Phys Ed exchange gets
einternational ball rolling

er name is Reka, and
H she’s the first in a
Douglas College physical

education exchange program that hopes to
grow by leaps and bounds.

“We've really benefited from Jim
Sator’s work in Hungary,” says Phys Ed
Coordinator Gert Van Niekerk. “Because
Commerce and Business Administration
had established links, we were able to
make contact for an exchange of our
own.

Twenty-one year old Reka Ranky is
the first Hungarian University of Physical
Education student to spend a semester
here, while Douglas College student
James Mack studies in Budapest. So far,
Van Niekerk reports, Reka has fit right in,
with her high energy and basketball skills
making a real impact. He’s heard that
James is also performing well, brushing
up on some Hungarian as well as
European sports and coaching skills.

Reka, who speaks English with hardly
a trace of an accent, says she’s glad to be
at Douglas College. “Because my dad’s a
basketball coach,” she explains, “I’ve
traveled a lot. My family has lived in
places like Kuwait and England, where I
could practice my English. Here, I can
concentrate on the differences in teaching
and the way coaches are prepared for
careers in Canada.”

Reka explains that not only has her
father coached champion basketball teams
internationally, her mother was the gold
medalist in javelin at the 1968 Olympics
in Mexico. She has quite a family
tradition to live up to, but she’s doing her
best to learn all she can.

“Back home, there has traditionally
been a strong focus on individual sports
and winning medals. I’m interested in the
change towards participation. I think

there’s more interest now in team sports,
and in ‘outside’ influences like the NBA
and softball.”

In atime of rapid change for Hungary,
Reka is getting ready for the challenges to
come. She wants to work with children,
and is very interested in sport psychology,
but will see where her coaching career
will take her.

As for the exchange program, it will
continue with another Douglas College
student—Teri Walter—heading off to
Budapest from January to June, 1997.
“We're also hoping to send two faculty
members—Kathryn Duff and Zefo
Bernath—there to teach in the Master’s
Program for Israeli students run in the
summer,” Van Niekerk adds. “And by
next September, we should have more
international students—probably from
Greece—here to study with us.”

For more information on the Physical
Education Program or the exchanges, call
Gert Van Niekerk at local 5042.

 

Physical Education exchange student
Reka Ranky.

 

Nursing... Continued from page 1
Covering issues from how to cope
with medical hierarchies to cross-cultural

perspectives on patient care, the new
course will be practical as well as though-
provoking. With the key assistance of
Philosophy Instructor Doug Simak,
Hawthorne and Aneke hope to save their
students from future moral distress, lack
of confidence, and burnout.

Says Aneke, “We don’t assume this
course will answer all questions, but we
do want to encourage a paradigm shift,
one step at a time.” Adds Hawthorne,

“And we want to make sure nurses’
voices get heard.” As Douglas College
joins the collaborative nursing program
with the UVIC School of Nursing and
begins to make more medical connections
across the country, that should be good
for everyone’s health. ff