The Eyeopener: Vol 57, Issue 12

Met MUN makes strides and provides students unique experiences

The group is hoping to rank higher in the top 100 this year

By Gabriela Silva Ponte

Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Model UN team is hoping to move up the global ranks as they become a more well-known student group on campus and around North America.

Their most recent endeavour was the North American Model UN (NAMUN) conference, which was held by the University of Toronto (U of T) from Feb. 22 to 24.

Met MUN—the team’s official name—saw two of its delegates, Owen Webbe and Asia Vrazalis, win Honorable Mention and Best Delegate awards.

Two other Met MUN general members won Best Position Paper.

But, this isn’t the only conference the group has recently attended. From running their own conference—entitled METMUN—on a thin budget, to attending other university conferences, the team is hoping their performance in these events will land them a spot in the top 50 global Model UN ranking.

Model UN is a simulation of the United Nations council where thousands of students debate policy, its implementation and global and current affairs, according to the simulation’s website. Partici-

pants play the role of ambassadors from a variety of regions to discuss their assigned country’s interests on a global level, whether those be real or ﬁctional events.

“Model [UN] is supposed to…prepare [students] for their lives as diplomats. A lot of [them] do want to go into the diplomatic ﬁeld,” said Met MUN vice president and secondyear TMU commerce, accounting and ﬁnance student Reza Pournaji.

There are a variety of positions each delegate can hold in crisis

committees, historical committees, general assembly and more.

“[Conference organizers] give us positions based on the level of experience that the delegate has,” said Pournaji.

Webbe, who is a second-year civil engineering student at TMU, said winning Best Delegate at NAMUN was surprising, considering he was placed into his position just three days before the conference.

He said it was “an experience unlike anything before.”

Webbe’s award comes with a gavel. He said the win showcases his progression. “I can debate practically anything with any sort of preparation time.”

“When [others] win these, you always see how happy and [accomplished] they are...Usually when you reach the end of your Model UN career, when you’re about to graduate, you want to get one of these,” he said.

Let’s finish the story Thanks for trusting me to lead this beat

By Ilyas Hussein

I sat in the stands of the empty dark rink at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Feb. 25, 2023. Five of the six varsity squads that play in the winter were in post-season bouts that day. All ﬁve lost.

To some, that was the darkest day in Bold history. To me, that was the day I decided I wanted to become one of The Eyeopener’s sports editors.

By Daniella Lopez

Excitement and relief washed over my body when I got the call that I was named one-half of The Eyeopener’s sports editors alongside Ilyas Hussein.

In the following days after receiving the news, my mind couldn’t forget one statistic I randomly stumbled across a few days prior.

I slowly walked around the rink and stared at the spot where my photo was taken for The Eye’s Gaming at the Gardens cover just months before. The only thing that could be heard was the sounds of my sneakers shufﬂing on the ﬂoor as I stepped around the outside of the glass.

I made my way around the MAC to the balcony above the basketball court and perched over the railing. Just like the rink, the court was dark and empty. As I stepped away, walked over to the elevator and put in my AirPods, I didn’t have to think about ‘The Decision’ any longer.

I went to watch the ﬁnal road games left on the docket that day at The Eye office with last year’s sports editors, Gavin Axelrod and Jack MacCool. There, I saw the behind-the-scenes of what it looks like to be an Eye editor. After that day, I knew where I wanted to spend my late nights and it was right where they were sitting.

Just 10 days before I was elected, the Pew Research Centre, a nonpartisan fact tank, released a survey on the genders and races of U.S.-based journalists. Unsurprisingly, only 15 per cent of women reported covering sports as their main beat.

Not even two weeks later, I was voted in as a sports editor—the ﬁrst woman in this role since 2010. It was heartwarming to know my peers trusted me, a Latina woman, to lead a beat that is historically covered by men. While I wouldn’t say being a woman in sports is my only personality trait, it is how many others look at me. In The Eye’s last frosh issue, my nickname was ‘Women in Sports!’

I’ve always known getting into sports journalism as a woman was going to be more challenging. There were times when I felt like my skills weren’t good enough or I wouldn’t be taken seriously.

Once I was elected nearly two months later, people never failed to remind me and my co-editor Daniella Lopez that we had big shoes to ﬁll. But I didn’t want to just reach the high bar set by Axelrod and MacCool, I wanted to raise it even higher. I wanted my name to go up in the rafters alongside them and for the legacy of The Eye’s sports editors to continue.

Including this issue, we have published nearly 190 stories in this section over the last eight months—that’s if my math is mathing. And, we’ll most likely go over that number once the school year is done.

We couldn’t have done any of this without our lovely contributors. Or, as I like to call them, our bullpen. Each person who has contributed to our section has been a valuable arm to us all year.

From shenanigans in the office until six in the morning, to interview stakeouts at the MAC, to even ﬁling recaps with the ﬂu, we appreciate you. It’s not a team sport without a team— and all of you are our team.

But, before we hang up our sneakers, we have one last mic drop for you.

Yet, in most of the sports media places I’ve worked in since becoming a university student, that hasn’t been the case. I’ve felt accepted and treated equally. Sometimes, I felt the ‘Women in Sports’ label was unnecessary—until I got my taste for covering professional sports.

Despite feeling welcomed by journalists from the Toronto Raptors and Maple Leafs, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of women in the press box. Though it was disheartening, more so, it was eye-opening. My desire to pursue a career in sports journalism wasn’t something I would’ve ever thought about as a child. Sports? Yuck.

Yet, the pieces for my future career path began to fall into place after my dad took me to my ﬁrst Raptors game when I was 14.

It was a game seven, the most nerve-wracking but also most thrilling game for a sports fan. The Raptors were facing the Indiana Pacers in the ﬁrst round of the 2016 Eastern Conference playoffs.

While the fast-paced game of basketball quickly made me fall in love with the sport, it was also the atmosphere—the fans, the chants, the jerseys and the signs—that made me want to continue watching and, of course, go back.

So I did.

To the non-sports fans out there, it might seem confusing as to why people care so much about some stranger shooting a ﬂimsy piece of rubber into a net or throwing a bumpy orange sphere into a basket.

There’s one answer to it all:

For the love of the game.

Fans are the reason why millions of people will attend a championship parade—otherwise known as watching a bus drive slowly across the city. Fans are the reason why cars get ﬂipped over after a team wins a championship. Fans are the reason why Union Station gets clogged up on a random Wednesday night.

The world of sports is greater than a random activity played on ice, court or grass. And the stories you’ll ﬁnd in this issue will reﬂect that in a way everyone can enjoy.

You’ll come across the impact of sports memorabilia, see how sports affect families across generations, learn about how athletes battle with injuries and much more.

