isn’t offered on campus.” The new team is facing tough odds in its 15 game season, playing tight-knit teams that have already been practicing and playing at a varsity level together. The 21 young men who make up the Seneca Sting team had three brief practices together before their first game against the Humber Hawks. They lost the game 13-3. Although the odds are stacked against the Sting, everyone involved with the team has high hopes. “Our biggest success is our attitude, the kid’s attitude,” says Bates. The Sting’s finished their season winning only one of their 16 games, but despite their poor technical standings, they still feel they have reason to celebrate. “They did finish last, but the boys did have one win and that was a big deal for them as a team,” says John Sharpe, sports coordinator for the Sting. “Coach Bates is already recruiting for next season, to bring in higher players that can hopefully bring the team to the playoffs next season.” Although the first season was a bit rocky, this was only the first of hopefully many seasons Seneca’s baseball team will play, and grow stronger together as a team. “I told them that winning is certainly a habit but unfortunately so is losing, so we don’t want to get into that domain. And winning, we’ve got to win both on and off the field,” says Bates. “We’re not necessarily going to put the wins together this year, and as a coach, we go out to win every game. But we’re realistic as well.” ▲
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E C A R S M R A N A
CORE SPORTS
IM L G A
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TW T A SE
T F O O
CA O E H
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FA P O ST
AL B T S
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ALEXA GEORGIOU ST CLAIR BY ALEX COOP
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ALEXA GEORGIOU | COURTESY KIRSTEN SCHOLLIG | ST CLAIR ATHLETICS
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here isn’t anything that can tarnish St. Clair’s stunning season this year, not even a silver medal. Despite coming up short of an OCAA championship, their spectacular 11-game winning streak and a complete sweep at the awards ceremony are still fresh in the minds of the women’s fastball team. “There was just something about our team this year that allowed us to instantly click,” said Alexa Georgiou, pitcher for The Saints, who also received the OCAA’s Fastball Player of the Year award. The second-year collaborative nursing student spearheaded the Saints to a 10-game winning streak, recording 91 strikeouts and ended the season leading the OCAA with a 0.94 ERA. Her impressive performance during the regular season also earned her the OCAA top pitcher and league all-star awards. Her excellence at the plate is sometimes overshadowed by her pitching talent, but Georgiou was highly reliable with a bat. Her .340 batting average for the season, not to mention eight doubles, made her a force to be reckoned with at the plate. The team doesn’t have a labeled captain, but her outstanding performance on both ends of the field was more than enough to push her team towards success every game. “She’s probably the hardest working player on the team,” said head coach Doug Wise-
man. “She puts a lot of time into her studies as well, and leads by example on and off the field.” The Saints had a decent season last year, but Wiseman said a huge shift in commitment this time around propelled them to another level of excellence. According to the OCAA’s website, the team improved in every single category. The Saints’ batting average went from .325, to .399, their slugging percentage (total bases divided by at bats) increased from .325 to .538, and after hitting zero home runs last season the team knocked six out of the park. “We made it our goal to improve every single game,” Wiseman said. “Everyone was so dedicated, from the front office to the training staff.” This dedication was rewarded at the end of the season, as the six OCAA fastball awards were all taken home by St. Clair affiliates. “It felt great, and I was just so proud of what our team has accomplished. It made it so much better with our coach winning an award as well,” she admitted. Wiseman explained there were other reasons to appreciate the team’s accomplishments other than their statistical dominance. “The way we presented ourselves this year, with sportsmanship and class, was something we carried with us all-year round. I’m really proud of what our team accomplished.” ▲
LAUREN MCLAUGHLIN SENECA STING BY KARA MATTHEWS
CORE SPORTS
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efore big games Lauren McLaughlin puts on her buds and psyches herself up with electronic dance music. Longtime teammates know this means she’s in game mode. She’s ready to pitch, bat, run, slide, and do whatever it takes to win. These skills helped her team place fourth in the 2013 Canada Summer Games. “I wouldn’t trade the experience I had there for anything in the world,” McLaughlin says of the summer games. “It was one of the most incredible experiences, and just such an accomplishment for me.” McLaughlin, 24, is the definition of a fastball veteran. She’s loved the game since starting t-ball 16 years ago. McLaughlin’s post-secondary fastball career began at Wayne State University in Michigan, where she played for a year before moving on to Toronto’s Seneca College. “It was a really great experience, but I probably wouldn’t do it again,” she says of her time at Wayne State. “I love the OCAA. The coaches are more personable and it’s just such a great experience for the athlete.” McLaughlin’s had continued success for the past three years, playing for the Seneca Sting where she was named OCAA Fastball league allstar at the end of the 2012/2013 season. She was also the top batter in the 2011 National Championships in Winnipeg and top pitcher at the World Series in Plano, Texas in 2011 (where she won a gold medal). She also won gold in both the provincial and national championships. This past summer, McLaughlin had her chance to shine when she was drafted to Ontario’s official fastball team at the Canada Summer Games. McLaughlin’s assistant coach at Seneca, Roger Davis, swapped that title for head coach at the 2013 Summer Games. He described the Games as a mini Olympics. “It’s the largest multi-sport event that Canada holds. It’s held every four years and is made up of the best and brightest athletes from each province,” Davis says. Davis, who’s coached McLaughlin on multiple teams including her nationals’ team, the Brantford Bobcats, and at the summer games, says he would place her in that category. “She’s a big-game player, she’s a big-game pitcher and she also carries a good bat,” Davis says. He added McLaughlin is one of the best pitchers in Ontario in her age group and says her spot on the team stemmed from an incredible versatility on the field. “When you’re picking 15 athletes to compete for the province, you want players who can do a lot of different things. She’s valuable because of her versatility,” Davis says. In the five matches McLaughlin pitched at the Games, she held the opposition to zero runs. Her personal best score came in batting at the 2011 National championships in Winnipeg with the Brantford Bobcats where McLaughlin was the top batter with an average of .625. McLaughlin says Davis has had an invaluable impact on her accomplishments in the summer games, and her fastball career in general. Mc-
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Laughlin says Davis also helped her get scholarships in all three years at Seneca, has taken her to two national championships with the Brantford Bobcats, and was the guiding force in her decision to try out for the Ontario summer games team. “Roger has been a huge influence on my success,” she says. McLaughlin added when she finished playing for Wayne State her confidence had been diminished – she even considered quitting fastball. She credits Davis for getting her back in the game. “Roger is the one who picked me up, dragged me onto the field, and gave me the ball,” she says. “He told me to get through it.” Davis believes his alternative coaching style helped in granting him the position as head coach for Ontario’s Canada summer games team. “My coaching style is a little bit different. I’m not a yeller; I’m not a screamer. I get the players to play hard for me just by showing them some respect, and in turn they work hard and give it back,” Davis says. That hard work paid off when they finished first overall in Ontario and placed fourth at the games in fastball. When it comes to her love for pitching McLaughlin admits she loves the attention brought on by having a central position. She does however, enjoy the technical aspect of the game. “I like being able to make the batter guess,” she says. “I don’t want them to know what I’m throwing, I just want them to try to swing the bat. I love making the ball move.” McLaughlin loves knowing she has the support of an amazing team behind her. Her fellow pitcher for the Seneca Sting, Krista Owczar, 18, is in the recreation and leisure services program at Seneca College. She says playing with McLaughlin is always a rewarding experience. “She’s very positive. She’s a hard worker,” Owczar says. “If you ever get down she’s definitely there to pick you up.” As the only two pitchers on the team, Owczar dismisses any sort of rivalry, and instead says McLaughlin is incredibly supportive on the field. “It’s great to know that if I ever need her, she’s a great backup for me,” she says. As McLaughlin finishes her final year with the Seneca Sting fastball team, the question is ‘What’s next?’ “It’s hard to say now. I really don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” she says. “I’d love to keep playing. If Roger Davis keeps coaching I’ll keep playing at the senior levels.” Davis is unsure of McLaughlin’s athletic career after school, but is confident she’ll be successful in whatever path she chooses. “She plays for the love of the game,” he says. “I think one day she could be a tremendous coach. I know she’s interested in helping people; she has that kind of a makeup. “ For now, McLaughlin continues her studies in nursing at Seneca and says she’s always working towards a better curveball. “I’m getting there,” she says. “Piece by piece.” ▲
I like being able to make the batter guess.
