Ever since I can remember I've been a doer. I've always loved sports an the feeling of competing. To me there's no greater rush than giving all that you can and being victorious. Victory comes in all shapes and sizes and feels so good when you accomplish what you set out to accomplish. Everything tastes better when it's earned and I've carried this sports outlook into my personal life.
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I grew up in an athletic family in a typical Northern Ontario small town environment that promoted sports, ( what else was there to do back then, early 70's? ). Mattawa is situated at the junction of the Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers, ( across the Ottawa River is Quebec ) a picturesque friendly little town with lots of character, dating back to the early fur trade. My childhood was spent outdoors, ( everyone can have their very own remote secluded spot ) in family outings and individual adventures.
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Sports entered my life at a young age. I still remember the first ball lessons in the back yard and the encouraging words for good play. I remember as a six year old being able to stay up late every Saturday night and watch my idol Jean Beliveau and the Montreal Canadiens play. Part of the scenario involved betting my dime allowance with my uncle Audie and my fighting to stay awake to see who won the game. Thanks uncle for letting me have Montreal they did win most of the time back then and two dimes were much more impressive than one. It's no wonder my favorite number is 4 and my favorite colour is red.
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I was lucky enough to grow up in a sports era of high enrollment ( peak of the baby boomers born in 1960 ) and the abundance of good people that loved what they were doing. Two men, outside of my Dad and other family members, spent hours of their time to help mold me and plenty of others into athletes and better human beings. Thanks!

    Ken Janveau was my Grade 5 and Grade 8 teacher. Some of his effective training methods included prompting the cross country team to get school work done faster so the last hour of classroom time was a reward and could be spent training outdoors. Under those circumstances it wasn't training as everyone else was still in class. He installed the team spirit in all of us and in Grade 8 we dominated the Mattawa circuit in every sport. At the same time he had contests like the one for submitting book reports during Grade 8. That year I submitted 65. Funny the things you remember.  Every available spare minute was spent playing the sport for that season.
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     Murray Peavoy  was my High School Gym teacher and big time coach. Mur had played university volleyball and knew what it took to win ( lots of hard work ). I remember when he took the Rodmen out of me when I was beginning to get good but also cocky. I was developing a habit of disputing referee calls and he taught me the lesson that I looked foolish, by benching me despite being one of the better players. How good was Mur ? Well Mur had his Junior Boy's Varsity Team using a middle hitter before any of the Senior Teams in the surrounding leagues ( 1976 ).

Sports in a small town is a numbers game. Your teammates are the same teammates for the different sports, everyone needs bodies. In High School I and others played or practiced in one Varsity sport only to rush away to play or practice in another. I remember scoring 24 points in a Junior Boys Varsity basketball game win and then scoring a goal and an assist in a 5-2 Varsity Hockey loss on the same night. We had a successful Varsity Hockey Season in my final year of High School. The next year the school didn't have a team, almost everyone graduated. Another example is my last year of Junior Boys Varsity basketball. We had a good team and lost in the finals of the league, with two of us making the league All-Star team. That was the end of basketball for us in High School because there was no existing Varsity Senior Boys Team and Mur wasn't going to let us play 2 sports anymore, and start a new team.

Specializing in a sport is non existent in a small town. The need for bodies promotes the loyalty of participating in every activity, which can seem  strange to outsiders. I remember qualifying and not going to All Ontario Championships because of Men's Fastball or Bowling Tournaments. At sixteen what would you rather being doing traveling to out of town tournaments and enjoying the camaraderie of prominent adult members of the community or going to All Ontario Championships where you really weren't sure if you belonged?

Small towns bring with them the uncertainty of developing into a winner. I  remember seasons where we didn't win a game only to gel as a unit and in three years almost go undefeated.

Sometimes the small town athlete just doesn't realize the full extent of their talent because of the lack of exposure and competion. In Grade 13 ( 1979 ) at the North Bay and Area High School Track and Field Championships I ran the Senior Boys 400 meters in 50.4 seconds in my only race of that season. I always knew it was a fast time but it wasn't until I read the results for the finals of the Senior Boys 400 meters at the 1998 All Ontario Championships recently held in Sudbury, that I realized just how fast. I would have finished in the middle of the pack of that final. The All Ontario Track And Field Championship is one of the biggest in North America. At the time I remember the North Bay Track Coach trying to get me to join his team after the race, but I was more interested in getting back to fastball and I remember thinking that I was doing this more for the High School and team results rather than individual results. In fact I dropped down to two races and picked up a field event, the javelin, for a third event. I won the javelin event too.
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You just don't know how good you are and I was not alone in this mentality. In Grade 13 my Varsity Hockey line mates and I finished 1-2-3 in the scoring race for the league and received scholarship offers both as a whole line and individually. None of us went anywhere where scholarships were involved. There have been plenty of small town athletes who have followed in our footsteps.

When I look back at those days I think my greatest accomplishment was winning the Male Athlete of the Year in  High School 5 years in a row. When I won in Grade 9 I embarrassed a few of the Grade 13 contenders prompting Mur to change the selection process to his control from the student body vote.

A major concern of mine at graduation was the wear and tear being inflicted on my body. By the time I was 19 I was already experiencing major knee problems. I decided to go to the University of Waterloo and not play sports. By my third year I had to know if I could make it at the University level and tried out for the Men's Varsity Volleyball team. After a couple of weeks with the team, but before the season started I left the team because it was taking a toll on school work, mission accomplished.

Next came college were sports became non-existent because of the need for an income in a part time job basis. The part-time job led to a full time job at the completion of college and the creation of a workaholic. Sports became weekend tournaments 4 or 5 times a year and dwindling, whenever I could fit them in. Years went by eventually leading to the initial diagnosis of my Cancer after the Mattawa Old-Timer's Hockey Tournament in 1990.

Since my diagnosis working out and playing sports have become a crucial part of my lifestyle once again.  Today ( 1998 ) my workouts at the gym consist of a 10 minute stretch, a fast mile, an hour long step class, a 20 minute + run and 1 mile of sprints, twice a week as a minimum.

  Looking back I can't help but wonder if the slow down in athletic pursuits during my 20's may have an influence on me getting cancer. Who knows? All I know is that staying active during my fight with Cancer has been good for me and I'm going to stick with what's working !