2014 Venezuela International

Me and Kerwin

The nightmare that was Argentina had come to an end and now I was on my way to Venezuela for the tournament there. But first I had to head back to Peru to catch my flight and unfortunately I had another overnight wait but this time I just stayed in the lounge for the night. After the 12 hour layover I was back in the air this time flying to the opposite side of South America from where Argentina was. Towards the Caribbean meaning there would be warm weather. Not to mention I would only be a few miles off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, so close to home yet so far away. The rest of the Trinidad team had arrived the night before and one more was coming in that same night that I was arriving. On my flight was 3 Peruvian players as well as the umpire for the tournament who was from Cuba. We got to the airport and guess what for the 2^nd time this trip there was no transportation but unlike Argentina where the bus was just super late this time there was actually no transport organized for us. We had to take a taxi from the airport all the way into the heart of Caracas, a trip that took us almost 2 hours after leaving the airport with the traffic.

Watching world cup in the airport

So in Venezuela when dealing with money there is something interesting that happens. There is the legal exchange rate at which the banks and money exchange places offer you a 1 to 10 with US currency. Then there is the “illegal” exchange rate at which various people will exchange the money for a 1 to 70 exchange with US currency. That is a huge discrepancy for sure with regards to the money and if one was to actually exchange legally then shopping for anything (food included) all of a sudden becomes absurdly and ridiculously expensive. There was a Wendy’s across from our hotel and at the legal exchange rate a burger combo worked out to be around $15 US but at the illegal exchange it was only $2.24 US so quite a huge difference. This was good news to me as I only had a couple of bucks American left on me from traveling the past week so that made life good since the hotel came out super cheap when the conversion was done. I still wasn't able to make it through the week for food and had to borrow a few dollars from Solange which I am grateful for.

Nice wad of cash

So the tournament was scheduled to start the following day and we went to the courts to see if we could get a hit and check out the facility. When I walked into the arena I just felt it hit me a giant “are you serious right now” came over my face and in my head. The venue was horrible compared to the place in Argentina the week before even with all the incidents that happened down there. The building was nice but the ceiling was a glass roof. Worst of all it was an open air arena, there was slits and openings all around the arena, they tried to cover some of it but that did not help as the wind would just blow through and cause the shuttle to go whichever way the wind was blowing. That coupled with the glass ceiling that the sun traveled directly over and the duct tape, yes you head right duct tape courts, this was just shaping up to be a horrible tournament and I hadn't even hit a shuttle yet. So qualification was that day and we were able to get a hit in, it just felt impossible to play in that place. If you hit a normal clear or lift it would go rocketing out the back of the court. Yes where I train in Canada the clubs are ideal conditions which can be detrimental at times when you play and practice in these ideal places but have to play in the most random locations with random and ever-changing conditions.

Kerwin (the current men’s singles champion from nationals who beat me in the finals) had to play a qualification match and he won that so made it to the main draw. The rest of us played the next day so we got to hit more that evening and I realized that it didn't matter how good your skills were what mattered more was how well you could adapt to the conditions and play in them. Along with me and Kerwin was Solangel (current WS national champion) and Nekisha Blake (semi-finals in WS) so the 4 of us were representing Trinidad and Tobago at the tournament.

Now before talking about the tournament there are some things that one show know about Venezuela. It can be a very dangerous place for sure there is a lot of crime that happens and regardless of the time of day it is wise to be in a group and not wear to much flashy jewelry or items if you look like a foreigner. So this also meant that when it was late at night we wouldn't be able to go out to get food because there wasn't much around us aside from a Wendy’s and it closed relatively early. So the following day rolled around and main draw matches were to start I was just playing men’s singles that day. I ended up having to eat at the venue, they had some sandwiches available for cheap and that would have to suffice. Near the tournament hall though was one of the largest malls in Venezuela, Millennium Mall, which while gigantic was very modern and had tons of stores as well as a good food court where we could eat. Not to mention that we could also go there to kill time and browse around since there wasn't much else to do.