PHOTO BY KARA MATTHEWS
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PHOTO BY KARA MATTHEWS
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BY TYRRELL MEERTINS
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PASSING THE TORCH
ou could cut the tension with a knife. DaSilva had the privilege to work with Sanchez years, before accepting a head coach position After 120 minutes of being heckled for three years as a player and one year as an at Seneca. Humber and Seneca have been OCAA rivals and jeered, Yousif Yousif was a pen- assistant manager. DaSilva was quick to emalty shot away from handing Humber phasize the importance of leadership as a player over the past decade and a half, and although College their first national title in over a decade. and evolution as a coach throughout his time at communication between the two managers has decreased, there’s still mutual respect between A season built on defensive unity was hang- Humber College. ing in the balance as Hawks head coach Germain “He created a friendship among the guys,” the former coaching partners. “He was patient – he liked to keep good team Sanchez could barely look. Sanchez’s nerves DaSilva says. “He would keep it professional, were kicking in, his knees were shaking and his and he would let you know that ‘look I’m the harmony, made sure his players got along, and it heart was pumping faster than Usain Bolt’s fin- coach,’ but he also showed you a human side... goes a long way with team dynamics and longterm winning. Germain has a great humour and est hour in a 100-metre sprint. You could hear a he kind of gave that joker side of things.” pin drop in the stadium. Yousif slowly stepped Sanchez encountered his fair share of issues he’s good to be with,” Colangelo says. Rather than searching for a potential sucup and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way, during his tenure at Humber. “I had to be able cessor, Sanchez recommended that his assistant smashing his shot into the left corner. to manage my time and the time that I had to coach Michael Aquino take over The Hawks bench cleared as the men’s varsity team. Aquino’s they sprinted towards the fans experience covered different aswith their fingers towards their pects of the game and spoke for mouths, with large smiles on itself. He was a technical director their face. The Chilean coach for various clubs in the Greater stood there in disbelief with a Toronto Area, assistant coach for smile on his face, as he knew his Ryerson University and coach time was up. of the under-12 district program. “Winning a national title like Sanchez didn’t participate in practhis is probably the best feeling tices, but he gave guidance to the in the world. It was a very emoplayers and coaching staff as the tional and stressful moment, but Hawks entered a transitional peI’ll remember this for the rest of riod my life,” Sanchez says. Aquino described his coaching Sanchez’s tenure at Humber experience with Sanchez as great, is a remarkable feat that highand he highlighted Sanchez’s exlights results, passion, patience perience as invaluable. and perseverance. Developing a “If you come across a situation successful sports program – in that maybe you want to lean on this case soccer – is one of the somebody for a little bit of help, most difficult tasks in the world. like how to deal with this player Looking back on a 24-year or that player… or if you have a coaching career, Sanchez has SANCHEZ RETIRED WITH A .820 WINNING PERCENTAGE | COURTESY HUMBER question, the guy has been there succeeded. and done that,” Aquino says. Alongside two Canadian College Athletic give to my family. As a Humber coach, I always Sanchez’s genuine personality, along with Association coach of the year and four Ontario received support when needed. I never had any College Athletic Association awards, Sanchez major crisis, but like every person, you have to his sense of humour still grace Humber’s hallways. He has paved the way for the soccer comfinished his career with an impressive .820 win- juggle your life and do the best you can.” ning percentage. He also claimed three national An enrolled student is eligible for five sea- munity at Humber by instilling a winning DNA, outdoor titles and 20 provincial championships sons at the varsity level. Sanchez had to endure silverware and longevity. He looks forward to – eight outdoor and 12 indoor. arguably the most difficult task as a coach; to the future, but has nothing but good memories Yet Sanchez plied his trade elsewhere prior successfully rebuild a squad and adapt with the of the past. “Whatever you do in life you have to do to his time at Humber. He coached the Toron- modern game over the years. to Panhellenic in the 1980s, and won a national Seneca Sting men’s soccer coach, Vito Col- well, and if you do it well, then you’re going to title in the National Soccer League in Canada. angelo believes that Sanchez’s easy-going, pa- enjoy it. I got the results, I did well, and there Sanchez also enjoyed a stint with the Ontario tient approach was well respected by his peers was the support from my supervisors and that’s provincial soccer team. and players. Colangelo met Sanchez in 1994, how I continued doing it one year at a time for Humber Hall of Fame inductee Andrew and was the Hawks assistant coach for five 24 years, and now I’m on my way out.” ▲
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SHERIDAN’S MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM TALKS STRATEGY COURTESY SHERIDAN ATHLETICS
HUMBER’S JESSE BRUCE TRAINS WITH THE CROSS-COUNTRY TEAM | PHOTO BY ALEX COOP
A NEW LEVEL OF COMMITMENT BY ALEX COOP
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ne may think of cross country as a jog in the park, a solo sport that doesn’t require a lot of thought or strategy, and a sport that anyone can just jump into on a whim. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and even further from reality at the varisty level. In other sports, such as basketball and volleyball, Average Joe athletes may harken back to their high school gym classes and think only a few measly wind sprints and free throws stand in their way of impressing coaches enough to obtain a spot on the team. While it’s not impossible, it’s highly unlikely. Athletes hoping to make the leap from high school sports to the OCAA have a lot to prepare for, but even veterans who’ve been on a varsity team for years aren’t safe from losing their hardearned spot on the team. “It breaks our heart because we know them, and they’re great people. But when you have new recruits who have worked extremely hard to get where they are, you can’t deny them that spot,” says Teresa Arnini, co-head coach of Humber’s cross country team. From the outside, it may never occur to people that the sport they’re watching often consumes the majority of the athlete’s life. Varsity athletes are required to train and maintain a certain level of fitness year-round, and post-secondary students looking to make the transition from high school to college level athletics have to face this reality. However, Arnini believes coming out of
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high school, the increased physical intensity is easier to adjust to at the varsity level than the mental aspect of the sport. “Fine-tuning that mental toughness is really important, and vets help rookies with that fine-tuning,” says Arnini. Nathanial Green, a current member of Humber’s cross-country team and a graphic design student, is in his fifth year at Humber and has found himself molding the raw talent a lot of the new runners possess. At the same time, he’s also helped them adjust mentally to the more intense sports atmosphere. “College level sports really require your full attention,” he says. “I help out where I can, and it’s usually at practices.” Jim Flack, Athletic Director and head coach of the men’s varsity basketball team at Sheridan College, agrees with the notion that rookies often struggle adjusting mentally to the OCAA environment. “They sometimes come in a little wide-eyed, and are surprised by the fact that big guys are pushing them around all of a sudden,” he says, adding that the adjustment also occurs outside of games. “We spend about 60 to 70 per cent of our time working on defence during practice, and they can get bored of it sometimes. Another thing is playing time. Sometimes I’ll get a firstyear who’s upset about not playing so I’ll ask them, ‘Did you play in grade 9?’ They say no, and I say ‘Why do you expect to play now?’” Griffin Williams, a first-year Environmental Resource Science student at Trent Universi-
ty, says he’s had to change his mentality over the past few months in order to keep up with the varsity volleyball team. Where high school practices took place strictly on the playing field, athletes in college are always working to improve off the court as well through team meetings and weight training. In order to captivate colleges and universities with his volleyball skills, Williams created a mix tape while playing volleyball at London Central Secondary School and at the Forest City Volleyball Club. He obtained the footage himself, and sent it out to coaches across Ontario hoping someone would notice the skills he put on display. “I tried to show them a bit of everything, but I focused a bit more on passing and defense.” Trent Univeristy soon took notice and invited Griffin to check out the campus with the coach, who, at the time, was Josh Runadow. “I was really happy about reaching that next level,” he says. Griffin’s teammate Brad Keizerwaard, who’s in his fifth year at Trent, is the only player on the team in his final year. He’s noticed the struggles some rookies go through, and says at times problems extend beyond practices and are found in the classroom instead. “It’s easy to forget what you’re at school for,” the business and computing student says. “I try to be a good role model at this point, and stress the importance of school to the younger guys.” Athletes coming out of high school have a
SHERIDAN’S BASKETBALL TEAM iS A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH COURTESY SHERIDAN ATHLETICS
spite Fleming’s close proximity to Trent, Victorine and Trent’s varsity volleyball coach Tony Clarke say the two schools don’t normally run into any conflicts when it comes to recruiting. However, Trent attracts a higher volume of athletes. “High school prospect players tend to gravitate towards universities,” says Clarke. “Fleming often recruits from smaller pockets of the community.”
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There’s a sense of community here, a sense of respect.
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variety of paths to choose from which could potentially propel them to the collegiate level, however it frequently begins with the recruitment phase. For nearly all coaches and recruiters, recruitment begins as soon as the season ends. Fleming College’s recruiting situation is a particular one, with a variety of variables presenting certain challenges for coach Achebe Victorine and the rest of the athletic department. The college is located on the outskirts of the GTA, and as a result most recruiting is done outside of Peterborough, consistently making it a challenge to find up-and-coming talent. “Even after introducing myself to other coaches, they may look at me and go, ‘Why would I send my guys to you?’” says Victorine. But he also stresses the importance of maintaining even the most skeptical contacts year round. He admits volleyball isn’t developed to the extent it should be in their area, adding hockey and lacrosse have a greater influence on their sporting community, therefore making volleyball players much harder to find at times. However, a doubled point-total at the end of the 2012/2013 season and a near playoff berth – which would have been their first in four seasons – makes for an excellent case for Fleming when trying to sell the team in pursuit of fresh talent. “We’re not known as a volleyball powerhouse,” said Victorine. “But I stress a close-knit team, and it really benefits the new guys coming in.” Not far from the campus, Trent University searches for new talent year-round as well. De-
THE WOMEN’S CROSS-COUNTRY TEAM DOES HILL TRAINING | PHOTO BY ALEX COOP
A lot of the prospect players Trent and a handful of other schools in the OCAA obtain are found within community volleyball clubs. Trent plans to host club tournaments in the future, allowing the coaching staff to examine the up-andcoming talent, many of which play during the university’s own regular season. Monique Haan, co-head coach of Humber’s cross-country team, believes the school’s successful reputation on and off the playing field has helped their coaching staff overcome the problem other schools face when recruiting runners during their own season. The team has had
its share of success over the past few years. A gold in the women’s team race last year during the provincial meet and the 2011/2012 season, alongside a silver medal in the men’s race this year at nationals are among the school’s impressive accomplishments. “We get one glimpse of [the runners] at their OFSAA meet which is in November, and as coaches we’re not really allowed to talk to them, only observe.” Haan says. Rachel Sheare, a culinary student from Humber, was a walk-on for the varsity cross-country team. Her expectations of the varsity program heading into tryouts were based on previous knowledge of the school’s strength in athletics. “I knew that they had one of the better teams for colleges in Ontario,” she says. Sheare wasn’t sure what to expect from the varsity environment, but admired the positive team attitude. “The people on the team are really good at encouraging one another.” Making a varsity program is tough and involves a lot of variables. Maintaining a spot at such a high level is even harder, and one that even seasoned veterans can struggle with. It’s an exhausting road to take, but one that many student athletes, including Williams, find exhilarating. “The energy the varsity environment brings, along with the support from fans is a great feeling,” Williams says. “There’s a sense of community here, a sense of respect. It’s worth all the hard work.” ▲
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FORMER RUGBY SUPERSTAR AND HUMBER GRAD PHIL BOONE IS THE NEWEST ADDITION TO THE HAWK FAMILY | PHOTO BY MEGAN RACH
PART OF THE FAMILY CATCHING UP WITH OCAA ALUMNI BY MICHAEL OSEI
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he hallways may look different but in a special place inside the hearts of varsity players of days gone by, the school spirit will always be the same. The torch is passed to the next generation. Sometimes the next generation has to earn it. Not with time, but with a layup over a legendary shooting guard, or a tremendous spike of a volleyball to end a tiebreaker. Varsity alumni are staples of every school with a varsity program. On occasion, the old guard may get together and share a few pints for varsity nights and on others they may lace up the boots and step on a court they made famous. For a brief moment, they have turned back the hands of time. Some athletes are so accomplished that they are inducted into the OCAA Hall of Fame. Some of them are selected to become members of the committee. Carol Hart, a former prodigy of Durham College is both. In her current relationship with Durham, she is a member of the Hall Of Fame committee and helps plan alumni events at the school. “I’ve been part of the athletics there since I left back in ’88,” Hart says. Hart was inducted into Durham’s Hall of
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Fame in 1997 for basketball and volleyball. She played the center position for both sports. Hart says she loves walking by and seeing her name on the plaque. “It’s always nice to be remembered,” Hart says. Durham has hosted alumni games for the past 20 years and Hart says she has participated in a majority of them. According to Hart, Durham originally placed alumni against each other, but now they face off against current Durham Lord varsity athletes. “It’s fun to come back and see a few of the other players that you did play with come back. It’s awesome to see them again and say hello and catch up,” Hart said. Hart says it’s easier to stay connected to former teammates now, as opposed to 20 years ago, because of social media sites like Facebook. After the last alumni night, she and a group of other former players headed to a pub to honour Stan Marchut. Marchut and Hart’s relationship extends to Hart’s pre-college days. He was Hart’s high school basketball and volleyball coach and also coached her volleyball team at Durham. “He was a very humble man; he cared more
about the athlete than himself… He wanted to win but it was more about making the players winners. That was what he liked,” Hart says. Marchut was one of Hart’s biggest influences in her decision to pursue a post-secondary education as a single mother. “He was always saying you need to go to school and get an education,” Hart says. As a coach Hart says that Marchut was a silent leader who knew how to motivate his players without yelling. Leslie Seeley is also a member of Durham’s Hall of Fame committee and attended the school from 1982 to 1986. At Durham, she played softball for four years, basketball for three, and volleyball for two. Seeley played alongside Hart on both the basketball and volleyball teams. They were the first two women inducted into the Hall of Fame, “That was pretty neat. Never expected it -wasn’t the idea when we were playing back then. We were just passionate about playing sports,” Seeley said. Seeley was inducted for all three sports she participated in. She was female athlete of the year in her third year, a three-time basketball all-star, and a volleyball all-star. Seeley served as an all-star in her final year at college on every
FEATURES and teams that have been inducted into our Hall of Fame. Then [we] make decisions on who else is out there that contributed to Sheridan athletics in a very meaningful way and isn’t currently in our Hall of Fame,” Fish said. Jim Bialek, Manager of Athletics and Sports Information at Humber College says that alumni are the lifeblood of athletic programs. “What we are doing as a department is trying to regain or, in a lot of cases, establish a relationship with our alumni. So a lot of efforts have been made over the last couple years to touch
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It’s always nice to be remembered and not be forgotten.
