football

A long post for a long week

Look at me, posting on a Sunday like I intended to!

I had another one of those weeks where it felt like a month passed in 4 days. And I really don’t think that feeling is going to go away any time soon. The amount of things I’m fitting in right now qualifies me for the hypothetical over-scheduling olympics. Hypothetical only because they won’t ever happen due to scheduling conflicts.

I believe I mentioned the opportunity I received early last week to work alongside three profs and a few other students teaching and assisting in an older adults exercise class and research project on campus this year.  I feel pretty lucky to have been in the right place at the right time with this one, as it will be giving me loads of learning experience (and connections) in exercise prescription and working with a different age group. To go along side this, the AT that works at the gym I also work at has delegated me his Thursday night assistant. Literally 10-minutes after walking in the door for my shift Thursday he had me stretching out a client for him. He taught me a few new stretches that I hadn’t learnt yet and informed me that I would be learning many more over the next week or so as he has a large client list for Thursday nights and needs an extra set of hands doing things like stretching, supervising exercise, and whatever else he deems me able to do. And my hands need the experience. So, there we go. I have a nice contrast going right now, between working with high school athletes, seniors, and now also the in-between aged clients.

To add to this list, I also accepted a volunteer position with Horse Connection . This organization is based around providing inner city/high risk youth with behavioural and now also physical disorders or disabilities a chance to work around horses and learn new skills in a structured and challenging environment.  They combine the benefits of both sport and working with animals to help change lives. How awesome is that? I’ve been a fan of this program for a while, knowing one of the co-founders, and was so happy when she asked if I would be interested in getting involved. My position right now will range from exercising the lesson horses, to basic instructing/supervising the kids around the horses, and handling/leading horses during lessons. It seems like the kind of position that can lead to more opportunities down the road, especially with my educational background.

Am I doing well on the “not overscheduling” goal I listed last post? Ehhhh… not really… Basically gained another 3 jobs, to add to my current part-time job, as well as a full course load- this week alone. Oh and lets not forget football. Here’s hoping the universe is done offering me schedule fillers, because we all know I have a serious problem with saying no to things. But, I am doing better with my nutrition goals, and I did open a text book yesterday and read a few pages. Win some you lose some, I guess.

What else can I tell you?

Friday was our first season game in Brandon, and my first ever football game. Like I’ve mentioned before, it’s been a steep learning curve and a new perspective for me. As an athlete myself I’m not unfamiliar with the practice/game/team-sport atmosphere- but it is very different point of view as an AT student. As much as you are a part of the team, the AT is responsible for all things regarding player safety and because of this has to stay very objective in every situation. As much as you are involved, you are the one responsible for taking a step back and often making important decisions when it comes to an athletes’ well being.

We travelled to Brandon (thankfully on a coach bus, not a school bus like my high school athlete days). I had no idea what to expect going into the game, as I’ve only ever been to one football game in my life as a spectator- and never as a member of the team. True to my theme, Iearned fast on the go. On the bus my supervisor gave me the job of talking to all the athletes to find out what they needed, wanted, or felt they needed taped before the game. Her words upon handing me the pen and paper were “are you okay doing this?” and my response was “I’m going to be”. This basically sums up our working relationship. She hands me something out of my comfort zone, and I figure out how to handle it in a hurry. It’s comforting to know that she wouldn’t ever give me something out of my depth, but it doesn’t change the terrifying leap I end up taking out of my comfort zone. Great for learning.

So after roaming through a moving bus filled with football players, and arriving in Brandon, I set out on taping ankles and other pre-game tasks. Once the players were ready to go, we headed out on field and I was handed another unfamiliar task. Filling out the emergency action plan for the game location. This I was guided through, and it really isn’t too hard- just involves talking to the other teams trainer, finding out their qualifications (if any), and knowing the address and ambulance entrance directions in case of an emergency. Once that was done, and the game had started, I did a lot of observing. Thankfully there were no major injuries- the head trainer only had to go on field once for a bad case of bruised ribs. I watched a few assessments (bruised ribs, shoulder subluxation, wrist injury), and dealt with a few minor cuts and wardrobe malfunctions. Then the game was over, players showered, and we were back on the bus home. And I started breathing again.

