Durham Chronicle 18-19 Issue 04

26 The Chronicle March 19 - April 15, 2019 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Sports
DC, UOIT grad gets dream Olympic job
Kathryn Fraser
The Chronicle
After spending years as an elite
softball player and coach, a Durham
College and UOIT grad is
now using her knowledge to support
other athletes.
Oshawa native Shannon Galea,
30, joined the Canadian Olympic
Committee (COC) as a Game Plan
specialist last September.
“It’s a dream come true, it really
is,” Galea said.
Game Plan is a program created
in collaboration with the COC, the
Canadian Paralympic Committee
(CPC) and the Sport Canada and
Canadian Olympic and Paralympic
Sport Institute Network (COP-
SIN).
Game Plan helps both current
and retired athletes find other
passions and transform them into
well-rounded individuals.
“It’s a very interesting program,
it’s one of the only programs in
Canada and it really aligns our
sport system,” she said.
Game Plan offers support
through five areas: medical resources,
skill development, education,
networking possibilities and career
opportunities.
Game Plan advisors are at the
forefront, working with athletes
and supporting players through
the five areas. The advisors are
psychologists, life coaches, career
counsellors, mental performance
coaches and other wellness leaders.
Galea’s role, as a specialist, is
to oversee the work of the advisors,
provide resources and develop programs.
Galea earned her degree in G
eography and Earth Sciences
at McMaster University before
graduating from UOIT in 2011
with a Bachelor of Education. Following
that, Galea taught health
and physical education with the
Durham District School Board
(DDSB) before continuing to teach
internationally.
“Teaching is the foundation for
everything that I do, it’s full circle,”
she said. “It’s been the foundation
for what I create and what
I change.”
During her tenure at UOIT,
she participated heavily in campus
athletics. Galea was a member
of the Ridgebacks’ rowing and
squash teams and helped create the
women’s flag football extramural
league, a joint league between
UOIT and DC.
Galea also graduated from DC’s
Sport Business Management Program
in 2012, then completed her
master’s degree in Olympic Studies
and Policy at the German Sport
University Cologne.
Photo supplied
Shannon Galea says she tries to implement Canadian ideals and values into her international
work.
As a result of her connections,
passion and education, Galea
travelled to more than 40 countries.
She lived in Holland, Italy,
Belgium, Malta, New Zealand
and Australia and played in their
respective International Softball
Federations.
“With the coaching opportunities,
I’ve been able to develop
softball in my second nation -- I’m
actually a dual citizen in Malta,”
Galea said. “I was able to develop
softball in my country which allowed
for NCAA coaches to come
over and create better opportunities
for sport for young women.”
Galea said her international
travels have made her think more
critically about Canada and her
involvement at the COC.
“I think about the bigger picture
in a different way,” she said. “It’s
really helped me grow into, ‘How
can I bring this back to Canada?
What can I do to bring my Canadian
idealism and values [to other
countries?] How can we unite Canada?
What can we do to make a
more active Canada?’ That’s where
my motivations come from.”
Initiatives, programs and projects
are always being developed
and created to help athletes across
Canada, Galea said.
“Right now, we are working on a
mental health strategy for our athletes,”
she said. “We have a partnership
with Morneau Sheppell (a
human resources company) and it’s
a transition program for athletes
who are looking to understand
themselves outside of sport. [It
will help athletes] re-identify and
understand the changes they’re going
to go through after competing
at a high level for many years.”
When she reflects on her own
athletic success, Galea misses the
“physical tenacity and challenge”
of softball. But she also misses
coaching and teaching.
“The impact you can have on a
child and a young elite athlete, you
can’t describe it,” she said. “I spent
seven years travelling internationally,
working with children in every
international federation I’ve played
in. I wanted to be a role model for
the young athletes that I coached
and for the people that I love.”
Former CFL player inspires Durham College students
Jackie Graves
The Chronicle
Durham College (DC) students
were tossing hacky sacks and talking
education with a sporting backdrop
recently.
Former CFL player turned university
graduate, Ryan Hinds, was
invited to DC speak to students
about the lessons he learned in
sports and how he applied them to
his subsequent education.
Hinds was drafted by the Hamilton
Tiger Cats in 2009 and played
there until 2013 before signing with
the Edmonton Eskimos. He played
in Edmonton from 2013-2015.
He was a free agent in 2016 and
then agreed to a contract with the
Ottawa Redblacks, before abruptly
retiring to pursue health-related
studies.
The theme of his talk was to
“bridge the gap between sports and
academia,” according to Fitness
and Health Promotion professor
Lorne Opler.
Born in Guyana, South America,
Hinds, 32, is the youngest of four
children. While he says his family
“didn’t have much,” he loved his
country and moving to Canada in
the mid-1990s when he was “eight
or nine” was challenging.
“When I look back on my transition,
some had it better, some had
it worse,” says Hinds.
He says in grade school, he spoke
perfect English - but his accent
made it difficult for other students
to understand him.
“The struggles of people not
knowing what you’re saying, oh my
gosh, it’s so frustrating,” he says.
It wasn’t until high school when
Hinds realized he wanted to work
in health care in order to help
people.
“I always wanted to be involved
in health care, so, I always knew
that was going to happen at some
point,” he says. “I just didn’t necessarily
know when that was going
to be.”
Hinds says it’s important students
have access to knowledge, as
a lack of it can become a barrier
for those who aren’t aware of their
options.
“The frustrating thing is you
don’t know what you don’t know,”
says Hinds. “You could be missing
opportunities others aren’t.”
After his retirement from the
CFL, Hinds decided to continue
his education. He earned a master’s
degree in Health Administration
from the University of Toronto.
“(Football) camp really makes
you realize or think about whether
you really love it enough to do it
or not. And I was at a point where
I had decided against it,” he says.
“It was time to do something different.”
Hinds engaged students by asking
questions, such as where they
Photograph by Jasper Myers
Former CFL player, Ryan Hinds, speaks to DC students about
how sports and education contain valuable life skills.
were from, what it was like to transition
from another country and
their personal struggles.
As part of his presentation, Ryan
took four volunteers to the front
of the classroom. He made them
stand in front of a garbage bin and
throw hacky sacks into it.
Hinds increased the difficulty in
various ways. He put a chair over
the bin; told students to choose a
“challenging but successful” place
to shoot from; and also asked a
friend of theirs to choose where
they should shoot from.
“Failure can be a deterrent to
trying again,” says Hinds. “What
sports teaches you is to get up and
try again.”
The purpose of the exercise was
to emphasize how team sports can
teach valuable skills such as empathy,
humility, teamwork, and
discipline.
Today, Hinds leads the development
of a bridging program in
partnership with the University
of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of
Public Health (DLSPH).
The program aims to provide
educational opportunities for marginalized
groups, including foreign
or financially-challenged students.
He says he hopes student can
take away a sense of their “best
selves” from his presentation.
“Understand who you are over
what you do,” he says. “Students
should really think about what they
want to accomplish in life and the
impact (they) want to make before
they land on what kind of job they
want to have.”