Millennium Mall

Inside Millennium Mall

Just me getting ready to eat lunch

The opening ceremonies took place and I was the 2^nd match up playing against a local Venezuelan player. Unfortunately I wasn't able to adapt to the conditions and the match went horrible. I would either hit it out or simply make an error due to the irregular flight trajectory of the shuttle with the wind interference and the sun shining down from above. I was not happy with my match at all and felt like I let down my entire team and country. That was the end of singles for me, losing a match that I felt like I should have won or was capable of winning and would have gained some valuable points if I did. But the tournament was not over yet. I would be playing men’s doubles with Kerwin against a pair from Brazil and then mixed with Solangel against another Brazilian pair. Unfortunately neither of those matches went extremely well. In doubles things went well against the Brazilians and we didn't get completely destroyed, we were able to hold our own but the conditions proved to be our downfall. Mixed was another story and we had never played together before so it was a good experience for first time playing together.

So that was the tournament in a nutshell, horrible conditions and some unfortunate losses. The tour of South America that I thought would be easier turned out to be quite the shit show if I had to put it honestly. I was not happy with my performance in the least and just wasn't feeling great after suffering those losses. My first two international tournaments of the year and I was already loosing matches. But I still had to stay in Venezuela for another 3 days before I could fly back home to Vancouver, those were the longest 3 days of my life. There was nowhere to train even if I wanted to, the hotel didn’t have a weight room (neither did the one in Argentina) so I couldn't even workout or let alone go for a run. The only advantage to Venezuela was that it was warm and sunny out so I worked on my tan and got to wear shorts and t-shirts all the time. In the hotel there was no internet in the hotel room, there was only the free Wi-Fi in the lobby so that meant that all the players would come down and spend their time in the lobby surfing the net until the early hours of the morning. So time was passing and we would pretty much go watch matches in the day, spend time in the mall then go back to the hotel to sleep. One night when we were finished at the tournament Solangel’s friend somehow was able to get the ambulance that was there to drop us back to the hotel, so we got to ride in the back of an ambulance and yes they did turn on the siren for us. That was among one of the highlights of the trip, but not being able to walk around the streets limited the sightseeing to pretty much the hotel, tournament venue, and the mall. Not the most exciting time spent at a tournament that’s for sure, especially with the conditions of the hotel but for the priced that was paid I cannot complain.

Everyone using the WiFi late at night

Night view from the hotel

So the day came where it was finally time to go home, the Trinidad players left the night before and I would leave the following day. I was ready to head home after so much had gone wrong during the trip, but there was still one more thing to go wrong. A lot of us were on the same flight or leaving close enough together that we would all take the bus to the airport. Only thing is they never told us what time the bus would come. So I got up in the morning and went to get some food, came back to the hotel and people were in the lobby but didn't have luggage with them they were just using the internet. I asked what time the bus would come and the tournament referee told me around/after 2pm, that was quite a few hours so I said that I would go upstairs and take a nap then come back down and if something changed to reach me at my room. So time passed I napped and 1pm rolled around I packed up and decided to head downstairs as I didn't really have anything else to do in the room. I come into the lobby and there is nobody there, everybody already left an hour earlier than the time they had told me and nobody came to get me. I was mad but at the same time not surprised that something would happen yet again for the trip. After panic set in the tournament director (the same one who made us pay for a taxi from the airport) stepped in reluctantly and decided to pay for a taxi for me to the airport but demanded a refund be sent to him. He had left me and my teammates as well as countless others at the airport waiting to get driven to the city, failed to inform me of an hour change in the departure time and now was hesitant in helping me find a way to get to the airport and catch my flight.

So eventually I got to the airport, caught my flight and was off to Lima, Peru for the 3^rd time this trip. I would have just a 4 hour layover and then catch my flight back home to Vancouver with a quick stop in Toronto. I was so happy to be going home and just so disappointed at the whole experience that I had in South America. It just made me realize that I didn't want to play those tournaments anymore based on the conditions and all the organizational issues that arose. I know that not all the tournaments are like that but that’s simply the risk that one takes when signing up and traveling to them. It ends up becoming more about who can adapt and play better in the crappy conditions rather than playing actual badminton. But now that I was about to be back home in Vancouver I would have just a few weeks until the Canada Open would be happening so I had to start preparing for that as well as the US Open the week right after. 

So yeah...

2014 Argentina International

So Trinidad nationals had passed and I was feeling pretty good about myself getting 2^nd place. I had also gotten past the injury in my right hip that was hampering me and my training. Everything was getting back on track and I was planning to attend the 2014 Peru International Challenge in Lima. Got signed up and everything but then the main and qualifying report came out and because of my world ranking wasn't high enough I was in the qualification round. I was only 3^rd in the qualification and needed 2 people to withdraw for me to make it in but that was still a big risk so I got Trinidad to withdraw me from the tournament as to not risk going down there and having to try and qualify.