So, as I have been saying all year long:

Let’s ﬁnish the story.

While my dad got me into basketball, I’ve gotten my parents into Formula 1. Being a sports editor, I’ve even gained a newfound appreciation for sports I was once unfamiliar with. Now, almost eight years later, it’s a full-circle moment for me.

Whenever someone asks me why I wanted to pursue a career in sports journalism, I usually tell them the same robotic spiel. “I like writing, talking to people and telling their stories.” I’m not lying when I say that, but I am omitting the biggest detail.

I’ll let you in on a poorly-kept secret. The whole reason I wanted a job in sports media was because I wanted to work for the Toronto Raptors. I love watching their games in person and I enjoy writing. Sports journalism seemed like the perfect ﬁt for combining my two passions and making it my career.

So, there it is, my biggest secret: the reason I want to chase my dreams is because I’m a sports fan.

Fandom is exactly what this issue is all about. As you ﬂip through these pages, you’ll embark on a journey back in time, learn about the opportunities U Sports provides, ponder the differences between sports fans and fangirls and read many more captivating stories.

Remember that whole ‘Women in Sports!’ label? I’m OK if that’s the only thing you go on to remember about me.

The Eyeopener’s Annual General Meeting is on April 5 at 12 p.m. both virtually and in person. Email editor@theeyeopener.com or generalmanager@theeyeopener.com for details.

SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER

Relics from the gridiron: TMU football nearly 60 years later

By Anastasia Blosser & Jake MacAndrew

Two Eyeopener editors looked through hundreds of documents—including yearbooks, obituaries, internal reports, newspaper clippings, archival photos and historical manuscripts—to compile the research presented in this article.

In 1958, the then-Ryerson Rams football team was at an all-time high.

The school had recently won the Ontario-Quebec Conference championship and gained traction through on-ﬁeld success. Its players were competing against teams from regional universities despite the school still classifying as a technological institute, establishing itself as a force in sports. However, the team dissolved in 1965—less than a decade after their big win.

When the Ryerson Institute of Technology—now Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)—was founded in 1948, its ﬁrst sports season established hockey, basketball and swimming teams with football following a year later.

The school’s first president Howard H. Kerr hired Ted Toogood, a Toronto Argonauts player at the time, to be its first athletic director. Toogood was an experienced halfback—having won the Grey Cup twice in 1950 and 1952. Toogood also coached the school’s football team, sometimes even playing on the field himself.

Despite having no spaces to play

By Khushy Vashisht

and practice on campus, the team rose through the ranks of various leagues during its 15-year run and ended up in the Intercollegiate Intermediate League. This promotion put them on the same tier as universities like Carleton and McMaster despite the institute’s lower academic status.

The height of the team’s run was its 1958–59 season. Ahead of their conference win, the Rams beat the University of Toronto (U of T) Varsity Blues 8–7 in their ﬁnal game of the season. Over 1,500 fans were in attendance at Varsity Stadium that day.

But it wasn’t always rosy with the Rams. A few years prior, in 1954, the team had a winless season.

Ryerson’s ﬁrst game of the 1954 season was played against the thenOntario Agricultural College Aggies—now University of Guelph Gryphons—the school’s rival at the time. According to The History of Ryerson by John Downing, a lot of drinking was done that day. The opponents kidnapped some Ryerson students and the team retaliated in the same way. Eventually, the Rams lost the away game 37–0.

As Ryerson students were upset by such a defeat, many members of the crowd attempted to push down the steel goalposts at the Ontario Agricultural College. One student climbed on top with a crowbar but dropped it down below, hitting a journalist from The Ryersonian now On The Record—on the head and splitting it open. Kerr initiated an inquiry into the incident soon after.

Football was a fan-favourite sport for Ryerson students in the 1960s. According to surveys conducted by the university around that time, football was the preferred spectator sport for most students.

A committee was set up in 1965 to investigate the feasibility of football at Ryerson and submitted a ﬁnal report to the athletic department, ruling in favour of dissolution.

According to the report, nearly 90 per cent of students polled said they wanted to see football at Ryerson. However, almost two-thirds of respondents said they had not attended any football games in the past year.

The report concluded there were two basic elements required for the football team’s success: a large number of students living near campus and accessible facilities for the sport.

Since games were held off-campus to accommodate for Ryerson’s lack of a football ﬁeld, distance was attributed as the biggest problem facing the school’s team. This accounted for the games’ lack of attendance and revenue.

The report stressed that “Ryerson must have a playing ﬁeld closer to campus to achieve more support.”

During the team’s 15-year run, practices were held at Riverdale Park and games at East York Stadium.

Dave Bullock, one of the committee members, believed having a football team would motivate Ryerson students to take pride in their work and education, despite the challenges associated with maintaining it.

“A well-publicized, well-established team playing a popular spectator sport will do more to enhance the pride and respect of a school at the student level, than one hundred graduates who become company presidents on the day they graduate,” Bullock wrote in an individual report to the school.

Reintroducing football to TMU is now based on the costs of running the team, a lack of playing space and the importance of boosting student engagement.

Nick Asquini, the director of sports operations at TMU, said students must show sufficient interest in a sport before it can become a team. He said the university hasn’t received a serious inquiry about a football team and it isn’t on the athletics department’s radar.

According to Asquini’s estimates, it would likely cost tens of millions of dollars to get a football team launched at TMU in addition to operating costs of one to two million dollars a year. As a result, Asquini

said he doesn’t think football is feasible at the university.

“I’m somebody who believes in the power of sport to bring campus together,” Asquini said. “But football is…a very challenging sport to support.”

TMU’s largest sports program is currently hockey, with a dressed roster of 20 players. In comparison, a practice roster for football would be anywhere from 90 to 100 athletes according to Asquini.

In the football team’s ﬁnal season decades ago, sometimes only six players came to practice.

Asquini said TMU sporting events face challenges as a predominantly commuter-based campus. He said the events aren’t as accessible compared to universities where students typically live closer to the school.

“There’s a lot of work and a lot of time that goes into building that sort of effect football can have on campus…That doesn’t just happen overnight,” he said. “But I do think that spirit is there.”

More than just merch: A sports fan’s devotion

For some students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and fans alike, sports aren’t always strictly conﬁned to the ﬁeld of play. From jersey collections to autographed posters and trading cards, memorabilia captures their commitment to

year sport media student and a diehard fan of soccer team Real Madrid CF, always gravitated towards sports—even at the age of three.

“Walking around with a Barbie doll wasn’t my thing,” she said. “It was with a soccer ball instead.”

it felt like a whole lifetime in that moment with her.”

sports fan behaviour, said from a sociological lens, a fan’s attraction to a speciﬁc sport, team or athlete is due to it enhancing and representing a part of their “personal identity.”

lection outweighs the rest—a gameworn jersey of former Toronto Maple Leafs player James van Riemsdyk.

