Thursday, February 17, 2011

Priorities

In my previous blog, I talked about belonging to the specific community of the Mount Royal Cougars Mens Hockey team, and in a larger part, Mount Royal University athletics.  In that previous blog I talked about some goals, objectives and possible outcomes.  I think that those can relate very well to priorities.  A priority can be defined as "the state or quality of being earlier in time, or occurrence." It can also mean "the right to precede others in order, rank or privilege." Priorities can often be thought of as the things you need to get done in the immediate future, in order of greatest importance, to least importance.  However, when relating this to my community, the hockey team I tend to think of it as goals we need to achieve in the near future in order to be successful.  




Talking with fellow members of my community and it is clear exactly what our communities main priority is right now.  I asked a handful of members, however if I had asked every single one, the answer would all be the same.  Our priority right now is to keep improving day in and day out as a group and stay focussed on the task at hand. That task being the playoffs.  We finished second overall in the league and earned ourselves a bye for the first round of playoffs, right into the league semi-finals.  This weekend will be a much needed rest time from game action for us.  We will practice and continue to adjust our systems and continue our preparation for our peak in the playoffs.  





All players, coaches and those involved with our community are all committed to excellence, and know that a legitimate chance at a championship doesn't come around just everyday.  That's why we are all on the same page and committed to battle through whatever it takes to reach that goal.  Every one of us is driven by a certain set of values that have been pushed in our minds for the entire year.  The main values I would say that drive us as a community are hard work, motivation, dedication and most importantly passion.  I think that our passion for this priority is unmatched.  Every single one of us loves coming to the rink every day and looking to improve and take that next step in order to do what we need to do.  We love being around each other and again, would and will do anything it takes for the guy beside us.  At this point in the season, winning isn't an option, its a must, and our only priority in sight.  

Thursday, February 3, 2011

My Community Group-Mount Royal Cougars Mens Hockey Team

The Community that I currently belong to that I believe has the biggest impact on my life right now, is the Cougars Mens Hockey team here at Mount Royal University.  This is a community of 26 players, 3 coaches, a trainer and an equipment manager.  All in all, with our daily operations our community then consists of 31 people.  If I wanted to broaden the community I could put our team under one heading under the community of Mount Royal University Athletic Department, but for the majority of this blog I will keep it specifically to our hockey team.  For a couple examples however, I will stretch it to the entire department.


Everything I do in a day to day basis revolves around hockey.  Whether its scheduling my classes around practice and game times, working out in the gym, doing spin classes or just knowing when I need to get to bed early and knowing when I have the opportunity to stay up late and have some fun, it's all based around hockey.  Everyday from 3:30-5:00 pm we have practice.  In order to be an efficient and winning team, we must show up daily with a fresh mind, willing to work hard and block out any other distractions.  Sometimes it can be tough with projects, midterms and other school activities to block it out, but in order to perform it's necessary.


Talking with teammates and coaches and it is clear in everyones mind what our goals and successes are.  To date on the season we are in second place, three points out of first place which is a good accomplishment.  Having a successful season so far is something to be proud of, but something we work every single day to improve upon.  Our goal for the season is to win a championship in our league, the ACAC, and it is a completely attainable goal.  If we were an average team we would not set such a goal, but we know we have everything it takes to win, so anything short of that and we will be disappointed.  We are also in the top 3 teams in the league in every major statistical category and that is another one of our successes and something we are proud of, and are hoping to continue to improve upon.


As far as opportunities are concerned I think there is one huge one that our team and school is looking to achieve.  Mount Royal, as we all know, has recently become a University and has now applied to be apart of the CIS league as far as athletics are concerned.  You must be a University to compete in this league and it is something that will hopefully happen for our school within the next 1-4 years.  If/When this happens, it will be an exciting day for us as players, coaches, and a community as a whole.  In regards to facilities, our team has been lucky enough to have just been built a new dressing room at the Flames Community Arenas, just 5 minutes from school.  Our old room was far from special and just three weeks ago we moved into the new dressing room and everyone involved could not be more ecstatic about it.  We are also blessed to have a fantastic recreation facility at our school to work out at, in which we also have a locker room there for our gym clothes, school stuff, etc.

In conclusion, it takes a lot of people to build such a great program that I am lucky enough to be a part of here at Mount Royal.  From the head athletic director of the school, to our coach of our hockey team and to all the supporting cast, everyone has done a fantastic job about something they are all obviously passionate about and giving the Cougar athletes something to be proud of.   We have an amazing group of 26 players, with a ton of experience and leadership.  These two qualities are ones I believe to be vital to the success of us as a team, and a community.  With the leaders we have, we have managed to become 26 very good friends, which is a lot different then just being 26 guys who play hockey together.  We go on road trips together, school together, hang out as a team on many occasions and these are the types of things that I believe make us such a successful team, or community.  If we weren't close OFF the ice, there is no way we would have the success we have ON the ice.  We all play for the guy  next to us and are committed to making our program and building our community to be the best we can be !

