Personal With Jamie
/Every year countless high school students sign up for the many athletic extra-curricular activities available to them. These sports usually involve; basketball, football, soccer, rugby, and sometimes even badminton. I was one of the few students at St. Mary High School who participated in all of these sports. As I look back at what I did in high school, I wonder if maybe I would have been better off if I didn’t play sports. I could have done better in school without those distractions. Maybe picked up music a bit sooner in life. But then again, I did make some of my best friends in sports, and matured as a person. Considering all that I did in high school that involved sports, and where I am now, I think I would have been better off, if I didn’t participate in high school athletics.
“High school sports are, safe, fun, and build school spirit.” Mr. Healy the principle of my high school said that bit every year, usually on the first day when all the classes were assembled in the gymnasium. I didn’t matter how safe the coaches and referees tried to be, someone always gets hurt. That’s just the nature of contact sports, and I don’t think any sport involves more contact than rugby.
Rugby was the one sport, that game after game, the class rooms would be empty and the students were allowed to come watch the St. Mary Crusaders rugby team play. The teachers always thought it was that somehow for that one sport all the students were overcome by school spirit. I knew better. They came out to watch other school rip us apart, and usually the crowd got what they wanted. It was almost comical to listen to the crowd cringe in unison when someone gets hit so hard there mouth guard flies twenty yards. Looking back now, I consider playing rugby possibly the most useless thing that I did my entire high school career. I didn’t gain anything form it, no trophy’s, we never even made the playoffs. The only thing I ever got from playing rugby was; two broken ribs, a broken nose, and a concussion.
Injuries happen in any sport; I once sprained my ankle playing badminton. It’s not easy to look tough when your coach has to help you off the badminton court in front of your school. Football was always the worst though. Every team had what we would call the “Gimp Squad,” consisting mostly of bruised players who require crutches to walk effectively. Coincidentally, football was also my favorite sport.
When I was in the ninth grade, the St. Mary Crusaders, had just gotten a football team, and I was part of it. For a while I was proud to be a part of the first team in school history, until our first game. The score was Rams 52, Crusaders 7. I didn’t get on the field very much in that game. I was a six foot tall receiver that weighed less than my IQ. By the time I was in grade eleven though, I was captain of the football team, And in grade twelve, we actually went to the playoffs. Going to the playoffs was a huge deal for my team. St. Mary had earned a reputation for having the worst sports teams in our division. If anything, that year would be the only thing that made practicing in the rain, and staying up late to do homework worth it.
My high school maintained that every student needed to have a sixty percent average to play sports. When I graduated high school, my average for the full four years was sixty-eight percent. I do think that if I had not participated in any sports, and instead focused on my studies I could have done much better. I also could have gained better study habits that would even benefit me now that I am in a college setting.
When I was in high school, if I didn’t participate in athletics, I would have not had any of the serious injuries that still bother me now, such as; headaches from multiple concussions, and joint issues in both my shoulder and knee. I also would have had the opportunity to do much better in school which would help me as I continue in college now. With all these things in mind, I would have to say that I would have been much better off if I did not participate in athletics, when I was in high school.
My name is Jamie Sturgeon, and I am one of the founding members of Chasing Amber consisting of members; Cameron Roderick, Brandon Roderick, Austin Stevenson, Dustyn Locke. I am in the second year of the Professional Writing program at Algonquin College. I only have about 4 years of experience under my belt but with my talented band- mates, we think we've created a group that has the potential to break into the music industry. My blog will document Chasing Amber's early days.