Rania Elhilali, a fourthSAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER

Elhilali’s most prized possession is clair after the player

to possession a poster of Christine Sinclair, signed by the Canadian soccer player and Olympic gold medalist herself. Elhilali got the chance to meet Sinmade an appearance at a watchalong of Canada’s ﬁrst game during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. open to talk and [wanted] to know your connection to the game,” Elhilali said. “Even though it was and love for the game.

The global value of the licensed sports merchandise market was valued at around $30.8 billion USD in 2021, according to SkyQuest Technology, a market intelligence organization. The value is predicted to increase to roughly $52 billion USD by 2030.

In 2018, she won the jersey through a contest on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, which required the funniest tweets of the night.

Elhilali said she tweeted 178 times.

“They display these connections through things like memorabilia, jerseys, behaviours, practices and rituals, to demonstrate to people around them, and themselves in certain respects, that they are a sports fan and this is a vitally important part of who they see themselves as,” Foster said.

“To this day, I don’t know if it was my dedication of 178 tweets or if there’s just one speciﬁc one that was funny,” she said.

Conrad Sobczak, a third-year aerospace engineering student, grew up watching soccer with his family. Simultaneously, he became interested in hockey and now prefers these two sports over any other.

Foster said there are two motivating factors behind actions similar to Elhilali’s.

Sobczak owns a memorabilia collection of various shirts, hats, hockey pucks, baseballs, autographed trading cards and 16 jerseys.

Hareesh Suresh, a third-year computer engineering student, played soccer as a child but once he entered middle school, became inclined to basketball and American football— his current favourite sports.

minutes,

“She was so only

Out of his collection, two items stand out: autographed trading cards of former Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower and Polish-Canadian hockey player Wojtek Wolski.

“One is this quest for authenticity. There’s the sense that the authentic, game-worn jersey is better and that you’re a better, more devoted fan if you have this,” Foster said. “The second is this notion that there are levels of fandom…the idea here is you’re trying to be the best and you’re trying to be different.”

“[Wolski’s] a favourite player of mine from when I was growing up,” Sobczak said. “I’m Polish and he was the one Polish guy in the league. So I looked up to him.”

Alongside jerseys, his most treasured purchase would be the Air Jordan Retro 4 ‘Travis Scott’ Cactus Jack sneakers. Suresh said merchandise can help showcase fandom without breaking the bank.

Bill Foster, a professor at the University of Alberta and an expert on

“It’s a way to show your passion in a simple way as just wearing something,” he said. “You don’t have to spend a thousand dollars on game seven playoff tickets, for example.”

For Elhilali, one item in her col-

Ultimately, Elhilali cited the importance of memorabilia to a sense of community, pointing to her Real Madrid jerseys as an example.

“It’s how I connect with me living in Toronto,” Elhilali said. “I connect with someone all the way in Spain, in Madrid, and it’s through sports.”

ﬁve

VANESSA KAUK/THE EYEOPENER

Moose Bendago: The unconventional path to becoming a digital creator

By Jordan Jacklin

When walking down Gould Street and navigating the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) campus, there’s a chance you may come across Mustafa (Moose) Bendago attempting to interview students passing by.

Bendago—a former TMU student himself—has taken campus by storm with his social media presence. He went viral for asking random questions to students such as “ﬁnish the Vine” or “ﬁnish the lyric.”

His grand vision is to host his own sit-down interview show, either on YouTube or a streaming platform.

“I didn’t know that I was going to pursue content creation for my career,” Bendago said. “Watching people conduct street interviews is what brought me into the sports media industry.”

broadcasts from the Mattamy Athletic Centre together, hosting the analysis desk for basketball.

“Moose always wanted to be a host,” Sura said. “Doing the halftime and pre-game shows was exciting and personiﬁed his personality.”

“Moose always wanted to be a host”

In the year before he graduated, Bendago and a team of three other students were named the Toronto FC Challenge Innovation winners. His team was tasked with producing a marketing campaign for Toronto FC to increase fan retention for a $1,000 prize. The group pitched the campaign to 150 students and executives from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

Their project was called Divercity,

which involved Toronto FC hosting a game for every international player on the team. It also included having a heritage day about each player’s nation at the game. It’s some of these skills and accolades faculty staff look back on when remembering the TMU alum.

“His unique value proposition is that he has an interesting personality and incredible passion,” sport media assistant professor Dan Berlin, who was Bendago’s instructor during his time at TMU, said. “He was just so versatile and so adaptive at presenting effectively.”

Bendago understands the importance of marketing himself as a digital content creator.

He was working with the Toronto Raptors as a fan engagement member in 2020 at 23 years old. However, when the world shut down as a result of the pandemic, it cancelled his

plans for a summer trip to Europe. But, it also provided Bendago the opportunity to start building ‘Moose Media,’ which helped land him a job at one of the country’s biggest sports broadcasters as a content creator.

“I started the Moose Media page as a portfolio builder…to ﬁnd a real job that would pay me, and it got me a job at TSN,” he said.

Before Bendago went viral as a content creator, he added reality television to his résumé when he competed on Big Brother Canada’s tenth season for three months in 2022.

The show follows the premise of the American version, where contestants live in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. The houseguests compete for a $100,000 prize by being the last one to be evicted following a series of rounds.

Bendago’s reality soon changed

when he partook in the show and had to endure hours of downtime in his bedroom as the weeks passed.

“I was sitting in bed some days… and up all night thinking of scenarios,” Bendago said. “It was like a little house party and then after a while, it becomes a game.”

“If you don’t ask for anything, you will never get far in life”

Bendago said it was a mixed experience for most participants because of the age discrepancy between housemates along with pressure to succeed from the beginning. However, he admitted he wasn’t fully engaged from the first day.

His brand, ‘Moose Media,’ has gone viral on social media, accumulating over 313,000 combined followers on TikTok and Instagram. Although Bendago gained popularity on Big Brother Canada, he established his recognizability on his own through personal social media platforms.

The concept of the videos posted on these accounts is street interviews that have been ﬁlmed locally in Toronto and internationally in the U.S.

He described the show’s environment as “emotional” and “hyper.” A challenge for him was the surging emotional stress of the game and trying to survive in the house as long as possible.

But his shtick isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. He has seen pushback at times when conducting street interviews on TMU’s campus. Several students have walked away or pushed the microphone out of their faces when Bendago engages with them.

“They don’t owe me anything,” he said. “I’m just running up to them with a microphone.”

Bendago graduated from TMU’s sport media program in 2019. It was there he excelled at on-air presentations and developed marketing skills.