Saturday brought a nice relaxing (what?!) day spent hacking with Lauren at the barn (got to hop on the by far biggest horse in the barn, Shakka), and then lounging around running errands the rest of the day. Sunday brought my first ever 10k run in the Winnipeg 10&10 for Winnipeg Harvest. When I say my first ever 10k, I mean it. I haven’t ever trained over 10k before. How’s that for spontaneous. I’m very proud to say I managed to finish in 1:01 hrs, a very respectable time for my circumstances/irresponsibility and ran the ENTIRE thing. 1184782_10151904625733086_220155402_n

That was week 1 of my the last 25% of my University degree. It is still so weird for me to be a third year. There are many moments when I feel like the jaded student that I am, but equally as many moments where I feel like I’m still a newbie. I guess that’s because this is the first year where all my classes are specific to my career choice, and much more challenging. Somedays it’s easy to imagine working in the real world, because I have already gained some experience actually doing it- and will gain much more by the time I’m done this year (or this semester even). All the things I’ve been planning for my future are actually starting to happen. Old goals and new goals are becoming even more clear. It seems like such a short time ago I was still unsure about where I was going or who I wanted to be, and yet I’m finding myself becoming more experienced in things I used to only dream about more and more each day.. especially when I fill the days up like I do. Time is flying, even when it feels like it’s dragging.

To end off, I’ll leave you with some pictures of the meals I’ve made to get me back on track with some good eating to keep me going and over scheduling (haha, I wish I was kidding), and some other random snapshots from the week.

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Shakka! Aka, elephant.

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Tried out Modern Taco Company, SO GOOD (and gluten free!).

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My creation- sweet potato and zucchini “pasta” cooked with basil, rosemary, onions and garlic- topped with farmer sausage and chickpeas.

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First in-class taping since last year. My football practicing is paying off!

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First day of school selfie. This is the last time I will dress this nicely for class until next September, it had to be documented.

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Blueberry Chai Muffins (grain free, dairy free, sugar free- but so delicious), recipe from http://www.paleomg.com!

Of goals and other fluffy things

So I’m officially in my third year of University. Does that trip anybody else out, or just me? On the outside I look like a put together jaded 3rd year student, scoffing at first years and way over waiting in lines for anything. On the inside I’m still trying to figure out how I’m almost finished my Bachelor’s degree, and what the real world is. Things are getting real. Fast.

Besides the fact that it feels like my summer was a week long (oh wait, it was), it feels nice to be back on campus. It’s a very familiar place to be, and seeing all the familiar faces of the faculty makes it even better. I am getting the feeling, however, that this year is going to be more focused on dealing with the unfamiliars and the new rather than the comfort of a classroom or lab. Third year is the year legendary for AT students. It’s make it or break it time.

It’s going to take some effort to get my brain back into full school mode. It’s still thinking concentration is optional. Which is less than ideal. I do have to give it some credit, though, as it’s handled many new experiences the past few weeks with regards to football and life in general- and for the most part taken them in stride. During said experience, anyway. My ability to deal with a laceration to the thigh of a player, or tape an ankle, or assess a new injury has grown so much over the past couple weeks. In the moment not much can phase me. I’m hoping that eventually the time it takes me to resume a normal thought process after practices comes down- as right now I’m pretty much a zombie for the remainder of the day. My big happy dance moment for today’s practice was absolutely nailing my ankle inversion tape job. I’ve been practicing it everyday as I tape a couple of the players on a regular basis- but today after a weekend off taping all together, the stars aligned and nothing could get in the way of my heel-locks. Heck yes!

We have our first game this Friday, and while I’m excited for yet another first experience in the AT world, that excitement also comes with an overwhelming sense of nervousness. Again, mostly because it’s new and a big first in my career. I’m so lucky to have a great AT supervising and teaching me, as well as a great Faculty behind me. Here’s hoping I’m able to keep my cool during and after Friday’s game!

I’ve been in the process of setting a few goals for myself for this school year, most of them are focused around my basic survival- some are just for fun.

1) Keep my nutrition on track. 

This is going to be an interesting one, mostly because it really will require me to be a big girl about buying groceries, planning meals, and cooking. Like, really cooking. Why is this important for my survival? Other than the basic human need to eat, I will function so much better if I put a little extra effort into eating the right things for what my body needs. I’ve learned the hard way that nothing goes well for me if I try and live off KD. The fact that I have scheduled Wednesday evenings to try new recipes with my bestie is going to help, I think. There won’t be any KD cooked on those nights, I can guarantee that.

2) Not over schedule my already over scheduled schedule. 