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team she played. Seeley says it is important for athletic associations to have hall of fames because it creates loyalty and a bond. She says that she and Hart attend the ceremonies every year and though they may not know the individual being inducted, they go to welcome them. “For me Durham was my second family. The friends and the coaches, it was my second home,” Seeley said. Seeley says the younger alumni are very respectful of her as she is the oldest member of the Hall of Fame. She participates in both basketball and volleyball alumni games. Seeley says that softball is difficult because the season takes place in the fall and is very short. “We’ve only had a few games for basketball but the women’s alumni for volleyball is very strong,” Seeley says. While athletes usually reap the glory, a lot of work goes behind the scenes to make these events possible. Wayne Fish is the varsity coordinator at Sheridan Institute of Technology. Fish says setting up the festivities involves the whole athletic department and planning starts four to six months in advance. “We request home games for both rugby and soccer through our OCAA scheduling and then as a department we look at the past individuals
base, to bring back, to entertain, to invite alumni back into the Hawk’s nest,” Bialek says. According to Bialek, the Humber athletic
department has used a number of initiatives to keep in touch with alumni such as throwback nights, homecoming weekend, alumni games, Facebook and Humber’s Soar alumni magazine. Bialek says that alumni always come back to help develop the talent of players of teams they once played for. “Rugby, they always have alumni on the field. Fastball the same thing,” Bialek says. “Not only do they come back and lead, they come back and bring other players back to lead.” On the other side of the spectrum, are the fresh faces in alumni families. Rugby superstar Phil Boone is new blood in the Humber College varsity alumni family. “A lot of the boys I keep in touch with, I stop by and have a few pints with them here and there,” Boone says. Boone says that he still catches home games and is impressed with the new rugby squad. “I’m sure they’ll bring home the gold again,” Boone says. On the topic of former Humber athletic director Doug Fox’s departure, Boone says it was a sad day for the varsity family. “He was the man, but I hope the new guy’s doing well with everyone and Doug will be a very hard person to replace,” Boone says. “I like to keep up to date with Humber, so I’m glad that nothing’s changed in sporting.” ▲
HUMBER’S WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL TEAM FACED OFF AGAINST ITS ALUMNI COUNTERPARTS EARLY IN THE 2013/2014 SEASON | PHOTO BY ALEX COOP
TWO DIFFERENT PATHS TO SUCCESS BY DERICK DEONARAIN The OCAA currently has more than 3,000 student athletes participating in sports, according to the association’s official website. When it comes to moving on to pro leagues after college, only a small percentage of athletes actually take that next step. In fact, Durham College’s sports information & marketing coordinator Dennis Scott says, “ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent,” of athletes will become professionals in something other than sports. Director of Athletics Ken Babcock knew that finding a job in sport would be the ideal situation for him, and once he realized that that was his career path he entered the Sports Administra-
tion program. After graduating, Babcock took a post grad program at Durham College, where he finished up his OCAA basketball career. Once he completed his education he began working in Durham College’s athletic department. Over time, he became the head of Durham College’s athletics department, and has maintained that position for the past 18 years.. Twenty-six-year-old Liam McMorrow, former Durham College basketball player is a perfect example of someone who’s been able to receive leadership from Babcock and use his guidance as a way to move closer to his goal of pro basketball.
After successfully graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree, the 7’2 big man spent a year with the Iowa Energy, an NBA Development League team that eventually helped him earn a spot in the 2013 NBA Summer League with the New York Knicks. Unfortunately McMorrow wasn’t signed to a guaranteed contract with the NBA franchise and consequently took his talents overseas to Taiwan where he now plays for the Dacin Tigers in the Super Basketball League. To read the complete version of this story, go to humberjournalism.com/sweatwin2014 ▲
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DWAYNE HARRISONʼS
ROAD TO RECOVERY BY BRIAN O’NEILL
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wayne Harrison is supposed to be playing. Instead he is in the George Brown College athletics lobby. Dressed to the nines, he’s talking with local Toronto media, posing for pictures and hugging and embracing friends and family while quietly extending a thank you that can’t be conveyed in words. Physically, Harrison is present, but mentally he is on the other side of that gym door on the basketball court where his teammates are taking on Georgian College in the Huskies home opener. Tonight, the big man with an even bigger smile had his emotions pushed to the edge as George Brown honoured Harrison and the men that saved his life. After one last embrace, he heads towards the gym. Harrison takes a few steps then turns to his right, beaming that big smile of his and comically checks under his eyes for tears. “They’re still dry, man. They’re still dry,” he says with a laugh. He’s laughing in the face of death. Three months earlier, there weren’t many laughs to be had. On Aug. 29, for one minute, Harrison was dead. No one saw it coming when the 23-yearold athlete, who was in peak condition with no known health problems was suddenly lying on the gym floor of the Lawrence Heights Community Centre unconscious and without a pulse in the middle of a pickup basketball game. “It wasn’t my time to go,” says Harrison, a forward on George Brown’s men’s basketball team. He is currently filling in as an assistant coach. Four men are now heroes for saving Harrison’s life. Toronto EMS emergency medical dispatcher Rocky Ruffolo, paramedics Jose Arauju and Kyle Romany, who were the first responders, and Lawrence Heights facility custodian Ted Rennie. Assisted by Ruffolo over the phone, it was Rennie who used an automated
external defibrillator to revive Harrison’s heart. “I was in my office doing paper work, filling out my log book,” Rennie says. “One of the recreation staff came to me, ‘Call 9-1-1.’ I’m talking to the 9-1-1 operator not knowing what has happened, I was just told call 9-1-1,” he says.“As soon as I got in the gym I saw Dwayne on the floor. He had no pulse, he wasn’t breathing. Right away I started to do CPR. I informed someone to go get me the defibrillator. I had my cell phone down beside me so the 9-1-1 operator was hearing everything I was doing. I showed him how to hook up the pads and to let me know when it was ready to shock him. I shocked him, and once I shocked him, now he had a pulse. I kept doing CPR then the paramedics showed up and took over.” Harrison was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital where he spent three days in intensive care. He says he doesn’t remember collapsing or the first thing he saw when he came to in hospital. But miraculously a week after his life was in jeopardy, he was discharged. “You’ll be lucky in your lifetime to see a miracle,” says Jonathan Smith, George Brown’s men’s basketball coach. “We can actually say we’ve seen one.” Eight weeks after his collapse, Harrison walks through Kipling subway station with his knapsack slung over his right shoulder, headphones in his ears, and a black toque on. At 6’6” he towers over every other commuter that frantically zips around him on the bus platform right before rush hour. He has returned from submitting an eight page assignment for a class in the child and youth program. As much as he focuses on academics, he is decked out in a black George Brown Huskies tracksuit. Basketball is never far away. For now, his life is shrouded in mystery. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever play basketball again, but he also doesn’t know what exactly caused
FEATURES him to collapse that fateful August day. Harrison in the OCAA has been suspended, so this year recruits who met Dwayne during the summer says he has been told by one cardiologist that it doesn’t count against his eligibility. during workouts. I’m sure it was in a lot of guys’ was a cardiac arrest and by another that it was a “Obviously he wants to play basketball hearts just to see him, knowing he’s not in hosheart attack. Nothing conclusive has been found again,” says Ed Mark, George Brown’s athletic pital, he’s up and about and he’s breathing. That in any tests. director. was special,” he says. “They didn’t give me an official diagnosis, “We have to follow doctor’s orders and until Not being able to play doesn’t mean the actually. At this point it’s really theories. They a cardiologist actually gives you the green light emotion and fire that he would normally bring to can’t tell me exactly what happened, they can’t that you can play, that you can exercise and the court isn’t present. Underneath that friendtell me anything,” Harrison says. compete at the level you once did, my hands are ly, funny and kind character is still that fierce “Everything that shows on my x-rays, my tied.” competitor. ECG, my MRI, everything is normal and clear. “Dwayne will always be a part of our proDuring an exhibition game against Humber Nothing that says something is wrong. It’s really gram no matter what, whether it’s coaching or College on Oct. 8, Harrison was standing up on weird and that’s the hard part for me.” playing again,” says Smith. the sideline raisers, hands cupped around his Dr. Andrew Czarnecki, a cardiologist at Sun“We are going to hope that it’s in God’s will, mouth, screaming at the top of his lungs for his nybrook Hospital in Toronto, says a heart attack but that’s the determination of the doctors.” teammates to step it up on defence. Sidelined or and a cardiac arrest are two completely different The past few months have been particularly not, he’ll make sure everyone knows he’s still things. hard on Smith. The two would sit across from there. “A cardiac arrest is when the heart actually one another on the team bus, talking about ev“Off the court, I’m a happy guy. I like to stops, so it is essentially dying,” says Czarnecki. erything, from faith to girls. have fun, enjoy myself. I’m serious when I need “A heart attack is caused by a lack of blood “For me it’s tough. We became quite close. to be,” says Harrison. flow to the heart. It is usually related to a block- I’ve only been there a year, but at the Christ“When you get between the lines, it’s a age in one of the arteries which caused part of mas party I dressed up as Santa Claus and they whole different world. Everything else stops, the heart muscle to die. That doesn’t necessarily dressed up as elves. My favourite picture I have nothing else matters. It’s basketball,” he says. mean the heart is going Harrison is curto stop, that just means rently a second year there is some heart child and youth prodamage going on,” he gram student who’s says. working towards a Czarnecki says not life that may not inbeing able to find the clude playing basketcause of a cardiac arball. Last year he was rest in a younger pera recipient of an acason isn’t completely demic award for havuncommon. He says ing the highest grade there are a couple causpoint average on the es cardiologists look basketball team. for: genetic abnormalAnd that possiities in the heart or a bility of getting back weakening of the heart on the court still reby viral infection. mains. What would “One of the most that mean to him? common things, and “The world,” Harcertainly one you hear rison says after a four in the media, is what second pause. we call hypertro“Honestly, basketphic cardiomyopathy, ball is what keeps me which is thickening of grounded,” he says. the heart muscle. It’s “Basketball is what often when you’ve HARRISON WITH THREE OF HIS HEROES (FROM LEFT) KYLE ROMANY, TED RENNIE, ROCKY RUFFOLO keeps me focused heard in the past of and going. Basketball PHOTO BY BRIAN O’NEILL athletes dying either on has kept me out of the ice or on the soccer trouble. Basketball is pitch. It is frequently related to that.” of him is him at 6’6 sitting on my knee, and he what kept me in school; it got me into school. Czarnecki says decisions are made on a case is like a five year old kid with a big smile on his Basketball means a lot to me so it’ll mean evby case basis, but he would advise most people face,” says Smith. erything for me to get back on the court.” to not play competitive sports after an event like Harrison has been around team practices and Whether or not that wish gets fulfilled is yet a cardiac arrest. says he is with the team when he can work it to be seen. Harrison isn’t giving up though. He says he around classes and his placement at the Scar“I went and did the stress tests and ran 20 will follow doctor’s orders, but quitting basket- lett Heights Entrepreneurial Academy, a high minutes on the treadmill and for me that showed ball? school in Etobicoke where he is currently help- I’m here, I’m healthy, I’m fine. It was an acci“I doubt it. I doubt I’ll ever stop playing bas- ing students at the Success Centre. dent that happened,” Harrison says. ketball,” he says. “It’s good for them to see me there and I “I believe in myself and I believe that I will Playing again depends on Harrison’s six wish I could be there for them more, especially get back there as long as I keep working.” Basmonth rehab at Etobicoke General Hospital, on the court. I try to be there and mentor them, ketball may be a huge part of Harrison’s life, which he plans to begin in January. If there are and kind of be that other voice other than a but it’s just a footnote in his grand story. While no setbacks at the end, he will go for a reassess- coach,” says Harrison. he may never play another minute for George ment to see if he can be cleared to play. “He’s come to a couple practices just to Brown, Harrison has something much more Smith says for the time being they have red watch,” says Smith. valuable than anything he can get on the court. shirted Harrison, which means his participation “Just to see the guys, and see some of the Life. ▲
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FEATURES
NO PAPER TRAIL OCAA ATHLETES’ DATABASE GOES DIGITAL BY KAIT MORRIS
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n the time leading up to a tryout, a lot of things cross an athlete’s mind. They wonder if they will make the team, how they will balance classes and how they will stay in playing shape. Once the tryout is over, they’ve done their best and they’ve made the cut. There is one last snag – paperwork. Paperwork in sports? Of course! In fact, every sports program requires a different degree of paperwork, ranging from emergency contacts to comprehensive health backgrounds. The medical history form is possibly the most important piece of paperwork required for student athletes. This allows administrators and coaches to keep their athletes healthy and safe during games and practice. Fanshawe College has taken a step forward by becoming the first college in the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association to start using an electronic pre-participation evaluation developed by PrivIT Inc. The e-PPE is a detailed questionnaire designed to provide a comprehensive medical assessment for student athletes. “With my professional sports background, it was very important to see this increased level of care,” says Nathan McFadden, Fanshawe’s manager of athletics.