Ryan Sura, who was a sport media student at TMU a year below Bendago, always reciprocated the positive energy that Bendago radiated during their school days.

The two quickly became friends as they had similar vibes and, according to Sura, Bendago always had a charismatic personality. “He cares so much about the people around him,” he said.

The two regularly appeared on the then-Ryerson Rams

“I tried to play an honest game, and it didn’t work out that way.”

Kevin Jacobs, the eventual winner of the season, remains close to Bendago nearly two years after the show.

Jacobs enjoys seeing the career path that Bendago has taken.

“When we went into the Big Brother [Canada] house together, I could see that he was wearing this colourful jacket,” he said. “I knew we were going to hit it off as friends and be buds after this.”

After ﬁnishing the show, Bendago had difficulty adjusting back to the real world as COVID-19 protocols eased up. He found it odd to shake hands with others and have normal conversations.

“It was a rough transition for a couple of months,” Bendago said.

Not long after, he decided to fully commit to growing ‘Moose Media’ even further— eventually leading to his progress as a digital creator.

The new age of content creation offers a nonlinear pathway to success. Benadgo’s willingness to enlist the help of others is a reason he’s found opportunities as a digital creator and host. He took the skills he learned from his passion for sports and turned them into his own unique brand.

hands brand.

“If you don’t ask for anything, you will never get far in life.”

SAMMY KOGAN/THE EYEOPENER

TMU athletes push through injury to pursue their passion v

Words by Sam Beaudoin Layout by Brithi Sehra Photos by Konnor Killoran, Matthew Lin, Nathan Gerson, Sammy Kogan

As she goes up for a spike in the ﬁrst set of her match against the two-time defending conference champions Brock Badgers, Britney Veltman hammers the ball and proceeds to land awkwardly on her left leg. The fourthyear Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s volleyball player instantly falls to the ground and thinks of the worst.

her ﬁfth regular season game.

“I remember gripping my mom’s hand from the moment she got onto the court until we got to the car,” Veltman says.

The most heartbreaking moments in sports aren’t always the gut-wrenching playoff losses.

Amid rivalry-ﬁlled competition, an athlete suffering an injury in a sport they’ve devoted their life to is among the only things that can bring opposing fandoms together. As TMU athletes get back to their feet and wipe off the blood, sweat and tears, it’s in these moments where their dedication and love for the game shine the brightest.

Silence breaks out among the spectators when Veltman’s left leg hits the ground at the Bob Davis Gymnasium in St. Catherines, Ont. Her family and friends hold their breath as the athletic staff swarms the court.

“I remember laying on the ﬂoor, grabbing my teammate’s ankle in fear,” she says.

athlete is working through their denial. Many often refuse to believe the information presented to them.

“People often listen to the 10th person that tells them…you can’t take it personally,” she says. “The reactions you receive are understandable…sometimes you’re breaking someone’s dream.”

Among the many things Veltman recalls from that dark day in early November 2023 where she tore her ACL is the endless amount of support she received.

Whether it was the referees coming over to give her a hug or members of the Brock team reaching

A 2019 article published by Arizona-based multimedia platform Global Sport Matters, examines the culture of “playing through pain” that exists in sports. It illustrates the narrative driving athletes to play through pain and discusses how this

bravery is framed as “heroic” behaviour.

Negative thoughts start to consume her mind as she stares up at the gymnasium lights from the ﬂoor.

She’s then met with the sight of her mother and sister in tears.

The outlook of her senior year has changed drastically in a matter of moments and it’s only

Following an exhausting opening shift of the second period against the Western Mustangs in London, Ont., Will Portokalis returned to the TMU bench. As the second-year men’s hockey forward hung his head over the edge of the boards in an attempt to catch his breath, a puck inadvertently ﬂew into the bench and hit his nose.

Though he avoided signiﬁcant injury throughout his entire Ontario Hockey League career and his ﬁrst season with the Bold, that luck vanished in October 2023.

“I didn’t see it, but I knew right away because I couldn’t breathe anymore,” he says. “I looked down and my jersey was just ﬁlled with blood.”

Portokalis immediately ran down the tunnel with a towel over his

“The goals of athletes outweigh the potential consequences of playing through pain, even though pain often points to injury,” the article says.

The article references various other studies furthering this notion, claiming coaches have more respect for their players who play through injury.

Brenda Rogers, a physiotherapist at Physiothérapie Ste-Foy in Québec, says providing athletes with a sense of control in their rehabilitation process always makes the news easier for them to hear.

out via Instagram to express their support, the colour of her jersey didn’t matter at that moment in time.

Throughout her nearly 30-year career, Rogers has learned that athletes are more willing to accept the harsh realities of a diagnosis when they’re provided with options in terms of their next steps.

However, she acknowledges one of the hardest parts of revealing an injury to an

“The amount of support was overwhelming…every single person on my team gave me a hug.”

by-case basis. Depending on the severity of the injury, athletes need to be cleared by either a doctor, a certiﬁed athletic therapist or a student-athletic therapist before returning to play, MacDonald says.

After a brief stint of going back to the standard visor, Portkoalis broke his nose again in late January during a game against Nipissing. The training staff recommended the forward wear a ﬁsh bowl for the remainder of the season to prevent his nose from “falling off” if he were to be hit again.

Athletic therapist and kinesiology professor at the University of Winnipeg, Glen Bergeron, believes two critical elements play a factor in an athlete’s desire to play through the pain.

face, quickly absorbing the blood pouring out of his nose. As he reached the locker room, the athletic therapists told him his nose was “literally sideways.”

But the thought of missing the remainder of the game didn’t cross Portokalis’ mind. The Bold forward was ready to hop right back onto the ice with a hybrid visor that covered his face—commonly referred to as a ﬁsh bowl.

“They stitched me back up and I was like ‘Put the ﬁsh bowl back on, I’m going back out there’ and they just laughed at me,” he says.

According to Ryan MacDonald, the manager of sport performance for the TMU Bold, injured student-athletes are initially assessed by studentathletic or certiﬁed athletic therapists on a case-

“Number one is peer pressure, the mentality of taking one for the team and the game,” he says. “The second being the fear of being replaced, the mindset of if they’re not out there, someone will take their place.”

Bergeron says sports culture enforces these narratives, with athletes labelled as courageous and identiﬁed as heroes for sacriﬁcing their physical health to win.

Portokalis praises the work of the Bold training staff for always being clear with athletes and allowing them to have a sense of control in the decisionmaking process.

“They’re good in the

sense where they explain where they’re coming from,” Portokalis says. “They cater to our needs, with respect to their own expertise.”

Despite not spending much time with the training staff, Portokalis ensures they’re aware of his passion for the sport and desire to not miss a second of action.