Say that one 5 times fast.

But seriously. Within this week, I’ve already said yes to one, potentially two (equally awesome) opportunities that while giving me great experience and connections have completely filled up my time table. One is still on the table, but the one I’ve said yes to came up sporadically, but was impossible to say no to (in this situation I need to really think about how nothing is impossible). Seriously though, I couldn’t really turn up working with three prominent profs, and researchers, teaching and assisting in their older adults exercise class… could I? Not only am I gaining clinical exercise prescription experience, but I’m getting to hang out with three talented and influential professors. The other opportunity would be volunteering with a local riding program, assisting with inner city and troubled youth while they learn how to care and ride horses. I’m meeting with the coordinator tomorrow to talk out some details before I make my decision on that one. Again, it’s going to be hard to say no to an opportunity like that!

3) Follow the work out program I designed

This one is just for fun. You may remember the case study I did this spring, focusing on a exercise program for the elite equestrian athlete. It’s based around an transition (off-season), pre-season, and competitive phase program, and loosely follows the school year (seeing as I designed it loosely based off my own schedule). I got an A on that case study, and I have a bad habit of training too hard in the off-season and burning out, or not training enough and having old injuries reappear (where I’m at currently). I figure seeing as I already put the effort into designing a progressive program, why not see how functional it actually is by following my own advice?

4) Use the text-books I spent a lot of money on. 

Students are notorious for this. I’m saying that because I’m in denial about the fact that I may be the only one who does this. Buying textbooks, having all the intention of studying from them and doing extra reading.. and then they never get opened. I honestly plan on not doing that this year- mostly because I think I wouldn’t get very far in many of my courses if I didn’t. Also because I am legitimately interested in all the topics they cover. It’s going to happen. Seriously, it is.

5) Ask questions

I tend to be the quietest person in class- and then end up emailing the prof asking a bunch of questions I could just have easily asked in person in class. Every year I seem to get more and more confident when it comes to speaking out in class- so maybe this year I’ll finally put on my big girl pants and not be afraid to engage in discussions as much. It will probably help that one of the profs I have for quite a few classes knows me well enough to call me out if I’m avoiding eye contact. Or looking confused. She also knows that I’ve had enough injuries of my own to have valid first had experience, which is nice when in classes like taping or assessment. Long story short, I think I’ll be learning to talk more this year.

 

That’s a very short list of some of the goals I have for myself, starting now. One of the biggest goals for me is to not burn out as hard as I did last year. That goal will be achieved by making an honest effort at the goals listed above, and some not listed. This year is going to be a challenge, mentally and physically. Day one was all that and more, and it was only day one. I never knew I could love something so much, but also just want to curl up in a dark place and hide/nap from the real world too. I’m interested to see how this plays out, and how I go about achieving the goals I have and am still in the process of setting. I always make them happen one way or another.

Right? Right.

It was hot, then it got hotter

Another season has come to an end in the hunter jumper world. And I have absolutely no complaints about anything that happened this season. It was for sure another up and down kind of summer for me, but the consistency I saw in my rides in the shows I was able to go to is truly encouraging- and the way my rides when this weekend at Fall Harvest sums up, as this show always seems to, how much I’ve progressed.

Our warm-ups Friday went by with ease. We warmed up in the hunter ring first, and were probably done in about 20 minutes- everything went so smoothly! C and I were wondering how it was going to go, as the night before during my lesson Willard seemed to have taken the equivalent of 50 caffeine shots. It was a little bit crazy. But, I guess either the heat took some of that out of him Friday, or he actually just chilled out a bit- because he actually acknowledged the human on his back this time. After jumping around the hunter ring, we headed over to the Jumper ring.. Our first jumper school at Bird’s Hill (or anywhere.. usually there either isn’t a jumper schooling or I miss it..). It was pretty intimidating, even with Lauren and Megg there with me. Lauren is an old pro at jumper schools, and Megg was there for the first time on her new horse. My horse surprised me with how well he handled everything. I expected him to be good for the jumps, but wasn’t sure how he would handle the natural obstacles such as the ditch and the bank/table top jumps. The ditch took a couple tries to get him to gallop down and jump out with confidence, but not as long as I thought- and the bank, well, he just loved that! Loved it so much that when we did the table top ride (jump up, three strides, jump down), he decided that it was so much fun he need to buck his way across- hop down- and buck away. Hokay pony. That evening Megg and I went out for a lovely supper. One of my favourite parts of shows is getting to spend time with the amazing friends I’ve made through training with M&C.