When it comes down to it, we strive for excellence in every aspect of our lives.  That is our goal for our team. Be the best we can be on the ice, off the ice, and in the classroom and this will  help us be a better team, and better individuals in the long run.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Invictus Review

When thinking about developing a community, the first thing that comes to mind may be developing the relationships and building a community within an organization, or within a team in a sport.  You tend to think of bringing together a somewhat smaller, selected group of people.  However, in the movie Invictus, with the help of Nelson Mandela and the significant role of the sport of rugby, the previously separated and troubled country of South Africa is united together as one.  South Africa is a huge country with a massive population mixed of whites and blacks who are often separated in schools, work and in the community.  The whites were generally the successful people with all of the money and the blacks would be struggling to get by or be able to provide for one another and their families.  Once Nelson Mandela was released from prison he began trying to unite his nation.  He targeted the countries national rugby team as a vehicle to help move society to become one.  The rugby team had been struggling quite badly until Mandela got a hold of the teams captain and told him of his ideas and his passions, and how much it would mean to an entire nation if they could pull it together and win the upcoming World Cup of rugby.  In the end the South African team ended up defying all odds and pulling out the victory at the World Cup.  This had a huge impact on the country and could not have pleased Mandela more.  He had memorized all the players names and personally come to wish them good luck.  He wore a jersey with the captains number, number 6, on it as well as a team hat to the game.  When the leader of a community, or in this case, president of a country, believes in one thing, it will tend to spark one follower at a time and leading to great things.






In this movie Sport and Recreation were the catalysts for change and development in a nation struggling for unity.  The president of the entire country sparked the team and the nation.  In another sense, it was the captain, or leader of the rugby team who got his team going.  He would take the players out for early morning runs to help bring the team together as one.  This is why I compare the two as being similar leaders and figure heads in the eyes of the country and in the eyes of the players on the team.  At one point in the movie, Mandela said, "If I can't change when circumstances demand it, then how can I expect others to.  When I heard this quote in the movie it really stood out to me in the sense that if the leader of the community, or nation in this example, can't change for the best and be the best he/she can possible be and do all the things that he/she needs to do in order for the rest of the community/nation to follow, then how can he expect other to.  If he is not leading by example how can he expect anyone to believe in him.  He also said, "This is a country hungry for greatness."  I look at this in two ways, one in a sense of greatness in sport, they could really use a win at the World Cup.   The second way I see it is, is that with all the downfalls of this nation, South Africa could really use something to pull it together.  The last quote that really stood out to me while watching was what Mandela said to one of his helper women.  It was, "Still think I'm wasting my time with this rugby thing?"  He said this as he looked out the window and saw all of his security playing around with a rugby ball and experimenting with throwing it around while having big smiles on there face and a lot of fun.  To me that is a sure sign of development.  At one other point in the movie, the professional rugby team visited a small black community to play rugby with them and show them the ways of passing and various other skills.  The kids were all coming together and having a blast at the same time.  Doing this activity in a place with many children who potentially have a lack of opportunity in life, was an outstanding gesture by the rugby team which surely relates directly to community development.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

           In the article "Social functions of high school athletics in the United States: a historical and comparative analysis" the main subject the author compares is the differences in the athletic systems in the United States and the Netherlands.  In the USA the majority of competitive athletics and recreation for people under the age of 18, takes place in the school system, such as high schools, prep schools, and even junior high school.  In contrast, in the Netherlands the high majority of competitive sports take place in private clubs and programs.  As far as education and athletics go in the Netherlands, it is mainly kept recreational.  For example the physical education that takes place in the Netherlands in the school system, is strictly recreational.  They play games and interact with each other on a fairly non competitive basis.  In the states however, it is a completely different story.  This article focus's on high school sports, more specifically football, in Texas.  These schools recruit student athletes to come and play for their high school and are forced to remain in school in order to play sports.  The football players on the team at these high schools are considered the popular kids, while holding the highest reputation.  The athletes are forced to keep their marks up in school or no matter how valuable they are to the team, they will be kept out of action.  This system seems to be a very effective one as it keeps kids out of violence and crime and in school until graduation day, and in many cases, onto a post secondary education to play football at a major university.  It also keeps the young athletes in premier health and fitness.  Compared to the Netherlands, the funding and money involved in athletics in the USA is substantially higher.  The Netherlands sticks to the school system whereas the high schools in the States provides vast funding for many things to take place for these sports.  

             Community Development has been defined in a few different ways.  One idea is that it is a group of individuals coming together to reach a common goal.  It also says that it involves people building relationships trying to accomplish something.  It takes all kinds of different people to create a successful community and in this article many examples relate exactly to these ideas.  Every Friday night, these teams have a pep rally with cheerleaders and various inspirational speeches with thousands of people there in order to create school spirit and a unique atmosphere to kick start the game.  Students, teachers, and even principals get together all with one common goal and one thing to do for the night, cheer for their team.  All sorts of people, all with different beliefs, all come together to defend the pride and colours of their team.  Usually there is a mascot and thousands of people equipped with jerseys and face paint to cheer.  This relates exactly to community development as people of all different backgrounds, religions, races, values, interests and beliefs, all coming together as one to enjoy the night and hope for a win.  The teams will usually play in Stadiums holding upwards of 20,000 people and on most Fridays nights, there isn't an empty seat.


Below are a couple of  videos showing some high school students preparing for a pep rally before their teams football game.  To me these examples clearly display examples of community development as large groups of people are coming together as one.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o94cOuDU_zM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwjv8dRASMk






Reference:


Stokvis, R. (2009). Social functions of high school athletics in the united states: a historical and comparative analysis. Sport in Society , 12(9), Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2058/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=112&sid=cf0c5b6f-fba4-4cf6-a69e-50a23a278c09%40sessionmgr114&vid=6