“We just love the game so much,” he says. “Seeing a guy who’s battling an injury day-in and day-out go out there and still get the job done…just motivates everyone.”

Kait Nichols sits in the Mattamy Athletic Centre’s (MAC) athletic therapy clinic in overwhelming disbelief and pain. The ﬁrst-year women’s basketball guard’s now-injured left knee is met with a unique sensation. As the doctors conﬁrm the complete tear in her knee and cover it in ice, she quickly begins to realize the extent of her injury.

“Ice isn’t supposed to hurt, the pain was just pulsating… that’s when it solidified for me,” she says.

Since suffering a torn ACL, MCL and LCL on Dec. 30, 2022, no individual has spent more time with the athletic staff than Nichols. She hasn’t appeared in a TMU game since suffering her injury.

devastating injuries in sports. In Nichols’ case—to make matters worse— the tragedy fell in a meaningless exhibition game against the Humber Hawks.

“They told me straight up, ‘You tore everything in your knee,’” she says. “I remember thinking, ‘How did this happen to me?’”

It was the Bold’s ﬁrst possession in their ﬁrst game since coming back from their holiday. Disaster struck as the ball was making its way to Nichols following an opening-tip win. She went to plant her left leg, immediately feeling a shift and hearing a pop. Nichols instantly knew something wasn’t right.

“You just think about everything in that moment,” she says.

Despite her competitiveness and playing in her freshman season, Nichols was given no choice but to have surgery and take the long road back to the court.

has played basketball for as long as she can remember, with this injury being the ﬁrst to force her off the court.

“I’ve been playing since such a young age,” Nichols says. “Everything is just basketball for me so when you’re not able to play it’s like, ‘What do I do now?’”

According to an article titled “Shifting the Spotlight: Mental Health of Injured Athletes” published by Sports Injury Bulletin, mental effects of suffering injuries often have a harsher impact than the injuries themselves. Heartbreaking sports injuries can result in an increased rate of negative emotions, depression and reduced conﬁdence in athletes.

admits her mindset of playing through pain will never vanish.

“We’re all just so competitive… you tweak something and you’re determined to play through it until you’re told you physically can’t,” she says. “When you love something, you don’t want to stop for any little inconveniences.”

“It swelled up like a balloon, four days before my Senior Night. I was so pissed off,” she says. “I’m a big believer in ‘things happen for a reason,’ but in that moment I did not want to know the reason.”

According to Mountain State Orthopedic Associates, the complete destruction of a knee is one of the most

“I don’t think there was a possibility of me playing because of how much damage was done,” she says. “If I was able to, I deﬁnitely would have.”

Nichols admits not being able to put on the blue and gold for the last year has been a mental battle. The Hamilton product

As Veltman works on her jump serve at the MAC, just four days before she is set to make her comeback on Senior Night in February— a night to honour graduating athletes—her return is quickly jeopardized. She jumps into the air and soon realizes she’s thrown the ball too far to her left, resulting in yet another awkward landing on her left knee.

Since the beginning of her recovery process, Veltman had Feb. 10 circled on her calendar and was determined to do whatever it took to suit up for the Bold one last time.

Her process back to the court had already begun two days after that November night when she spammed Google searches to learn more about her newly acquired injury.

While Nichols acknowledges the recovery progress hasn’t been easy, she preaches to other young athletes to ﬁght the urge to play through a signiﬁcant injury.

“As much as you want to play, take the time and you’re going to come back stronger,” she says.

Bergeron says athletic therapists are aware of athletes’ passion for their sports and attempt to do everything in their power to prevent individuals from missing more time than they have to.

Whether it be numbing substances or certain stretches, Bergeron says he ensures his athletes are aware he will do anything he can to get them back on the playing ﬁeld.

“I am part of this team just like you’re a part of the team,” he says. “I want to win that championship as badly as you do.”

Just a month following Nichols’ surgery, she was back on the court, fetching rebounds for her teammates and doing everything she could to immerse herself back into a basketball environment.

Nichols still recognizes the injury culture that exists in sports today. While major injuries physically prevent these athletes from doing what they love, Nichols

“That night, I read so many stories of people that have played with torn ACLs…and decided I want to do that,” Veltman says. “For most of the recovery process, I was focused on how I was going to get back for Senior Night and how I’m gonna play with a torn ACL.”

Despite the reaggravation, that cold February evening rolled around and

Veltman’s recovery came full circle as she took the court one ﬁnal time.

Alongside her sister Lauren, Veltman was honoured before the first serve for her contributions to the program over the past five years. Wearing a brace on her left leg, she favoured her right side as she cautiously moved around the court in her few appearances throughout the game. After the win, she teared up as she waved goodbye to the crowd and her university sports career. Veltman reflected on the game that exceeded her expectations. “Being able to be out there with the girls one last time was amazing.”

She attributes athletes’ desire to neglect pain as a result of their competitive nature and passion for their sport.

“People will do whatever they can just to be able to be out there and play the sport they love.”

U Sports and opportunities: The beginning, middle and end

By Alex Wauthy

Second ﬁddle. Last resort. Graveyard.

Publicly and in the media, U Sports seems to take a back seat to its American counterpart—the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Many may perceive its competition level, training and educational offerings as a consolation prize for athletes unable to net Division I consideration. However, whether an athlete is at the beginning, middle or end of their U Sports career, the education and developmental opportunities provided to them in Canada’s collegiate circuit transcends its public perception.

First-year women’s basketball guard Catrina Garvey said she remembers her ﬁrst Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold home game.

Swaths of elementary school students ﬂooded the ﬂoor and stands of the Mattamy Athletic Centre’s (MAC) basketball court. Cowbells ringing, popcorn crunching and playful cheers chanting exuded a youthful atmosphere as Garvey suited up against the University of Victoria Vikes—a rare cross-nation matchup as part of the 35th Annual Darcel Wright Memorial Classic.

While the energy at the MAC was high-spirited and fun, Garvey’s ﬁrsthalf performance drew criticism from her head coach Carly Clarke.

“Carly was not the happiest with me in the ﬁrst,” Garvey said. “I don’t like to disappoint people or make people think less of me—she wanted more from me.”

Garvey’s parents sat among the hoards of screaming children at the stands in the MAC. They made the four-plus hour trek from Ottawa to see her play.

“I didn’t want them to leave and say you could have done more,” she said. “I already hold myself to a high standard, so at some points, it’s not disappointing the people around me but disappointing myself.”

the school I chose to go to,” Garvey said. “This is what I’m going to represent myself as.”

Garvey ﬁelded offers from other U Sports and the NCAA programs before deciding on TMU. Despite the schools reaching out, she chose to stay close to home for convenience, education and mental health.