Because of that I needed to replace or try and replace all the points that I was going to lose from New Zealand Grand Prix and Tahiti International Challenge from the previous year as they were going to fall off. That was around 2850 world ranking points because I made quarterfinals in Tahiti and that also meant that my world ranking would drop a lot. So I had to find some tournaments to attend and hopefully do relatively well in. Looking at the BWF calendar I saw that there was 3 tournaments back to back in south America; Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela. I didn't want to take 3 weeks to go away as that would have cost a lot and I was living in Vancouver at this time so 3 weeks away would have been quite a bit. With that in mind I choose to attend both Argentina and Venezuela internationals. They were International Series level tournaments but had a decently strong entry with many players from Brazil and Peru playing along with some of the top players in the Pan Am region in attendance and some European representation. 

So the June 10^th came and it was time for me to fly down to Buenos Aries, Argentina and then off to Tindal where the tournament would be taking place. The funny thing is the same day that I was leaving the country was my graduation convocation at the University of Calgary; something that I would be missing but walking the stage was not of a primary concern to me. The flight down to South America was quite the journey and I ended up having to spend the night in Lima, Peru at a hostel then flying out to Buenos Aries in the morning. Upon arrival in Argentina I was to be picked up and then we were to be driven around 3 hours to a small town named Tandil where the tournament was taking place. Upon clearing customs I walked out into the airport and what do I see but a lot of other badminton players, players from Chile, Peru, and Mexico. Among them were some of my friends and I was wondering why they were still there only to find out they were waiting for the bus to come for hours. The bus finally came only it wasn’t so much of a bus as it was a small van that only had room for 6 people plus their luggage. Anybody who had to play qualification the next day was priority to go on the transport. This means that I had to wait; me and Lino from Mexico, 2 coaches, as well as one of the representatives from Pan Am Badminton were forced to wait in the airport. I arrived at 5:05pm and didn’t get onto the bus until after midnight, this time they sent us an actual bus a huge one for just the 5 of us. We got on and I passed out the drive took around 3 and a half house give or take. Finally around 4am on June 12^th I arrived at the hotel and got into my room and passed out not to wake up till noon the following day. Quite the experience travelling down to Argentina for the tournament but this would only prove to be for foreshadowing of things to come for this tournament and for this trip altogether.

Breathtaking sights flying across South America

Where I would spend 7 hours waiting

Me and Lino, found an outlet to use. Thankfully there was free WiFi

Got this whole bus to ourselves just the 5 of us

Waking up the next day I realized that winter in South America wasn’t as tame or warm as I thought it would be and as well I didn’t pack appropriate clothing for that. Thankfully I brought some track jackets and a few long sleeve shirts so I would be layering up while there for sure. There wasn’t any opportunity to hit in the tournament venue before matches and the fact that it had been raining a ton for the past few days would not be advantageous for the tournament. So the morning of my match came, we all got into the bus and drove off to the venue while it was pouring rain. We were able to hit on the courts to warm up and that’s when it became apparent that this would not be pleasant. The courts were incredibly slippery and very unsafe to play on. All the rain had left so much moisture in the air that it would settle on the court and simply wiping the court did absolutely nothing. They brought in industrial heaters/dryers to try and dry the courts while sending us back to the hotel only to return later in the day and see if the mats were dry and safe enough to play on. Upon returning in the evening it was apparent that the tournament was in serious trouble as the mats were still slippery and there was little hope. The tournament organizers said that they would try and dry the mats more or find an alternative venue for the tournament for matches the next day in order to avoid cancelling the tournament.

What a beautiful morning...like a scene right out of silent hill

Main tournament venue, nice place but courts were to slippery

So much rain...