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When asked about what existed before, McFadden laughed, answering “basically nothing.” In fact, Fanshawe College’s medical history form was a very brief questionnaire that covered only the basics, asking about head injuries and conditions that may be affected, or worsened, by an athlete’s participation in sports. “The scope was limited,” says McFadden. “The difference is night and day.” “It was a bit more of a basic understanding from an athlete’s perspective”, says Jordan MacNeil, a senior player on Fanshawe’s men’s varsity volleyball team. ‘“Have you had a head injury? Are you allergic to anything? Have you had any major surgeries?’ That kind of thing. It was more based on the athletes providing that information. This year’s is definitely more in depth with the different sections and all the questioning that went along with [them].” Using last year’s forms, athletes would take a few seconds out of their team meetings to check some boxes and turn the paperwork in. Now students need to take their time to fill out the questionnaire and submit their medical history, which is then digitally archived on PrivIT servers. “It was about half an hour all total from signing up, answering all the questions and completing it,” says MacNeil. “I liked doing the
e-PPE stuff this year, I think it gives our athletic department a better understanding of the whole medical picture for each athlete. I think that goes a long way in providing health care and treatment and taking care of the athletes.” Seadon Pereira, lead athletic therapist for Niagara College says, “There are a lot of plus points to having the e-PPE. Now the thing is the e-PPE has been around for a long time right now. A lot of universities already use them.” York University, where Pereira was first exposed to the e-PPE, is one of them. James Gardiner, one of the head athletic therapists at York University says that they’ve been using the e-PPE for at least five years, possibly since the early 2000s. “It’s a screening tool so we get a medical background on every one of our varsity athletes and then we cross check all those prior to our athletes going on the field or the court or the ice,” says Gardiner. He recommends this kind of system, saying “it provides some information on the athletes so you don’t just have to walk in blind.” “Plus points to it are transferability of information and also what it does is it is a really, really comprehensive self reported pre-participation exam,” says Pereira. According to McFadden, the transferability
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is one of its best features. “It’s something that is a lot easier to transfer to the necessary individuals,” he says. “This way it isn’t locked in a filing cabinet somewhere, all you have to do is get on a computer.” For all the benefits to the system, one drawback is there isn’t really a way around the self-reporting. “The only negative to it is that sometimes the athletes try to just speed through it if they are returning, they won’t update anything so it will remain the same information as the previous year even if some information has changed,” says Gardiner. “Because it’s self-reported, if someone doesn’t want to report something, they don’t have to. The plus point is, from my experience , that you get to track the information over time. It also organizes the information very conveniently for you. It saves on the paperwork,” says Pereira. He has an idea on how to improve the e-PPE and help curb the issues that may pop up with self reporting - an orthopedic assessment. “The orthopedic assessment ahead of time would be a really good adjunct to the e-PPE,” says Pereira. The testing involved would establish a baseline and a greater ability to track an injury. It would show what a healthy joint or knee was like in comparison to the injured one.
Jeff Fischer, head of Canadian Operations at PrivIT Inc, says that the technology has become essential across the United States as it is incorporated into so many levels of sport, ranging from the elementary level all the way up to university and professional leagues. The technology has even been used by the
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Because it’s self reported, if someone doesn’t want to report something, they don’t have to.
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Canadian Olympic Committee. With the company’s three security patents, the risk to the data on the servers is extremely low. “I think one [benefit] is, because its computer based, the system can spit out and give the athletic therapist a little bit more feedback and
quicker feedback in terms of if there’s any issues or some things that they may want to keep track of,” says Blair Webster, the executive director of the OCAA. In December, PrivIT Inc. will be meeting with the OCAA and the athletic directors of each college to discuss the technology and the benefits of using it. The cost could vary. “If you move in as a conference you can work with the supplier to do a long term contract,” says Webster. Right now, with their current contract, the cost is $10 per participant. Fanshawe College pays for the program out of their athletics budget. If all goes well in December, there is the potential for the e-PPE to become the standard across the OCAA. One benefit is, “you can probably get a better pricing for all of our members,” says Webster. It is also something that, if the schools were to decide to go for it, could be implemented at any time. Currently, medical history forms are created on a school-by-school basis, and some schools have longer evaluations than others. Adopting the e-PPE could standardize the process and allow for a greater transferability of information between athletics programs and give athletic therapists the same breadth of information for all of their athletes. ▲
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FEATURES
BAD CALL OCAA OFFICIALS SHARE THEIR SIDE OF THE STORY BY MEGAN RACH
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he surrounding world is little more than a flurry of noise, in and out of an excited and exhilarated state. Any move made by one of the many players brings forth booming cheers, as everybody comes together for one central cause – the game. It becomes all-consuming, as the drive and the adrenaline pushes everybody into an organized state of chaos. Everybody wants nothing more than to win, and they’ll give everything to do so. The whistle blows and the game is interrupted for a reason that nobody seems to understand. The referee makes a call that could potentially make or break the game, and nobody is happy about it. Parents, coaches and players alike begin the cacophony of insults. “I’ve been told by a parent at a game with 13-year-olds to start blowing my whistle or she’d shove it down my throat,” says former volleyball player Jenn Bowers. Bowers was once a varsity volleyball player for Durham College. Now an official for the sport, she has seen her share of aggression toward officials from both sides. The referees, those who are to remain fair and unbiased at all times, are given the harshest criticism. This is prevalent in sports leagues and sets up a vicious cycle that is doomed to be perpetuated.
“It’s easy to blame somebody. If a referee isn’t making a call you think they should be making, it’s their fault instead of the team’s fault or the player’s fault,” says Bowers. Since becoming an official, Bowers’ perspective has changed. She says she’s yelled at officials in the past, but now understands that much of the time they were making the right call. “It’s changed the way I speak to them because I know it’s not going to get me anywhere if I yell at them,” she says. Referee abuse isn’t a myth or a victimless crime. In the 2012 study “Violence in Canadian amateur hockey: the experience of referees in Ontario,” by University of Toronto emergency medical resident Dr. Alun D. Ackery, 92 per cent of referees indicated they had been the victims of aggression or anger. 71 per cent say this increased aggression provided a higher risk for injury to players or the officials themselves. Respect My Game is a program created by Softball Ontario five years ago as a means of protecting umpires and keeping the game enjoyable. It started at the junior level as more young umpires aged 12 to 16 were being harassed. Provincial deputy umpire-in-chief, Sal Gara says keeping young umpires has become a problem. “We’ve lost a lot of kids over the years, sim-
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FEATURES ply due to the fact that they’ve been verbally lege volleyball player, says there are always put the game behind you after the final whistle. abused. I mean, some of the kids are just doing judgement calls. But the higher the level of play, “I try to block it out as much as I can. I try this for some extra money, a summer job … why the more the coaches and players realize there not to pay attention to the crowd,” says Bowers. do it if all you’re going to get is yelled at?” says isn’t much use to screaming and arguing with “Earlier, when I was just starting out as a referGara. referees. ee, I know I paid a lot more attention to it and Having witnessed the majority of verbal “The more angry you get and yell at them, that probably was affecting how I was calling abuse coming from parents and coaches, Gara the worse the calls will get for you as the game my game, too.” says they have to respect the way the game goes on. You try and let it go, move on and let The solution to this problem is simply eduworks. As a former coach, he believes respect them do what they’re going to do and not put cation. By and large, referees suggest educating for umpires is a major part of the game. yourself in a position where a blown call, a players, coaches, and even parents on the rules “About my third or fourth year into umpiring wrong call or something you see as a wrong call, and how to respect the officials doing their jobs. – it’s the only time I’ve been physically abused will make you lose a game,” says Groenveld. This is particularly because not every referee is - it was actually a parent. I was essentially According to Gara, the biggest misconcep- old enough, or equipped to handle abuse from protecting my partner because he had made a tion is that people think officials should be per- spectators. controversial call to end the game and we were fect. “Some referees respond to the verbal abuse walking off the field and I stepped in between much better than others. Especially when you him and this very volatile parent. I sort of got deal with someone like young kids who is a a two-hander to the chest. My umpire-in-chief referee or 15 years old and they’re refereeing at the time quickly stepped in, took the parent young children’s games, and they have to deal away,” Gara says. with parents that are much older, yelling at Bowers is no stranger to volatile parents eithem. That can be intimidating as well,” says ther, even with young players. After removing a Ackery. player from a game for swearing at an opponent, A general rule of thumb for both Bowers and and subsequently Bowers herself, the player’s Gara is to ‘nip it in the bud’ and do it early, to mother stood idly by and told her son not to establish the role an official takes. worry and that it wasn’t his fault. The mother’s “Once you let people start getting out of handling of the situation bothered Bowers. With hand, it gains momentum and it’ll continue on the player’s behaviour perpetuated at home, he through the rest of the game.” would learn nothing from the penalty and conEducation is key. According to Gara, in additinue acting in such a manner. tion to Respect My Game, there are leagues that Parents aren’t the only aggressors towards “Players make mistakes constantly…they will make the parents of players sign contracts officials. According to Ackery’s study, 63 per suffer no consequences that you can visually at the beginning of a season to ensure they know cent of officials said they believe the coach is see. Whereas an official makes one bad call, the rules and what it is to be a respectful observmost responsible for players and managing in- and it seems like all the attention is focused [on er. More and more, there are new stipulations game safety. Although most coaches remain re- them],” says Gara. put into effect that will protect players as well as spectful toward officials, things can get heated “We do have particular coaches that we officials. during a game and cause someone to lose their know of and they’d really be hard on these new When all is said and done, regardless of what cool. In some cases, a coach’s happens during the game, behaviour can be chalked up many referees are able to to flat out ignorance, but Ackleave it on the court, on ery says a team comprised of the field, or on the ice. younger children will most There are positives to belikely be less aggressive ing a referee that many during games. take joy in. “At the higher level with “I really love the peoteenagers and young adults, ple I get to referee with. the abuse probably comes We have a great crew in more... as opposed to from the this region, I get to travparents or the fanbase. And of el and see a lot of really course, there is always abuse great games,” says Bowreferees face from coaches ers. There are points when and other support staff on the she can pick, all at her team.” will, which games she Bowers says there was one wishes to work for – from incident that really bothered college level games, to juher on a personal level. A fenior level, to tournaments male coach of a boy’s team in Ottawa.“It’s a great acted in a very aggressive way little part-time job for me towards her during a game. and I’ve come to a point When spoken to by a senior where I can do a lot of A PLAYER AT GEORGE BROWN MAKES HIS CASE TO THE REFEREE | PHOTO BY JOSH SHERMAN official after the game the fereally great games, and I male coach stated that she did can pick and choose what not believe females knew how to referee. referees and you’d have to say to them ‘We’re I want to do,” Bowers says. “That’s another challenge that as a female going to lose these people if you don’t give Referee abuse remains a serious issue in official you’d probably see a lot,” says Bowers. them a little bit of a break,’” says Bowers. sports. While it’s easy to get caught up in a heat“People think that you may not understand the While many have dropped out of officiat- ed game, referees are there to keep the peace, game as well as a man.” ing, there are still plenty that continue. It takes and without some semblance of order, there is Daniel Groenveld, third-year Niagara Col- a thick skin to officiate today and the ability to only chaos. ▲
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I paid a lot more attention to it and that probably was affecting how I was calling my game.