“From what I know about Division I, it’s very athletic—who can jump the highest, who can do this, who can do that,” she said. “[U Sports] does that, but it also makes you think a lot and understand the game at a higher rate than wanting to worry about if they are going to push you until you vomit.”

Her commitment to TMU meant a change in position and growth on the court by making her a threelevel scorer while improving her defensive game. Her impact helped TMU to a berth in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) semi-ﬁnal before being swept aside by the Queen’s Gaels.

Garvey earned U Sports Rookie of the Year honours for her efforts, which is a step forward as she hopes to use her time at TMU to grow as a person and chase a professional career.

“I’m here. This is the school I chose to go to”

“I’ve always wanted to play overseas since I was young—in Spain, Scotland or Australia,” she said. “I think I can get there in a couple of years once I’ve grown a bit more.”

The Canadian collegiate circuit is a unique intersection between education and athletics, according to U Sports CEO, Pierre Arsenault. He emphasizes putting the students ﬁrst and building pathways for them beyond their sporting careers.

With her coach, parents and herself expecting more, the ﬁrst-year kicked it into high gear.

Garvey drilled 20 of her game-leading 30 points in the second half. Each dagger—three-point or two—came with an eruption of cheers and stomping of feet from the young audience.

After her breakout game, everything became clear for Garvey.

high school graduates who had to look elsewhere due to the absence of Division I offers and European interest.

“It’s easy to overlook U Sports but there’s a lot of players that don’t get the opportunity to go to these big schools in Division I,” Campoli said. “That happened to me. I wasn’t put in front of the right people to get recruited to the NCAA in my ﬁnal year of high school, so I ended up resorting to U Sports, and it’s been amazing.”

U Sports birthed a soccer star in Campoli. As a member of the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, he led the nation in goal-scoring, was named to the All-Canadian team and won U Sports Player of the Year in 2022.

Before the 2023 Canadian Premier League (CPL)-U Sports Draft, the Campoli family huddled around their television. Campoli sat with his dad and two brothers, with his mom standing behind him. Campoli knew he was getting drafted, he just didn’t know when or where.

“Last year to get that thing I’m missing,” Campoli said. “I’ve been an OUA all-star and scored the most goals in the OUA and U Sports two or three times...[All] I’m missing is an OUA and national championship.”

Campoli entered U Sports as an 18-year-old and matured into “a man on and off the ﬁeld.” His career isn’t over yet, but as he enters its twilight, he is thankful for what he’s accomplished over the last few years—no matter how bittersweet the thought may be.

“Without U Sports, I wouldn’t have been as known as I am,” he said. “It’s developed me as a player—maturing, growing, ﬁnding out what works and how you can be the best.”

Kate Grasman knows what it’s like to leave U Sports behind. The former TMU women’s volleyball player started like Garvey—she was highly touted and ﬁelded offers from the NCAA and U Sports clubs.

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interest. As they drove down Dundas Street toward the highway to head back to London, Ont. with coffees in hand, they noted the inclusive environment, coaching and the prospect of living in a big city. The anxiety surrounding the recruitment process was gone and Grasman felt like she belonged.

Her time with TMU prepared her for her next stages in life—one that features a professional career, an ambition for coaching and conﬁdence when barrelling headﬁrst into the unknown.

The pandemic changed her outlook on playing professionally. Grasman pursued professional volleyball in the summer after her ﬁnal season with the Bold. She fell in love with Europe while travelling with her friend and former teammate, Julie Moore.

U Sports prepared the two for the pro level, and after seeking jobs to afford to live abroad, they landed on professional volleyball. Moore now plays in Sweden, while Grasman is in Germany.

“The unique opportunity with U Sports is at this level of your career, you’re jointly pursuing and participating in the elite level sport, while at the same time, you’re challenging yourself and building a future through your education,” he said.

Following being selected on two separate occasions before in the CPL-U Sports Draft, the Woodbridge, Ont. product didn’t have as special of a feeling during his third go-around. But that didn’t take away from the excitement when his hometown team, York United FC, called his name fourth overall.

Campoli participated in his third professional pre-season, but, just like his last two attempts at going pro, he didn’t snag a spot on their final roster.

“Without U Sports, I wouldn’t have been as known as I am”

She said she remembers her mom opening her ﬁrst NCAA recruitment letter from the mailbox. North Carolina State University wanted the then-15-year-old’s talents. Grasman searched up their roster but didn’t fully comprehend the letter and didn’t view this level of collegiate success as attainable—in her mind, she was simply “bopping around the court with her friends.”

Grasman got an agent, signed a contract on the last day of September, and arrived in Germany in the ﬁrst week of October. Her team, VFL Oythe, in Germany’s second division, had already begun their season by the time she landed.

None of her teammates—ranging from 17 to 37 years old and representing seven countries—talked to her during her ﬁrst practice, and her coach doesn’t speak English. The language barrier continues to make comfort on and off the court a challenge, even six months later.

Fourth-year midﬁelder Chris Campoli didn’t receive NCAA offers like Garvey. The TMU men’s soccer star was one of many

Eight months after he was drafted, the Ontario Tech star left his home of three seasons by transferring to TMU. He liked the Bold’s possession-based game and the schooling it offered.

Grasman said she isn’t sure what her professional career will entail or when she will make the move to coaching.

But right now, despite its challenges, her professional career allowed her to rediscover why she continues to chase her passion.

“I’m here. This is

As years passed and more offers came, she said she remembers posthigh school volleyball being a potential. It was in Grade 12 where Grasman realized she wanted to stay in Canada and, after a visit to TMU, her decision was ﬁnal.

Upon arriving, Campoli wanted to “do something special.” However, their season ended in disappointment, leaving him without the two things he was missing— an OUA and a national title. Now, Campoli has one last dance in the U Sports arena before he closes this chapter of his career.

She said she remembers the drive home from TMU, then Ryerson. Grasman talked to her dad about her recruitment visit, just as they did with every other school that showed

For her, it all traces back to how U Sports grew her love for the game.

“I had to think about ‘why do I play?’” Grasman said.

“I play because I love volleyball. I love the sport.”

MATTHEW LIN/ THE EYEOPENER ceive NCAA of-

Chasing sports glory isn’t worth it

By Blake Talabis

I’m all for hopping on trends.

Some of my favourite examples of these are eating viral TikTok foods and skipping Monday morning classes. But Stanley Cups—obviously the most coveted prize in the hockey world and not the tumbler— are where I draw the line.

To get your hands on the Cup is an honour hockey players yearn for their entire lives. And fans do just the same.

For Vegas Golden Knights fans— which I suppose do exist—this dream became a ﬂourishing reality in 2023 when the team won the Stanley Cup after less than a decade of even existing. This was a feat a Toronto Maple Leafs fan—like myself—could only dream of.