Saturday came bright and early with Jumpers beginning first thing. Will and I were competing in the .85m divisions. We went into the ring with the mentality of “ride like it’s a lesson”, and had no major issues. Will loves jumpers. Saturday we placed 4th in our .85 Junior Ami division, with a rail and a time fault. Later that day we moved over to the hunter ring for our Child/Ami Non-Pro Hunter division. We put in some good rounds and ended up top 5 in both over fences and the under saddle. Quite respectable for the competition there, and the fact we’d just come from Jumper land! C was happy, I was happy, and that’s what mattered. It was a great feeling to get out of the heat that night, I can say that much!

Our Sunday jumper rounds were even better then the previous days. In our Open .85, Willard decided to have a good long look at jump 6- so long that he forgot to jump it the first time. This provided us with a great set up for our JA round right after, as it was over the same course. That round was perfect, except for a lazy rail early in the course. Click here to watch it. I decided to drop our Open Low Hunter that day, because it was so hot (+40 degrees, crazy humid, and zero wind), and I could feel my horse’s energy (and mine) starting to dwindle. I wanted to save something for the $500 Hunter Derby later on that day. It was so hot my sunglasses would fog up while I was wearing them. I would be able to cross competing in a sauna off my bucket list, if it had been on there in the first place.

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So, finally came time for the Derby to get started. As myself, a fellow McMullan teammate, and M&C were walking the course- I was informed that I had been misinformed earlier and the class was a sign up order of go (I thought it was posted order, in which case I was in 5th). Since I hadn’t signed up they had listed me as first to go, and were taking no excuses- if I wasn’t at ringside, with my horse (who was still in the barn, untacked) in 7 mintues then I would be disqualified. I am blessed with amazing teammates on my side. Megg and Lauren sprinted ahead of me to the barn and by the time I had also completed the ~1000m sprint (thank god I’ve been doing interval training this year) my horse was ready to go. I had time to just barely take a couple warm up jumps and get to the ring, where M&C instructed me to gallop into the gate (not usually hunter style) and gallop straight to the first jump, which was about 50m inside the gate. So, that’s what we did. The video unfortunately missed the first couple jumps- but the rest was caught- it’s definitely worth a watch!

No time for any second thoughts, we had one of the best rounds I’ve ever ridden. My horse left it all out there for me, and I could not have asked him for anything more. As we came over the last combination, a two stride, I couldn’t contain my smile- and it was so cool to have everyone at ring side burst into cheers. We achieved a score of 88/100 that round, a personal best! After the class of 10 finished- all very competitive rounds, we ended up 4th. Another personal best for us when it comes to special, classic, or derby classes. If there is a way to end a season, that was it!

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So what else have I been doing in this heat wave? Since getting home from the show on Sunday, I’ve been spending my mornings at football practices taping ankles, thumbs, and fingers, covering blisters, abrasions, lacerations, and assessing injuries. Oh, and learning. So much learning. I’m learning quickly to trust my instincts when it comes to this stuff, and more often then not they lead me in the right direction. Classes begin next week, and I’m pretty ready to get back into things. This year is going to be one giant challenge, but I’m excited to take it on. The other thing I’ve been doing a lot of this week is writing- obviously not on here, but a lot of it stemmed from topics I have covered here. One piece was for a scholarship entry, another an article for Horse Country on the EC Hunter Classic, and one more piece as a writing contest entry- all focused around how riding has impacted me in one way or another.

Other events happening next week, my first time covering (or being at really) a football game. In Brandon of all places. From what I’ve heard game days are pretty crazy, but if there is one thing I’m good at- it’s crazy. But, right now, I’m heading into a long weekend. I had the entire afternoon to myself yesterday- which I spent going for a ride with Lauren at the barn (I’m going to miss those this winter!), then with my old friend Netflix at my dad’s. Today I had the entire day to do exactly nothing, and I’m just about to head for another ride while my horse is still this close to me. He moves home tomorrow, where I’ll only be able to hack now and then when I’m out that way and time allows. Sad face. Saturday I do my one work shift for the weekend and then more freedom until Tuesday. I have no solid plans for those days- which is a new concept for my over scheduling brain- but I’m also looking forward to have some time to just chill out before the crazy train hits my life next week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!