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FEATURES
DEALING WITH DEFEAT
FIVE TIPS FOR GETTING OVER A LOSS BY JOSH SHERMAN
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osing isn’t easy. From being overcome with the guilty feeling of letting teammates down, to experiencing a pang of regret over that one missed chance in a crucial game-deciding play, there are countless ways for athletes to get down on themselves after a loss. But a loss can be more than just discouraging; with the wrong mindset, one’s reaction to defeat can also affect future athletic performances. “If somebody’s in a negative mental state and say they’re letting their tension get too high and they’re tight and they’re not as smooth and supple physically as they usually are, obviously that’s going to have a negative impact on execution and they’re not going to think as clearly either,” says sports psycholo0gist Dana Sinclair, 52. “All those distractions, mentally will… affect execution negatively, absolutely,” she says. So what can athletes do in the wake of a loss? While the following five tips from varsity athletes and coaches, as well as other sports experts, won’t change the results of games past, they can help keep a loss from snowballing into a streak – or worse.
BREAK IT DOWN: LOOK AT THE VICTORIES WITHIN THE LOSS “Sometimes you’re going to lose games and you just lose the game because you know you did everything right but the other team was just better than you,” says Jamie Erven, 26, coach of Collège Boréal’s women’s volleyball team. In these cases, Erven says to look to the positives. “We can take away from [those games] that we executed our game plan,” he says, “That isn’t really something you need to be discouraged about.”
BE REALISTIC Sinclair agrees with Erven, saying, “Sometimes you may lose, but you’ve performed great, and there’s nothing more you can do.” However, for those other times, she says, “You have to be entirely self-disciplined and mature, and go back to the drawing board and see if you can get any better.” In doing so, Sinclair – whose résumé includes work with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Los Angeles Dodgers – says it’s important to objectively analyze your performance as an athlete. Sinclair says that means identifying “the one, or two or three things that you need to attend to in that game.” Otherwise, she warns, “you’re going to drift around and who knows what’s going to happen.”
GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO COOL DOWN Brett King, captain of Sheridan’s men’s rugby team, appreciates the importance of evaluating his athletic performance. The 20-year-old outside centre says he reviews game footage and makes improvement plans as part of his team’s post-mortem analysis. But he also notes, “Right after a loss you’re always frustrated, your mind’s in too many places, so you need to have a clean slate… you don’t want to be all upset still.” To start over with that clean slate, King says he recommends not thinking about the loss for a day or two – unless, of course, your next game is sooner. “Once you calm down, that’s when you look back at where all your improvements can be,” he says. So how exactly does one go about pushing a loss out of mind? “Try to avoid your own sport a little bit
to keep your mind off your own game,” says King, adding he won’t watch rugby after one of his losses because even watching other teams can serve as an unpleasant reminder of what transpired in a recent game. “You don’t want to see a play and be like, ‘oh, I should’ve done that in my game.’”
SET LONG-TERM GOALS Having long-term goals for achievement can make individual losses easier to handle, says Peter Carter, 38, head coach of Trent University’s women’s volleyball team. “Setting long-term goals helps to keep small bumps in the road in perspective and helps you to build on those losses in order to meet those long-term objectives,” he says. At the beginning of each season, Carter follows his own advice and sets individual and group goals for his team the Excalibur. “The season can have a lot of ups and downs, but if our goals are for success at the end of the year, then we pick ourselves back up and we work towards building ourselves stronger for the playoffs,” he says, attesting to the success goal setting in sport.
REMEMBER WHY YOUʼRE PLAYING After a tough defeat, Stephanie Fortier, 21, former captain of Collège Boréal’s women’s volleyball team Les Vipères, would meet with her players and remind them of what’s important. It’s something that’s often obscured by the gravity of a serious game: having fun. Reciting the sort of speech she’d give her team, Fortier says, “We’ve been playing this sport, for most of us, over 10 years. Let’s just go out there and have fun playing the sport that we play and put all of our effort into it.” ▲
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LIFE/HEALTH
THE MEN WHO CHEER BY TAYLOR PARSONS
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century ago it was an all male sport. Records show that cheerleading dates back as early as 1877. Back then, known simply as cheer, it was an organized section of students and athletes that would shout and cheer on athletes during student sporting events from the stands. Things changed in 1898, when Johnny Campbell, a student at the University of Minnesota, lead an entire crowd by himself in their cheers, directing what and when the audience should cheer. Campbell became the very first official cheerleader. Women were eventually allowed to join cheerleading, but during the Second World War, they came to dominate the activity as the men were away fighting the war. This era of cheer added gymnastics, tumbling, and props such as megaphones to create excitement in the crowds. Today, cheerleading teams are at a 50 per cent male participation at the post-secondary level. Despite this, men in cheer often find themselves stigmatized for competing in what is sometimes perceived as a women’s sport. “It’s always the second question I get when I tell people I’m a cheerleader. ‘Oh, are you gay?’ They don’t really don’t know what it’s about,” says Humber College cheerleader Angelo Mikhail Hofilena. “I just laugh it off, because it’s kind of funny. Once they see what it’s actually about, they tend to shut up. It’s not all just pom-poms.” Mario Carito, a Humber student who has dedicated his last few years to cheerleading, explains how cheerleading is just like any other athletic activity. “It’s generally thought cheerleaders are very flamboyant, but the majority of them are straight men. We enjoy lifting people, we like having fun, and the atmosphere is amazing. It’s a sport like any other.” Despite only beginning cheer about four years ago, Carito, 21, has been a part of many cheer teams. In 2012, Carito’s hard work finally paid off, and he joined Canada’s cheer team after only three years in the sport. “At first, everyone is like, ‘C’mon what are you going into cheerleading for?’” says Carito. “Everyone thinks it’s pom-poms and ‘Go team!’ but when people see what we’re doing, they’re like ‘Oh my god!’” Team Canada is comprised of cheerleaders from all across the nation. Competing in global competitions, they have been first place champions five years in a row in the Coed and All-Girl Elite grouping. Carito says he trains every day, practicing the skills and routines he picked up from his different teams. Lifting and tossing cheerleaders are the primary roles of men in cheer, so strength training is a necessity. Cheerleaders must also train their flexibility and gymnastic abilities in order
to complete the array of stunts. These stunts are routines that use building performances, such as pyramids, and tosses. In addition to being an athlete, Carito also coaches the younger generations of cheerleaders. “I love it. I’m all about raising Canadian cheerleaders, and helping them get better.” At St. Clair College, cheerleading is seen as an important member of the athletic family.
TEAM CANADA CHEERLEADER MARIO CARITO POSES WITH TEAMMATE JOSSLYN FARROW | PHOTO BY TAYLOR PARSONS
“Our cheerleaders work out Wednesday nights and Sundays for full hour-and-a-half workouts for their tumbling and everything they have to do,” says Bernie Chico LaBute, St. Clair College’s cheerleading liaison. “They do most of their routines on Mondays and Thursdays, so just like other athletes they’re in about three or four times a week, and they still have to maintain their grades.” Their cheer team, which consists of fewer than 20 people, had more than 110 people try out. Out of that number, LaBute says only six men applied. “The idea is to get as many students as you can from a variety of locations. In order to do that you have to begin to grow the product –having a cheerleading squad made up of only girls really limits the focus of what we want to do.” LaBute suspects a lack of televised exposure of cheerleading in Canadian athletics is partly responsible for its smaller numbers of male athletes. “The U.S. has always been way ahead of us on that. You can’t turn on a football game on a Saturday and not see pairs of cheerleaders, both men and women.” While St. Clair’s team currently consists entirely of women, they do have a male alternate in the event of a missing player. LaBute hopes as cheer becomes more popular at St. Clair, more men will participate in years to come. “We’re opening the doors for guys who want to do this. We’d love to have them.” Josslyn Farrow is another cheerleader for Team Canada. Starting out as a gymnast, Farrow has been a competitive cheerleader for seven years and a member of Team Canada for the past five years. Farrow says men are a necessary component in competitive cheer. “They’re vital. They’re absolutely vital,” she says. “They have a lot more strength than girls. There’s a lot more you can do with guys than just a girl team. To make a really good competitive team, you need about two guys per girl.” Despite the need for male cheerleaders, Farrow admits she too had a misgiving about their role in the sport. “I would say when I first started, I probably had one, just because you think of cheerleading, you think of girls doing it.” Regardless of a player’s sexual orientation, it has no effect on a player’s abilities in any sport. The fact remains that despite the inclusion of women in cheer, men have remained an essential part of the sport. Without them, cheerleading wouldn’t exist at all. Farrow’s message for men interested in cheer is to be confident. “If you end up being good at it more people are going to respect you for it in the end than make fun of you for it,” she says. “And you get to toss girls around all day, most guys would be jealous really.” ▲
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GAME CHANGING UNIFORMS By Melissa Deeder
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eammates gather in the locker room before the big game. Filled with anticipation, the crowd waits impatiently on the bleachers for their team to appear. The buzzer goes off as team members make their way onto the field, hyped up and proudly donning their new uniforms. The fans stand and roar as they applaud their team, and one of the first things the stadium crowd notices are the players’ new, sharp uniforms. “Uniforms are the first thing people look at when they arrive and you have to look good,” says Ken Babcock, Athletic Director at Durham College & the UOIT. Over the years, he has seen uniforms take on many new styles and he’s taken notice of how technology has changed the game of uniform design. As athletic director, it’s Babcock’s responsibility to design new uniforms for all of the sports teams at Durham College – a job he has been doing since 1988 when he was Assistant Athletic Director. Seven years later, he became head of the department. “Uniforms used to be polyester and heavy, not performance driven,” he says. Now uniforms are all about climate fit and light materials. That’s why Durham works with Adidas. “Their brands of uniform materials are great because they dry quickly, repel sweat and wash easily, especially the whites,” laughs Babcock. White is what Durham wears at home games, so it’s important to keep them clean. “Depending on what the usage is, there are different fabrics for every sport, from a performance standpoint and from a durability standpoint,” says Jeff Clements, the Director of Team Business Development at Adidas Canada Limited The material is chosen based on the sport.
