Canada just celebrated its largest medal haul at the Olympic Summer Games in Paris, France.
In total, Canadians won 27 medals, a number we suspect will increase when the Paralympics begin in two weeks’ time.
The life of an athlete isn’t just about showing up on game day or at an event. The hours, days, months and years of toil to achieve gold, silver or bronze is a master’s class in grit and determination. To reach those meteoric levels of success requires training day in and day out, on top of natural talent.
Seeing Canadians reach the podium and several hearing the anthem played to celebrate their gold medal was a proud moment for all involved. Canada – it has such a nice ring to it.
All athletes start somewhere and over the weekend we heard of several wins.
The Elora Mohawks Jr. B team won the provincial lacrosse title. The Fergus Thistles Jr. C team won the western conference but lost in the Ontario finals. The Rockwood FC Girls topped their tournament in Niagara Falls. We are sure plenty of others had a good experience this past week too.
The point is, hard work wins the day and believe this as best you can: these kids are all proud of their hometown – where they live, go to school and hang out.
Another crowd of athletes also descended on Fergus as they do each summer. The Highland Games and all it entails drew spectators from all over. From the tatoo to caber tossing and highland dancing, visitors were treated to Scottish culture. Feats of strength and precision were on display for all to see.
Along with the revelry and official participants of all these events, we tend to miss celebrating another great success that comes about with sport: that of humanity itself.
A good friend had returned from his annual summer trek northward from the southern states, where he and his family now reside. Prone to talking too much and engaging with most anyone who would listen, he struck up a conversation with a new immigrant seated to his right. Within a short stretch of time he learned a little about India, but was struck with how keen this young man was to learn about Scottish heritage in his newly adopted hometown. That is the value of sport and its potential to expand the minds of those willing to try.
Welcoming people, celebrating success, insisting on integrity in sport – these are all values that translate into how we conduct ourselves in our community.
And guess what? When we go elsewhere, we take those values with us. In sports, we all win.