Ultimately, that’s what comes with being a diehard fan of a team. Despite every hardship endured, someone must win each year—even if it’s not the team you’re rooting for. But this doesn’t stop fans from coming back every season with the hope that maybe this is their year.

At least, this is how it should work. Yet, not all sports fans seem to feel the same connection to their teams as I do.

Now, believe me, I understand the appeal of cheering for the championship favourite. I just watched my Maple Leafs win a playoff series for

the ﬁrst time since 2004. I was only one month old during their secondlatest playoff series win. Trust me, I know what hardships feel like.

Unfortunately, that’s the biggest downside of being a dedicated fan: the gut-wrenching grief that comes with loving and supporting a team so much. It sucks.

With that said, I have never once thought about jumping ship. The unbelievable losses and crushing playoff exits are what make the eventual wins so much sweeter.

This is why I genuinely question how much Golden Knights fans appreciated their recent Stanley Cup victory. They never had to face any real adversity. They were one of the best teams in the NHL since their inaugural season. Not the best coming-of-age story, if you ask me. It makes me wonder how many Vegas fans would stick around if their team actually sucked.

In the end, it isn’t up to anyone but yourself to decide what kind of sports fan you want to be

So, this begs the question some fans might be wondering: are there any real beneﬁts to jumping on the bandwagon?

The short answer is yes. There is still a sense of belonging and com-

munity that comes with any sporting team, no matter how good or bad they are. This is what sports do so well and I wouldn’t dare say that a sense of belonging is ever something that should be taken away from a sporting franchise. Additionally, you eventually get to see ‘your team’ win, which is why most fans watch sports in the ﬁrst place. Those are two pretty big pros.

Now for the long answer: yes, but if you do jump ship then you have no morals.

Fine, maybe some morals. But ultiately, riding the best team is like cheating on a test you didn’t study for. Sure, you may have gotten a positive outcome from it but does it really feel

like that big of a victory?

I’m sure some people would say it does, but people who tend to easily bounce back and forth lack the loyalty and integrity to see things out to their end. So, not only do they suck at keeping a signiﬁcant other, they’re also liars.

Although I have my beliefs about jumping on the bandwagon, I don’t think it’s for a lack of trying to see the contrasting arguments. But I just simply will never understand how liking Taylor Swift must also entail liking the football team her boyfriend plays for. Then again, Swifties are a whole different beast. In the end, it isn’t up to anyone but

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yourself to decide what kind of sports fan you want to be. Do you feel like switching up on Stephen Curry now that the Golden State Warriors dynasty is coming to an end? Go ahead. Just know the fans who stayed through the rough times are the true beneﬁciaries of sport.

Look at it this way: if your best friend just got evicted from their apartment and lost their job, would you just leave and ﬁnd a new friend who has more money—or would you stick around and continue to support them through their struggles?

If you answered yes to the former, then your issues go much deeper than sports fandom.

Good luck charms to game changers: Unmasking the legacy of sports mascots

By Kaden Nanji

Within the world of sporting competition, amongst the cries of the crowd and the passion of the athletes, is a presence that exudes so much energy without making a sound—the mascot.

Reﬂecting the public identity of an organization, these eccentric characters entertain audiences and provoke opponents with their theatrics, elevating the sporting experience for longtime and ﬁrst-time fans alike.

However, mascots were not always perpetrators of chaotic silliness. According to Merriam-Webster, the origin of the word mascot dates back to the late 19th century and comes from the French term mas-

BRITHI SEHRA/THE EYEOPENER

cotte, meaning “good luck charm.”

“They used to be less comic than they are now,” Daniel T. Durbin, the director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at the University of Southern California, said.

In 1889, Yale University revealed the ﬁrst official sports mascot, Handsome Dan, a living bulldog. Before baseball and football games, the bulldog would walk across the ﬁeld, supposedly providing good luck to the teams.

Now, more than 130 years and 19 iterations later, Handsome Dan still serves as Yale’s mascot.

In 1974, the San Diego Chicken took to the stands of a San Diego Padres game, entertaining fans and joking around with the players

and umpires.

“Baseball’s a long, slow game. The Padres were not very good,” Durbin said. “They needed something to perk things up…Then you saw more and more costumes become more and more outrageous.”

Following the success of the San Diego Chicken, an increasing number of mascots were commissioned by professional sports organizations to increase viewership and keep audiences entertained during breaks in play.

“They were not just there to celebrate the team but being part of the external event promotion,” Durbin said. “They are big, noisy, promotional things to keep fans perked up during those slow moments and entertain them.”

Today, most teams—from the college level to professional leagues— have a mascot. Some of these mascots have been around for over 60 years, like the New York Mets’, Mr. Met, while others have become modern favourites, like the Philadelphia Flyers’ Gritty.

In September 2023, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) introduced its new mascot: Frankie the Falcon.

TMU didn’t have a mascot for over two years after they accepted

the Standing Strong (Mash Koh Wee Kah Pooh Win) Task Force initiatives, which included reconsidering their former mascot Eggy the Ram.

“I love interacting with the students and the staff and everyone that’s at the game,” a person who plays Frankie said in an interview with The Eyeopener.

Frankie discussed their initial apprehension towards applying to the mascot program. However, after getting the job, they instantly recognized how fun it was to entertain the crowd from behind a nearly eightfoot-tall costume.

“Frankie is a great example of how to bring up the culture”

As Frankie became more comfortable with the audience, their antics became increasingly silly and personalized, even garnering the name “sassy Frankie” from students.

Frankie recalled the ﬁrst time they messed with a player in the penalty box during a visit from the Carleton Ravens in November 2023. In what they said was one of the most memorable moments of being a mascot, Frankie was asked to leave early out

of fear for their safety.

“I made the mistake of putting my hands into the box…and then some of the players got mad and I had to leave early,” Frankie said.

The person who plays Frankie arrives early to games and uses the elevator to protect their identity before getting dressed in a multi-layered costume. An ice vest helps them stay cool as they parade around the court.

During a game, Frankie will pose for pictures with fans, participate in intermission games and stare down the opponents as they walk into the gym.

“Mascots really help make sports more approachable to people who don’t know anything about it,” Adriana Hill, the project coordinator for TMU’s mascot program, said. “It’s a way to make it more friendly and accommodating for everyone.

Frankie thinks mascots play a key role in fostering an inclusive culture for sports fans and those new to sports by encouraging participation.

“At any sporting event, there are things that elevate the experience,” Frankie said. “And I think Frankie is a great example of how to bring up the culture and bring out the students to the games.”