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For example, baseball pants are made out of heavy-duty polyester, whereas for track and field there are more technical pieces required. It all depends on what the college is looking for, explains Clements. They might strictly be looking for durability because of budget reasons or strictly performance, which means light weight material and may not last as long, but is more functional. James Gideon a product line manager at Adidas explains the different fabrics, starting with formation. It’s a formfitting fabric built on the way the body moves, he says. “[They’re] like yoga pants which are built and fit for the way a person moves so at the same time it’s like part of their body,” he explains. Climate light material is moisture wicking where the research and development is on body motion, where heat zones are actually calculated on the body. “With that technology we can see where the athletes sweat and what elements they’re working at,” explains Gideon. The OCAA uses this material in a lot of their soccer uniforms. Then there’s climate cool, which is a ventilating zone, says Gideon. It’s the air flow that goes through the body to keep athletes cool. These climate cool zones are placed in strategic spots., and the material pushes perspiration away and allows the body to breath. “They’re also light and high performance,” says Clements. Stitching has been replaced with sublimation, which is something Adidas has been doing for the past ten years. Sublimation is a dying process where the ink goes right into the threads and the art of the fabric, explains Clements, so it sublimates the design of the uniform right into the garment.The great thing about this is if
a uniform gets lost or destroyed all they have to do is send out the coordinates to Adidas and they can replace that one uniform. At Durham College the process of designing new uniforms involves a sit down with sports directors, coaches and athletic captains. Ultimately Babcock gets the final say, but he likes the coaches and athletes to get involved in the process. “We want them to be very excited to wear them,” says Babcock. “We want to hear their opinions.” The teams have a say as to what they’d like to see and everything is considered when redesigning a uniform, be it fabric, colour, logos, design and number placement. The coach and athletic captain of the sport they are designing the new uniforms for will sit down with the sports director and athletic director. Together, they come up with sketches and mock ups of the uniforms, which then get sent to Adidas. That’s when Adidas comes up with a couple of different designs for Babcock and his design team to choose from. Once it reaches that point, it’s game on for Adidas, “[We’ll] make the order in four weeks completely custom made,” says Clements. The design process usually starts in the New Year and the uniforms are out by spring and back by fall says Babcock. To keep up with the trends of style, material and fabric changes, colleges seem to work on a three-year cycle. Golf is the only uniform that gets a new design every year, says Babcock. They are the least expensive and consist of two golf shirts, a hat and a long sleeve dry-fit shirt. These are provided every year as personal items and aren’t collected at the end of the year. All other sports work in cycles, but every sport is differ-
LIFE/HEALTH at Humber College and President of the OCAA. When doing a sport, Humber budgets in uniforms, coaching salaries, equipment in games and rentals. “It’s part of the sport process,” says Bialek. “Different sports have different regulations on the size of the number and on the size of the actual encrusting of the name.”
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We changed our colors and it had everything to do with uniforms.
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ent says Babcock. “It depends on the wear and tear of the sport,” he says. Redesigning uniforms would be done every year but cannot be due to financial reasons. Babcock says the redesign budgets are staggered to allow for budget that is available. “Basketball uniforms are the most expensive compared to volleyball, baseball and soccer,” says Babcock. Clements says it’s because the price is based on material usage alone. “Basketball uniforms utilize more fabric than any uniform we manufacture, not to mention double layering of the shorts,” explains Clements. Durham has been designing uniforms like jerseys and shorts with Adidas for the past six years. When it comes to shoes, athletes are left to purchase footwear themselves as it’s too costly for the school to cover. Before teaming up with Adidas, it took a while for Durham to find the perfect fit. They previously spent two years with Nike and before that Sports Specific. Their first branch off to a big name was Nike, but after working with the company for two years, things didn’t work out. “They couldn’t fulfill our needs of colour, styles and sizing inventory so we switched to Adidas,” says Babcock. “Adidas is really good at understanding the team and market, much in advance and far better than anybody else,” he says. Adidas has no problem keeping up with the college’s needs and demands when it comes to style, colours and sizing, but Clements says “there’s always people looking for more”. Colin March, Sports Services Coordinator at Seneca College has been designing uniforms for about 11 years and has been working with Adidas for around seven. He explains how Adidas usually has new designs available in time for Seneca’s redesign phase. March also likes to get the student athletes involved in the design process, even having them design some uniforms themselves. Humber College is on a three year cycle as well. “Keep it fresh, keep it cool,” says Jim Bialek, Manager of Athletics/Sports Information
Basketball for example has to have numbers on the front and the back of the jersey. Coaches have a big say on the technical side of the uniform because they have to take the rules of the sport into consideration. “Depending on the sport, the sport could dictate the nature of the garment,” says Bialek. For example players cannot wear jeans or cut offs on a golf course. As a rule, even coaches are not allowed to wear jeans or hats on the court side and that’s based on branding, explains Bialek. Humber likes to use as much space as they can on the uniform to advertise who they are when walking out onto a field or in the gym. Another thing that designers have to keep in mind is the OCAA logo, as it’s their rule to have it embroided on every jersey, says Bialek. Then there’s the brand, which affects both. Majestic is a company recognized as the top brand for baseball uniforms, so for baseball, Humber works with Majestic. “If we’re going to go baseball we want the proper attire made from a baseball company,” says Bialek. Depending on the sport, Humber will go with whoever is viewed as the leader of that sport, all because of the technical aspect.
Also when a brand is known to be the best for a certain sport, people will know Humber has the top of the line uniforms, says Bialek. Uniforms are such a big deal that they even changed Humber’s school colours in 1994-95. “We changed our colors and it had everything to do with uniforms,” says Bialek. Humber went from maroon, gold and white to gold, black and silver and finally settling on blue and gold – all because they could never get the maroon colours to match. Even when working with the same company the colours couldn’t coesxist, he says. They changed to blue because it’s easier to get away with four different shades of navy as opposed to two different shades of maroon. Humber also chose blue because Toronto’s sports teams like the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs are blue. So which uniform has had the most dramatic changes over the years? Babcock says its women’s volleyball. Their uniforms used to be baggy shirts and shorts with short sleeves. Now they wear shorter shorts which are tighter fitting with dry fit material. March thinks it’s men’s volleyball, going from a regular tee-shirt to sleeveless uniforms. The uniforms are dry-fit and no longer contain cotton, which is what they used to have, he explains. “The trend and look of basketball uniforms has always been long and loose,” says Clements. When asked why the shorts were so short back in the day and why they changed to a longer length he simply says “truly...functionality, ease of motion.” As far as Bialek is concerned everything’s changed. It all depends on what the players, coaches and athletic directors want, he says. Uniforms have had big game changes over the years and will continue to do so; materials have improved, players are more performance driven and technology has upped the ante. Uniforms are such an important aspect to the game of sports that they even manage to transform a school’s history by changing their colours. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the love of the game and sport itself. ▲
ATHLETIC GEAR HAS CHANGED DRAMATICALLY OVER THE YEARS; SLEEVES HAVE CREPT UP AND HEMLINES HAVE COME DOWN | COURTESY HUMBER ATHLETICS
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2012 TORONTO TOUGH MUDDER RACE. CONTESTANTS FACE MUD AND MONKEY BARS. PHOTOS BY PETER DAVEY
2012 TORONTO TOUGH MUDDER MARK DAVEY COMPETES
2013 CCAA CROSS-COUNTRY NATIONALS
362013 | sweat 2013 CCAA CROSS-COUNTRY NATIONALS. RUNNERS ENDURE TEMPERATURES AND SLIPPERY CONDITIONS
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ud, barbed wire, rope ladders and electric fences: each of these on their own is unpleasant, but combined, they make for a physically demanding obstacle course. Believe it or not, this course isn’t designed to break down military recruits or serve as punishment. Hundreds of thousands of people gladly pay money for the chance to crawl under barbed wire, scale 12 ft. walls and get zapped by up to 10,000 volts. They are part of the immensely popular and growing sport of obstacle course racing. Ivan Ho co-founder of Fit Factory started offering obstacle course training, last year with the rising popularity of boot camp classes and the growing participation in obstacle course races. “Two years ago we noticed that this is where the trend is going,” says Ho. They wondered, “how are we going to catch-up to these guys? What are we going to do? So last year we started the O-course to train people for all of these races, because a lot of people were like ‘I want to do this, but how do I train for it?’” The Fit Factor obstacle course generated a huge buzz about the program and company. Ho says that its popularity is still rising. “That’s where this trend is going towards and it’s only going to get bigger. I can see this being its own sport.” Will Dean and Guy Livingston created Tough Mudder, one of the larger obstacle races series, in 2010. Dean came up with the idea while at Harvard Business School and, in three years, they went from hosting three events a season to 35. In 2012, over 460,000 people ran the competition’s courses. The benefit and challenge of these courses is that every aspect of the body is tested. Events can span anywhere from eight to 30 km, requiring high levels of endurance and strength. Wall climbs, monkey bars, and weight carrying require a balance of body weight and strength. Because of the high physical demands and a fair amount of nerve-racking obstacles, personal trainers and fitness classes that incorporate obstacle and cross training regimes have become popular. Jesse Bruce, a member of Humber College’s cross-country team, started his own training
LIFE/HEALTH
TOUGH RUNNER BY PETER DAVEY
program in 2012 after competing in and winning a number of obstacle events. Bruce, who has a degree in kinesiology, sees obstacle races as a great way to train the whole body and keep motivated. “I use the obstacle course as something to train for,” says Bruce. “I see these races as an opportunity for people of all fitness levels to go and get that sense of satisfaction. Even completing it is something to work towards.” As running accounts for the lion’s share of the events’ physical challenges, it is easy to assume that varsity runners would dominate the field. Yet Bruce says while you obviously have to run, it is only part of the requirement. “You can’t just be a cross-country runner,” says Bruce. “They are fast, but as soon as you have to lift 100 lbs. and do monkey bars, they lack the strength. However overall, cross-country runners do the best.” Kodi Morgan, a second year occupational physiotherapy student at St. Clair College, has been running cross-country since high school. In 2012, she competed in the Barrie Tough Mudder as part of a team. Despite having to run 16 km, Morgan found obstacle events to be a drastically different sport. “It was two completely total opposites,” says Morgan. “Because [Tough Mudder] was on the hill at the ski resort, I found that part of it somewhat alike [to cross-country]. But it was a lot of stopping and staring so it wasn’t too much running. It was still very challenging and you had to be mentally there.” The courses are dotted with scaffolding, ice ponds and log hurdles, all of which present the danger of injury. The risk of rolling an ankle or over-exerting the body that has a number of cross-country coaches apprehensive about their athletes competing in them. Sarah Crawford, the cross-country coach for St. Lawrence College’s Brockville campus, encourages her athletes to do anything that builds their love for running, but offers words of caution as an obstacle course differs from a cross-country course. “When you have a cross-country course at college, they are actually very safe,” says Crawford. “There are a lot of people with their eyes on the course to make sure there aren’t things
that could hurt an athlete.” When looking at the pained expressions on people’s faces as they crawl through mud, it is easy to think that obstacle courses have been designed specifically to hurt the athletes. The O-Course, and workouts organized by the Fit Factory, are designed to push and challenge participants. The course is designed by co-owner Tony A, a former U.S. Marine, and Ho says they design courses to be tough enough that, at first, some obstacles may be too challenging for people. “Yes of course you gotta make it safe, but you have to also make it challenging enough so that people say ‘oh man, I have to work towards that. Man I can’t do that now, but maybe I can do that later on,’” says Ho. “When they see stuff that they cannot do, or it’s unsafe for them to do
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I see these races as an opportunity for people of all fitness levels to go and get that sense of satisfaction.
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now, they accept that, and they only see that as, ‘okay I’ve got to get myself towards that.’” With cross-country’s short season, avoiding injury and downtime is crucial. Coaches like St. Clair College’s Andy Hahn put their athletes through other training exercises beyond running to make them more resilient. Hahn encourages stretching and lots of core work, supplementing workouts with pool running or body weight strength training. There is also the mental aspect to great physical fitness. “Just being smart mentally and listening to your body and when it’s time to rest and time to push it, contributes to being a good runner,” says Hahn.
