Sport has been an integral part of my educational experience at Queen’s.
It has helped me to develop discipline with my time, introduced me to a community of people with similar priorities and ambitions and instilled a feeling of belonging to something greater than just myself, my crew or my team. The skills, friendships and experiences I have had the privilege of developing through Queen’s Athletics are things I will cherish for the rest of my life.
There are times where I’ve questioned my dedication to rowing, as well as my own sanity. As the clock falls back, the thermometer drops and morning practices begin to conclude before the sun even crests the horizon, it becomes easy to wonder why I keep going. Fortunately, it never takes long to find an answer. Surrounded by some of my closest friends, together we work through the cold and the pain, striving to find more in ourselves than we did the day before. But after all the practices are done and we set out for our next competition, the support offered by the Queen’s community often gives me the greatest sense of accomplishment. Proudly wearing the Tricolour, we do our best to honour the tradition of excellence Queen’s has established.
I’ve had a unique opportunity to be involved in Queen’s Athletics as both an undergraduate and as a graduate student. In this time I’ve watched as the community of sport here has evolved into a more cohesive and seemingly more competitive group.
The last few years have seen a nearly constant stream of changes. The Golden Gaels have morphed into the Gaels with a modernized identity and a consistent look for all our teams, a formal review of varsity athletics was introduced to better articulate what success means and to establish expectations we can strive for and, probably most significantly, we’ve moved into a new facility that’s becoming the envy of our competitors. The pace of change has been hard to keep up with at times, but this year’s string of successes is definitely evidence that we are moving in the right direction.
Over the past few months we’ve had a number of recruits visit and the prospective students have noticed all these positive changes. They have commented on our new facilities, on the commitment to excellence evidenced by the expanse of banners across the main gym and on the visible presence of the varsity athletes around campus adorned in the new “Q.” It’s clear they can expect a great experience at Queen’s; an opportunity to test themselves in one of the top academic and athletic institutions in Canada.
It’s been a great source of pride to compete for Queen’s. I’m looking forward to seeing what further successes the future holds for the Gaels.
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