By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

port, as defined by the Oxford
G fictona, is “an activity

involving physical exertion
and skill in which an individual or
team competes against another or
others for entertainment.”

The simple act of a sport. It is
either embraced by individuals,
ignored, frowned upon, taken for
granted, or loved. Every single
individual can think back toa
certain memory in their lives where
they either thrived in a sport—
encouraging them to proceed in
activities of their desire—or a
certain memory where they may
have failed miserably—getting a
ball thrown into their face with the
rest of the P.E. class laughing in
hysterics. I know I have had many
on occasion of both good memories
and embarrassing ones, but that in
essence is the beauty of sport.

It is raw, beautiful, and pure.

There is nothing quite like it.

In my 19 years of living
on Earth I have experienced to
different degrees in my sporting

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career: tennis, soccer, hockey,
basketball, and volleyball. Yes, I
have had my fair share of organized

the psychological sense. There have
been days, and weeks, heck maybe
even months on end where the only

“| have come to the conclusion that if you don’t move, you won't move...
There have been days, and weeks, heck maybe even months on end where
the only form of exercise that | would get on a regular basis was walking the
15 minutes to and from school each day.”

team sports over the years and
since graduating from high school
in 2010, I was forced to retire
unofficially from my unprofessional
career of sporting due to the
demanding hours of the theatre
program here at Douglas College.
Iam not exactly happy about this
decision, but it was one that had to
be made.

Since making this decision
two years ago, I have learned and
become aware of certain things that
have affected me on a day-to-day
basis because of this matter. One
is that I have become increasingly
lazier. I have come to the conclusion
that if you don’t move, you won't
move. And this statement can be
taken in both the literal sense and

form of exercise that I would get
ona regular basis was walking the
15 minutes to and from school each
day. Pretty disgusting, I know.

But when you're a full-time
student and find yourself being
absolutely exhausted by the time
you get home, the last thing you
want to do is go for a run or hit up
the weights at the gym. It’s just not
going to happen. The most practical
case is to grab a beer, have some
dinner, and watch the old tube until
you fall asleep and then when you
wake up the next day, you rinse and
repeat.

The second conclusion that I’ve
come to terms with is that if you
move once, you'll move twice. That
odd time when you actually do

 

make it to the gym on that one day
where you scrape and gather the
motivation from what seems to be
nowhere is the key to success. That
incredible feeling that follows a
workout is dangerously addictive,
and it’s really hard not to have a
second workout after the first. And
this is exactly where I stand; getting
into those patterns of a regular
schedule of physical workouts—
only to be threatened with daily life
events and work that intervene and
eventually take over.

A sport is a beautiful thing.
It provides the physical exertion
that one desires along with the
entertainment values for both the
participants and the observers. It
has taught me teamwork, given me
self-confidence, and has raised my
awareness of those around me. It is
in my past. And until I am reunited
with sport, I will envy those of
who are currently in one. If you are
playing a sport, I encourage you
to stay with it as long as you can...
because once you leave, it’s hard to
go back.