Pushing it, acting unsafe and plain old bad luck are big factors that contribute to injuries at obstacle events, say both Bruce and Ho. Having participated in numerous obstacle events and with an education in kinesiology and personal training, Bruce has seen people get hurt. “Definitely sprained ankles,” says Bruce. “I’ve sprained ankles at two races and my friend sprained his as well.” Bruce added that he has seen a few dislocated shoulders and broken bones, too. “They are generally safe if you’re not doing something stupid.” While the fear of broken bones and sprained joints may dissuade runners from attempting obstacle events, the sheer distances of some courses should also be kept in mind. The OCAA cross-country course covers five and eight kilometres for women and men respectively, and athletes train with that in mind. They usually run further in practices to give them the confidence that they can accomplish the distance. However, training to run too many miles can hinder rather than help race performance. Crawford explains that at the root of the dilemma is pacing. Athletes need to know when to push and when to cruise. For example, training for marathons is very different from short distance running. “I run marathons and I know that a five kilometre is sometimes harder because of the effort you are putting in,” laughed Crawford. “You really have to have that threshold and lactic acid in your legs. You need to feel what that is like. When you are doing long slow runs at a marathon pace, you’re not going to necessarily feel that.” While obstacle course running brings a greater risk for injury than longer courses, the familiarization with rough terrain, tackling hills, and the mental toughness involved makes cross country runners ideal for them. According to Crawford, keeping a love for running and fitness has its place in an athlete’s world too. “I don’t think I would have a problem with one of my runners trying a Tough Mudder,” says Crawford. “Because it’s probably an experience that may make them keep running longer. It’s a lifetime thing.” ▲
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EAT LIKE A CHAMPION By Jade Leung snacking needs. “The challenge for a lot of athletes is that their training hours are long and they may have other commitments.” Clinton Smith is a two-time national gold-medalist cross-country runner at Fanshawe College. He doesn’t follow a strict dietary regime but still maintains a sensible eating routine. Raised on a farm in Brigden, Ontario, Smith grew up with all-natural homegrown meats and produce. Smith has developed an appreciation for well-balanced meals that incorporate all sorts of protein, grains, fruits and vegetables. He concedes being half an hour away from any kind of restaurant establishment helped him avoid any unnecessary cravings for fast food. “It’s good to know where my food comes from,” Smith says half-jokingly as he describes what his typical day of eating is like. “In the morning, my favourite food is a cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter – I can’t have anything too heavy in the morning before I start training.
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Calories, believe it or not, tend to get underappreciated when we talk about weight.
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special combination of food provides the fuel necessary for an athlete’s performance. Many players think the sky is the limit, but without proper nourishment their bodies, even the most formidable physique, will be strained and fall flat. To maximize their bodies’ potential, players must tailor their dietary habits to the needs of their sport. Food nutritionist, Jennifer Sygo, describes the different dietary needs required for the varied training across sports. “For athletes who are in power sports or sports that involve significant physical size or body mass - rugby or hockey would be a good example - we tend to emphasize a higher calorie intake overall,” says Sygo. “Calories, believe it or not, tend to get underappreciated when we talk about weight, performance, and nutrition. Ultimately, for athletes who want to gain mass, they have to consume more calories than they burn.” According to Sygo, athletes in power sports should include at least twenty grams of protein in their meals, which come in the form of chicken breasts, fish, or beef. However, she warns too much protein can also crowd out other important nutrients and carbs. In order to slip in the extra calories, Sygo suggests putting oils in your food, like peanut butter. In addition to protein, players should also incorporate plenty of carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, potatoes, quinoa, cereals, oatmeal, breads, and rice. “To make sure calorie needs are met we would want good fats: we’d use full fat dressings, things like avocadoes, peanut butter, nuts and seeds,” she says. “A cross-country runner, for example, is a slim figure but they still have high energy needs and very high carbohydrate needs. Certainly, we still make sure they get the protein needs met but it’s a bit of a different level of priority than our big power guys,” Sygo says, adding endurance athletes turn over muscle at the same rate as body builders and heavy duty weight trainers. “The only difference is they tend to weigh less so their overall protein needs are lower because they physically have less body.” Sports nutritionists recommend frequent small meals and snacks for all athletes, and Sygo admits it’s sometimes difficult to fulfill those
Anything I eat an hour or two before training is only to curb my hunger.” During the cross country season, he avoids alcohol and any detrimental midnight snacking with his buddies. “My buddies understand that once I’m training, I don’t do anything that could potentially harm my body. There’s plenty of time for that stuff during the off-season.” Throughout the day, Smith snacks on grapes, apples and peanut butter, but has three big meals. He explains dinner is usually the largest meal of the day and consists of chicken or beef with a
healthy mix of vegetables like peppers and sweet potatoes. The diets for rugby players don’t vary too much from those of cross country players – they still consume the protein and carbs – the only difference is that there is a heavier focus on protein. Remone Whitley and teammate Jason Chuck are players from Humber College’ men’s rugby team. Whitley is resolute when it comes to avoiding the junk as much as possible. “Have a lot of greens and a lot of proteins,” he says firmly. Whitley consumes about 3500 calories a day during the on-season and 5000 during the off. “To begin the day I’ll always have oatmeal, two eggs and a banana, and some water and orange juice to go down with that.” Midday he’ll have leftovers from the night before which usually consists of protein – chicken and beef – potatoes and some vegetables. “You really have to keep your carbs up because your overall energy is what you’re going to need on a daily basis,” says Chuck. “I like to make a lot of shakes – at least one or two a day. It’ll involve a lot of frozen berries, juices, and I throw in a scoop of protein. It’s a high energy source.” Whitley says it’s important to have lots of natural sugars, not additive sugars, in the diet to keep energy levels up. However, both young men agree on one thing: off-season is the most crucial period for a rugby player to put on the pounds. “That’s when you put on as much bulk as you can because as soon as on-season comes, there’s no opportunity to get any more muscle or mass because you’re continuously doing cardio, which is going to limit your weight gain,” says Chuck. “During the off-season my calorie intake is going to be a lot higher than on-season because of the bulking.” And while discussing all the food trends, what’s good for you and what’s not, Chuck stresses the importance of keeping it simple. “Warriors used to just eat meat and bread –they didn’t have as many resources as we do now. It’s not that much different from us. You get your carbs from the bread and protein from the meat.” ▲
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HUMBER HAWK REMONE WHITLEY CONSUMES 3500 CALORIES A DAY DURING RUGBY SEASON | PHOTO BY MEGAN RACH
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TAKING
CONTROL LEARNING SELF-DEFENSE AND FIGHTING BACK BY VICTORIA QUIROZ
large parking lot stretches from the building she works at to the street. On a regular day, working the closing shift goes past 9:30 p.m. Almost every night as she makes the journey towards the street, she is greeted by the same sight: men, stationed in their parked cars, waiting. Waiting to yell at and catcall the women who pass them. “There’s always guys ‘hanging out’,” says Kelly Pimentel. “They’re honking and going ‘Woo! Come here, come here,’ so it’s like, what if one of those guys actually jumped out of that car and came running at me? What am I going to do?” Pimentel is a 19-year-old paralegal student at Humber College. She signed up for and participated in the college’s RAD (Rape. Aggression. Defence) program because of the situation she finds herself in almost every time she
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Everyone needs to take safety into their own hands.
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leaves her job at a Toronto Fresh Co. Founded in 1989, the RAD program is “a course of carefully selected defensive tactics with helpful guidelines for continued personal growth,” according to the participant manual for the Basic Physical Defence for Women program. The basic course can range from nine to 12 hours and is suitable for women of all ages. The RAD program is used at 11 Ontario colleges and universities and throughout Canada and North America. The Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (METRAC) has a compiled list of statistics on violence against women in Canada, in particular sexual assault. It states that four out of five female undergraduates in Canada have reported being victims of violence in a dating relationship. As well, young women between the ages of 16 and 21 are at the highest risk of sexual assault. Recent research published in JAMA Pediatrics found that in the United States, one in 10 youths between the ages of 14 and 21 had been the perpetrators of sexual violence. That’s around 9 per cent of youths falling into the high school and college age bracket, who have either forced sexual contact, coercive sex, attempted rape and rape. Similar to METRAC is the Ontario Women’s Directorate, an institution that publishes a resource guide for Ontario’s colleges and universities. The document covers the basics of understanding sexual violence and advises on how to make schools safer places. Still, the threat remains, and this is why the RAD program is popular amongst Ontario post-secondary institutions. Marco Felvus, a professor in the child
and youth worker program at Mohawk College, has been with the school for 11 years and heads up the Queer-Positive Space. Felvus is also one of the coordinators for Mohawk’s theme of the month, which in September was sexual health awareness. As for the reasoning behind bringing in RAD for sexual health awareness month, Felvus spoke of the difficulties many colleges and universities face in, and around, September. “September is always a difficult month for colleges and universities especially around sexual assaults and sexual awarness,” said Felvus. “So it makes sense to do some care and protection around any kind of physical or sexual violence.” Humber College also recently adopted the RAD program winter of 2012. The program was implemented when the Ontario Association of College and University Security Administrators, a committee Humber is a part of, announced that Ryerson University was offering instructor training. Currently the team of four instructors, Keith Pua, David Yen, Michael Kopinak and Nathania Bron, aim to do a minimum of one course per campus per semester. The course is two, four-hour classes, with a limit of around 20 participants per session. In it, students learn how to physically defend themselves using effective stances, blocks and strikes, and how to identify a potentially harmful situation and reduce their risk. Keith Pua, the public safety coordinator at Humber’s Lakeshore campus, was asked to become an instructor by his then-coordinator, because of his background in martial arts. “Everyone needs to take safety into their own hands,” says Pua. “The security team here is great but we can’t be everywhere at once and we certainly can’t be on the TTC or on the street when they’re walking home.” While there have only been a handful of sessions to date, students are already reporting situations where their training came in handy. “I do have one student that did come back to me after,” says Pua. “She had an encounter on a TTC bus. She was able to identify what was going on, use one of the safety techniques we had given and she was able to get away and keep herself safe.”
The RAD program at Humber College is offered only for females in the community, but Pua said they are looking at expanding the self-defence program to include or have a separate class for males. “We don’t have a date right now but we’re looking at a number of different options.” During my meeting with Pua in September, I was offered the opportunity to join a class in October, which I gladly accepted. The class was an incredibly positive experience that not only focused on learning defence, but on empowering students. The course I took had around 14 women with three instructors (Pua, Yen and Bron), ensuring each student received as much attention, and as much practice, as they wanted. One of the more eye-opening experiences came in the beginning when we were invited to introduce ourselves to the group and say why we had signed up. While the answers varied from student to student, many mentioned that they had always wanted to learn some type of self-defence but didn’t have the opportunity. Humber’s RAD program is free of charge, with only a $20 deposit to secure the participant’s space. For Brittney Thames, a 20-yearold media studies student at University of Guelph-Humber, it was living on her own for the first time that enticed her into joining. She said that she learned the area had a reputation for not being the safest. “It is fun,” says Thames when asked about the course. “But then you think about how serious the situation is.” Pimentel said she felt far more confident in her skills, particularly with her favourite move (and also seemingly the class’), the cringe-worthy “seize and squeeze.” Both Pimentel and Thames say they want to continue with their training. “I really like it and it’s a way to get moving,” says Pimentel. “I might get my family involved, or try to.” A four-hour session with RAD really gets participants sweating. As Pua had said before, “towards the end of it, it’s like ‘All right, I’m ready to go home.’” And because of programs like RAD, more women will be able to feel secure when they head home. ▲ RAD INSTRUCTOR KEITH PUA DEMONSTRATES SELF-DEFENSE TECHNIQUES PHOTO BY VICTORIA QUIROZ sweat 2013 | 41
COACHʼS CORNER E
very program strives to create a family atmosphere, an environment where there is enough mutual respect to have open discussion and ultimately improve. Here at Niagara we are fortunate to have some actual family connections in our men’s volleyball program. As head coach I am blessed to have my younger brother Jeremy as my assistant and Daniel [brother] is in his first year with our program. Dealing with family has some great advantages to it; we share principles and values both on and off the court, as well as having a huge amount of respect for each other which allows us to challenge each other. The result of this is a direct improvement in our program. This mindset is shared among our entire team which has helped us implement the culture we have identified as necessary for success. I implemented our team brother program to increase the support our athletes have. Teammates are paired based on a variety of factors; first year with returning, similar programs, complementing personality and social types and sometimes simply based on a feel from our coaching staff.
