True Sportsmanship

What is sportsmanship?

Is it abiding to the rules of the game, respecting your opponent, or simply being a “good loser”?

Sportsmanship has many formal definitions and those are different for everyone. However, true sportsmanship, in every single aspect, can be found at the Special Olympics.

Last weekend, Paige Paulsen and I volunteered at the NB Special Olympics Summer Games. The event brought together Special Olympics athletes from all over the Atlantic provinces to participate in a wide variety of sports. We were assigned to work the track meet. Initially, I was thinking we would be timing races, measuring throw and jump lengths. Standard volunteering procedures. But it turned out to be so much more than that.

We witnessed the up most level of sportsmanship I have ever seen.

Yes, I have seen a lot in my days as an athlete; the opposing players helping one of my teammates up when they fall, congratulating a player on a nice play and so on and so forth. But what I saw this weekend made all those acts seem so small.

Athletes cheering on other athletes while they were racing… against each other. Competitors being so happy with finishing their event even if they were dead last and coming in minutes after all the others. I have never seen a group of athletes that were so happy to be able to participate in their sport of choice simply because they love it. Yes, they are happy when they win but the big difference is that they are equally as happy when they get 8^th place.

As athletes, we sometimes get so wrapped up in the game all we can think about is getting the “W”. We often forget why we play our sport in the first place. For most of us, it began when we were children and we truly just loved playing to play, no matter what the scoreboard read.

At one point or another, we all need to be reminded what true sportsmanship is. I believe we should all either attend or volunteer at a Special Olympics event of some sort; not only will it serve as a good reminder, I promise you will not be able to leave without a smile on your face.

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In other news, our training camp begins next week with a mini boot camp on Tuesday and Wednesday and team tryouts starting on Friday that will continue through the weekend.

We will also be hosting one of the two AUS-RSEQ interlocks at the end of October. We will be hosting l’Université de Montréal, McGill University, l’Université de Laval and l’Université de Sherbrooke as well as three other AUS teams (I will not lie, I am not quite certain who they are at the moment).

Happy back to school season everyone,

Jodie J

Think Pink: Giving Back

“Do all the good you can.  By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”

- John Wesley

Sometimes as student-athletes, we get caught up in all the things we have to do; assignment due tomorrow, midterm in two days, practice tonight, workout sometime today... and the list goes on and on. Post-it notes with lists of things to do seem never ending most weeks. Our focus often becomes narrow-minded and we forget that there is a world outside of the gym and the classroom.

We often complain about being tired and not having enough hours in a day but what we not take into consideration is that other people have the same feelings but do not attain them by practicing what they love. Yes, sometimes it sucks to stay up late studying and wake up for an early morning workout, however this is a choice. 

Cancer patients do not have that luxury. 

This is precisely why it is so essential to give back in any way you can, any time you can and by all means you can.

Think Pink weekend (Shoot for the Cure, Dig for the Cure and Pink in the Rink) aims to raise funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Our donations are used to improve breast screening programs, advance research and raise awareness. This year, we were able to raise over 10 000$. We did so by organizing volleyball tournaments, bake sales, 50/50's, organizing a raffle, selling loads of pink paraphernalia and collecting individual donations. Additionally, five ponytails (or over 40 inches of hair) were donated to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program. 

I believe it is extremely important that as student-athletes we take the time to give back to the community; whether it is simply going to read a book to class of eager kindergarteners or organizing major events such as a Think Pink or a Right to Play event. We often do not realize to what extent we are seen as role models in the community and the impact we can have on those around us. 

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I am sorry for not posting quite as often as I would like to but here is an update on how our season is going:

We are now ranked fourth in the league and this will be our final ranking going into the AUS championships. We will face StFX on Friday night and hopefully come out winners. If we do so, we will meet Dalhousie University in the semi finals. I am almost certain that our games will be webcast (the link can be found on our schedule on the AUS website). 

Cheers,

Jodie :)