JERRY By Mitchell Fox

Going full circle: Sports across generations

Jayden Fox grew up in a household obsessed with sports.

The ﬁrst-year defender on the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s hockey team and her two sisters were all coached by their father Dave as children. Fox said he has been a big inﬂuence in her life both as a coach—which she admitted could sometimes lead to arguments—and as a parent.

Fox said having her dad as her coach meant a lot because she got to hang out with him “all the time.”

“Sports, to my family, it’s kind of just us,” she said. “Sports gave my family a time to be together and… just enjoy each other and embrace our talents.”

Fox’s parents met playing coed softball and encouraged their daughters to play a variety of sports throughout their childhood. She and her sisters would play sports at their cottage and had mini stick battles in their basement, while their dad would put any game possible on the television.

Fox has now wrapped up her ﬁrst year with the Bold—a team she joined the year after her older sister, Dani, graduated. It was nice to come to a team where everyone knew her family, she said. Teammates often shared stories of Dani, and some even wore her old gloves, showing them to Fox, quipping, “Hope there’s another goal in these.”

when I came here,” Fox said.

BA). The ﬁfth-year business management student continues to play any recreational sport he can while also making sports a part of his career through the TMSBA.

“Just seeing sports in the university and seeing that it’s able to be incorporated with my degree… [shows] you can actually use your passion, or your two passions and combine them into something,” he said.

“They love seeing you do what you love”

Bacal’s grandfathers helped pass down the love of sports in his family. His dad’s father was a tennis player and massive hockey fan. Some of his fond memories include watching the World Junior Ice Hockey Championship at his grandfather’s home in Montreal, Bacal said.

He remembers a time when his grandfather—who sat in front of the blaring TV to watch—yelled, “Shoot the damn puck!” at a player on Team Canada. He said that moment was even mentioned at his grandfather’s funeral a few years later.

“That’s the ﬁrst time we’d ever seen him so explosive,” Bacal said. “My brother and I were in tears laughing at it, it’s a good memory.”

on the backburner to focus on school, he said he felt “a little bit lost” when he started at TMU. However, Bacal said he now gets to build a different family around a shared interest in sports at the TMSBA.

“I went to their meet-and-greet and then their ﬁrst event and realized, wow, there’s an actual business behind the thing that I love,” he said.

Bacal said sports are a connector for him and his family, especially his father.

“To this day, whenever I’m at home and there’s a Leafs game on, I’m sitting down watching while eating dinner with my dad,” he said.

Second-year TMU women’s soccer player Alexia Rhooms knows the connection between sports and business in her own way. While participating in a variety of sports, Rhooms watched her dad, Delroy— a former professional beach volleyball player—make a living as an athletic trainer.

Rhooms is now pursuing a career as an athlete and a coach as well. She runs a training business, Female Soccer Fitness, where she applies her father’s focus on athletic movements.

“I was learning when I didn’t even realize I was learning,” Rhooms said.

for sport through their training. Delroy’s logo for his company, Prep4Pro Training, uses a photo of Alexia playing soccer, an image she also used for her ﬁrst training business. She said this, as well as his devotion to helping her run her company, shows how much parents love seeing their kids play sports.

“They love seeing you do what you love, and they want you to be happy doing it,” Rhooms said. “I think once I sat back and realized that, our relationship grew stronger.”

Unlike Fox, Bacal and Rhooms, fourth-year creative industries student Amanda Noor doesn’t have to play sports to appreciate the part they play in her family identity and dynamic. Her fandom of football comes from her father, who picked up the sport while working in Saudi Arabia with American colleagues during the ’90s.

“When I think of sports, I think of my family”

their busy lives, they ﬁnd time to watch and talk about football.

“It certainly brings us closer as a family,” Noor said. “There’s something you can’t really describe when you’re there with your family and your friends watching the game.”

Sutcliffe said many beneﬁts of a positive sporting environment are reﬂected in sports fandom, where the nice difference is removing the individual skill and performance piece.

“They get to direct their critique or their praise to people on the television as opposed to people that are actually in the room or in the car,” he said.

Sutcliffe described how much it can mean for parents and their children to bond over a sports team.

“It can seem trivial to some that are not in sport, but really, when you get deeper into it, you can see that it’s very meaningful,” he said.

“Sports teams have been a vehicle for positive family relationships for a long time.”

“I already felt like I was home many

Sports have become a home for Fox—a sentiment shared between her and many athletes. The love of the game ﬂows through family trees and within family dynamics, reﬂected in the passion of highlevel athletes, sports enthusiasts and casual fans alike. Whether as a bridge between family members or as a means of carrying on a legacy, sports are much more than a game to Fox.

Bacal’s maternal grandfather played “pretty high-level soccer” as a goalkeeper in the former Soviet Union. Bacal remembers playing soccer with him and using the poles of a tennis court fence to make a net outside of his apartment.

“He’s a little too old to play now but we talk about it still to this day,”

Rhooms and her father have trained together for years. He helped her work her way back to playing soccer after injuries and school kept her off the ﬁeld for ﬁve years. The two are also quite competitive and he’s brought out her natural athleticism, she said.

While in high school, her father’s pastime eventually found its place in her life. She preferred to watch YTV, but with just one TV in the house, football was on all the time growing up.

Noor said though the sport started as a necessity to entertain herself, she is now “super into it.”

Fox had a similar experience to Noor’s. She said she didn’t think there was anything other than sports on TV when she was growing up. Her family’s television was constantly playing everything from hockey to wrestling to the Olympics to table tennis.

“That’s really just the big thing: the moments when we’re not at the rink and we’re actually all at home and ﬁnd time to sit around and watch the sports and really just enjoy

“He’s the only one that will push me past my limits,” she added. “Don’t tell him I told you this, but he’s my

he said. After putting sports role model.”

Rhooms and her father spread their family’s love

“Football was there,” she said. “And so you kind of just start to like it as you learn the game.”

Football has helped connect the whole family, as her two younger sisters have also become interested in the sport, she said. The family gathers in front of the television to watch Buffalo Bills games and any others with three on the couch and two on the carpet. Despite

it together,” she said.

That relationship between sports and family will always be prevalent

for her.

“When I think of my family, I think of sports,” Fox said. “When I think of sports, I think of my family.”

*Note: The source with the same last name has no relation to the writer,

Mitchell Fox.

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Sport can be a powerful vehicle for bonding amongst family members, especially between fathers and their children, Jordan Sutcliffe,

College who specializes in family dynamics in sport, said.

“Playing sports together from a very young age, or even sharing cheering on their favourite sports teams, can lay a foundation for a lifetime of bonding over a mutual interest,” he said.

Family sports culture is also familiar to Evan Bacal, a former athlete and the president of the Toronto Metropolitan Sports