The concept is that you look out for your brother; help them better understand team systems and concepts, be successful in school, make smart off court decisions and generally just have someone else looking out for you. Our team members truly are brothers in every sense of the word and this program was instituted in order to help drive the support where it needs to go and to give everyone someone they can go to for extra help or just simply to grab a bite to eat. Our guys have responded very well to the program. I feel it is important to have extra individual support because the transition from even the highest level clubs to college is very difficult and this program helps in the three key areas: academic, volleyball and social. It builds the sense of family we are striving for in our program, as anyone with siblings knows: no matter what you will always love and support your family! A growth mindset is critical in the development of pursuit or passion; this is particularly true when trying to excel at the OCAA level in any sport. By fostering a respect first, open environment where ideas are shared and challenged for the betterment of the program as a whole, we
feel we have the foundation to grow as individuals and as a group. The second phase of the family program is alumni engagement. Having proud, supportive alumni is key to the success of any program and the family orientated approach helps foster those relationships. When you include alumni in the success of your program, after all they laid a piece of the foundation to get it here; they become part of your family. ▲ Nathan Groenveld Head Coach Men’s Volleyball Niagara College
OFF THE BENCH “
My three years at Algonquin have been quite successful, as a leading scorer, an allstar, and a gold medalist. Those are all things I will always remember but what is more important to me is how all of this leads to success as a team. All my personal goals are nifty, but what I’ll remember the most about my years here is
my time at Algonquin. The feeling of a second family is something you’ll never forget. Never have I ever been part of a team like this before and never will I forget it. ▲
What I’ll remember the most about my years here is winning gold with some of the best ladies.
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s a full time student in the biotechnology program and a varsity athlete, juggling the five day a week practices can be extremely difficult, but what you get out of being part of a team like ours makes the hectic schedules much more bearable. My friend and captain of three years always says at the end of the season you don’t think about the week you had a million things due and then had to drag yourself to practice and wake up and do it again, because when you win gold you don’t think about that stuff. It’s having people like that around that make juggling school, social life, work, and rugby all possible, and we have a team full of girls like that and I’m thrilled to be a part of it. If I have learned anything in my three years at Algonquin it’s that that hard work will always pay off. When you think you don’t have anything left you have 14 other girls on the field who pick you back up. Most importantly we’re a group of friends, a support system, and a family when all is said and done.
winning gold with some of the best ladies I’ve ever met. A group hug of 26 girls crying and jumping around has never felt less awkward in my life and I’m happy that I could share it with the girls that I did. Everything I have learned from my friends, my teammates and my coaches are skills and memories that I will carry with me even after
Courtney Mastine Women’s Rugby Algonquin College
SCOREBOARD MEN’S AND WOMEN’S
MEN’S AND WOMEN’S
CROSS COUNTRY
GOLF
Sept. 14 - At St. Lawerence (Kingston) Race Athlete College 5K Women’s Courtney Brohart St. Lawerence 8K Men’s Clinton Smith Fanshawe Sept. 21 - At Fanshawe 5K Women’s: Kodi Morgan 8K Men’s: Clinton Smith
Time 20:11.1 25:22.8
St. Clair Fanshawe
20:00 25:59
Sept. 28 - At Redeemer 5K Women’s: Courtney Brohart St. Lawerence 8K Men’s: Riley Olesky Fleming
21:36 28:17
Oct. 5 - At Humber 5K Women’s: Courtney Brohart St. Lawerence 8K Men’s: Clinton Smith Fanshawe
20:17 26:33
Oct. 11 - At Seneca 5K Women’s: Cara Coults 8K Men’s: Riley Olesky
21:23 26:17
Humber Fleming
Oct. 26 - OCAA Championships - At Redeemer 5K Women’s: Courtney Brohart St. Lawerence 8K Men’s: Clinton Smith Fanshawe
22:06 28:04
WOMEN’S SOCCER GP 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
W 8 7 7 5 4 3 2 2 1 1
L 0 0 2 2 4 4 6 7 7 8
GP W L Humber 8 5 1 Fanshawe 8 5 1 Sheridan 8 5 2 Conestoga 8 4 1 Mohawk 8 4 3 Lambton 8 4 3 Niagara 8 1 6 St. Clair 8 1 6 Redeemer 8 1 7 Women’s Soccer Final Medal Gold Silver Team Algonquin Seneca
GP W L Algonquin 6 6 0 Fleming 6 3 3 St. Lawrence (K) 6 2 3 Loyalist 6 0 5 West Region GP W Humber 6 6 Seneca 6 4 Conestoga 6 3 Sheridan 6 2 Mohawk 6 0 Women’s Final Medal Gold Team Algonquin
L 0 2 3 4 6
T 1 2 0 2 1 2 1 0 1 0
GF 37 42 27 23 14 9 10 8 4 3
GA PTS 2 25 3 23 5 21 17 17 27 13 26 11 19 7 22 6 35 4 21 3
T 2 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 0
GF 28 17 16 12 16 9 4 6 4
GA PTS 7 17 5 17 6 16 8 15 11 13 10 13 19 4 22 4 24 3
Bronze Humber
Score 72 Score 80 Score 210 371 Score 243 508
GP 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
W 6 5 5 5 4 3 2 1 0
L 0 1 2 2 3 3 5 7 8
T 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 0 0
GF 21 14 25 15 9 10 3 7 6
GA PTS 4 20 8 17 10 16 6 16 7 13 14 11 13 7 20 3 28 0
GP Humber 8 Fanshawe 8 Sheridan 8 St. Clair 8 Niagara 8 Redeemer 8 Mohawk 8 Lambton 8 Conestoga 8 Men’s Soccer Final Medal Gold Team Humber
W 6 6 6 4 3 2 2 1 0
L 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 7 6
T 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 0 2
GF 17 15 26 11 13 8 15 2 8
GA PTS 4 19 5 19 4 19 10 14 12 11 18 8 21 7 23 3 18 2
Algonquin Centennial Seneca Durham Fleming St. Lawrence George Brown Cambrian La Cite West Division
Silver Algonquin
Bronze Sheridan
MEN’S RUGBY
T 0 0 1 1
PF 264 164 95 23
PA Bonus PTS 10 6 30 138 3 15 199 2 12 199 0 2
T 0 0 0 0 0
PF 351 117 118 83 53
PA Bonus PTS 18 6 30 85 3 19 191 2 14 157 2 10 271 1 1
Silver Humber
Score 69 Score 80
East Division
WOMEN’S RUGBY East Region
Score 69
MEN’S SOCCER
East Division Seneca Algonquin St. Lawrence (K) Durham Cambrian La Cite George Brown Loyalist Centennial Fleming West Division
Sept. 16 - At Fleming Women’s Champion College Adrienne D’Alessio Humber Sept. 21 - At Fanshawe Men’s Champion College Alex Dumais Humber Sept. 23 - At Niagara Men’s Champion College Colton Kalkanis Georgian Women’s Champion College Adrienne D’Alessio Humber Sept. 27 - At Durham Men’s Champion College Mitchell Kennedy Seneca Women’s Champion College Adrienne D’Alessio Humber OCAA Championships Men’s Champion College Christian McCulloughHumber Overall Men’s Champion: Humber College Women’s Champion College Adrienne D’Alessio Humber Overall Women’s Champion: Humber College
Bronze Fleming
East Region GP W Algonquin 6 6 Fleming 6 4 Trent 6 3 St. Lawrence (K) 6 3 Loyalist 6 1 Seneca 6 1 West Region GP W Humber 6 6 Georgian 6 4 Conestoga 6 3 Sheridan 5 1 Mohawk 5 0 Men’s Final Medal Gold Team Humber
WOMEN’S FASTBALL GP W L RS RA PTS St. Clair 15 14 1 112 33 28 Humber 15 12 3 135 38 24 Durham 15 7 8 82 68 14 Conestoga 15 7 8 67 89 14 Seneca 15 5 10 40 67 10 Mohawk 15 0 15 39 180 0 Women’s Fastball Finals Medal Gold Silver Bronze Team Humber St. Clair Conestoga
L 0 2 3 3 5 5
PF 248 142 129 108 131 78
PA Bonus PTS 56 4 28 125 5 21 136 4 16 154 2 14 219 6 10 146 1 5
L 0 2 3 4 5
PF 350 176 182 37 23
PA Bonus PTS 18 6 30 157 3 19 99 3 15 143 0 4 351 0 0
Silver Algonquin
Bronze Conestoga
MEN’S BASEBALL St. Clair Humber Durham George Brown Seneca
GP W 16 14 16 11 16 10 16 4 16 1
Men’s Baseball Finals Medal Gold Team St. Clair
L 2 5 6 12 15
RS 159 144 138 57 30
Silver Durham
RA PTS 34 28 59 22 67 20 155 8 213 2 Bronze Humber
DOUG FOX: HIS LASTING IMPACT BY KARA MATTHEWS
A
FOX SPENT 35 YEARS BUILDING A POWERHOUSE VARSITY PROGRAM | PHOTO BY KARA MATTHEWS
46 | sweat 2013
after a 35-year career, complete with individual and team success, Humber’s Doug Fox retired at the end of August 2013. Fox was hired in 1978 to help coach the men’s basketball team. The former University Basketball Athlete of the Decade - an award he received from the University of Toronto in the 70s - helped expand the varsity program from five teams to the current 20 once he became the school’s athletic director in 1979. Humber’s varsity program has since become the largest in the country. As for which team’s his favourite, Fox says he can’t decide. “It’s impossible to choose,” he says. “I love them all. A lot of leg work has gone into building this program, and these teams.” Fox says the camaraderie and support within Humber’s athletic program is outstanding, and he’s proud to have been a part of it. Together, they broke nearly every team and individual record. During the 2011/12 season, the Hawks obtained 18 team and individual provincial gold medals, and last year Humber took home 13 team and individual provincial golds and three national CCAA titles. Over the past three seasons, 13 Humber players have been named OCAA Player of the Year. Players from the badminton, volleyball, and golf varsity teams represented Canada at the World University Games. Despite his retirement, Fox’s presence within Humber’s athletic department hasn’t diminished. His involvement continues by assisting with the varsity golf and curling teams. Fox is still a familiar face in Humber’s bustling athletic office, which he’s called home for 35 years. “The relationship’s I’ve made not only with the staff and coaches, but with the athletes, have been invaluable,” he says. “Those are the things that will stay with me forever.” Even with his continued involvement in Humber Athletics, Fox admits he’s enjoying the newfound freedom that comes with retirement. “I love it,” he says. “I’m getting the best of both worlds.” ▲