Everyone forced to wait for the bus back to the hotel after delay of play

Industrial heaters and paper to try and dry the courts, did nothing

The next day rolled around and at 6am we were ordered to get ready to depart for the new venue (I was one of the 1^st matches to be played so had to go super early) we went to a new place which was simply not up to standards for where an international tournament should be held. It was an old place but the hardwood floors were not as slippery as the main venue. The downside it was 7am in the morning and you could see your breath inside the venue, it was freezing cold. So trying to warm up was a tough time. I played my match at 8am on taped out courts shivering between points trying to be warm and struggling to see and figure out the venue, its drafts, avoid lights, as there was no hitting just the 2 minutes that you got for your warm up before the match. Then the sun came out and there were wonderful windows which let the sun shine through and onto the courts below. The whole thing just seemed like a disaster beyond belief and I couldn't believe I traveled all this way and spent that money to play this tournament. I lost first round to one of the seeded players and friend from Mexico Lino.

6am in the morning at the new makeshift venue...

Tournament back underway in the new location...

So that was the entire tournament for me, playing my match 8am in the morning when the temperature was -1 degrees Celsius in the arena. I had a few more days in Argentina before I would fly out to Venezuela for the tournament there. That meant that I would do some sightseeing around the small town of Tandil. It was pretty much a countryside town not terribly large but had lots of parks and sights to see. One such sight was a peak with a lookout above the city that provided an amazing view of the whole town from atop the mountain so that was on my list to see. I waited until there was a relatively sunny day (mind you it was still very cold) and headed up the hill to check out the view from Castillo Morisco. It was amazing you could see the entire city and it was such a fantastic sight. Likewise right across from my hotel was independence square/plaza with a water fountain and giant statue with government buildings and a church on the opposite side. The last attraction that I went to see was a giant dam that was located a decent walk away on the outskirts of the town. The weather cooperated for the most part the last few days of the trip but it was still very cold in general and at night I would have the heater on in the room. On the flip side the world cup of football was on while I was in south America so every night there was a match all the players from the tournament would gather downstairs and we would all watch the match that was being played. Or if I was out eating dinner all the local restaurants would have the TVs tuned into the world cup especially when Argentina was playing a match.

Watching World Cup football at the hotel 

view from Castillo Morisco

view from Castillo Morisco

Castillo Morisco

Me up at Castillo Morisco

Independence Plaza at night, right across the street from my hotel

Overall the tournament was a learning experience and I was happy to be leaving the country soon and onto Venezuela where I would hope that the tournament would be organized better (in reality it wouldn't be any better at all, it would be worse). But first I had to leave the hotel and drive 3 hours back to Buenos Aries in order to catch my flight. Mostly everyone left the day before but I left a day later meaning that it was just 3 of us flying out so we had a private car with a driver that reminded me of Jason Statham’s character from the transporter movies. All went well with that and before you know it I was in the air flying back to Peru to catch my connecting flight to Caracas, Venezuela. The only hitch in the plan was that I would have about 12 hours between my flight landing in Lima and then leaving so I would have to spend the night in the airport. I ended up sleeping in the lounge as it was open 24 hours, it says that there is a 3 hour maximum stay in there but well I ended up eating dinner, sleeping waking up and eating breakfast then went to catch my flight. Onward to Caracas, Venezuela for the international there and something that hasn't happened much traveling with other Trinidad players. There were 3 others who were attending the tournament as well with me which would be fantastic. 

2014 Trinidad and Tobago National Championships

All the winners, runners up, and semifinalists at nationals

So the time came for the Trinidad and Tobago national championships to take place, April 22-27^th 2014. Of course I flew down to Trinidad to play in them. I had been in Richmond, Vancouver for almost 2 months at that point training hard so I was prepared to make a statement at nationals. This time I arrived in the country early so that I would have time to train and get use to the conditions as they are very very different that playing anywhere in Canada both shuttle speed and just facility wise too. The practice that we god before nationals was good and got to hit in the actual tournament venue a few times which was nice as it made me get more accustomed with things.

CRISTAR - Nationals venue and my clubs home

I have lots of supporters back home from fellow club mates, training partners, friends, relatives, and fans that were all excited to see me play in nationals. The previous year due to some unfortunate luck in the making of the draw I was put up against the winner of the tournament first round. This time he (Kerwin Pantin) was seeded 2^nd in the tournament and I was on the top half with the 1^st seed, he would be my 2^nd round match. So with all the practice done the time came around for matches to start on Tuesday April 22^nd in the night. They played 2 rounds that night and I was lucky enough to get the 1^st round to warm up it was a fairly easy game but I took the time to get accustomed with things. The 1^st seed didn’t have a first round as he had a bye, so I would be his first round match. So the time came that I would play Allister the first seed and everybody was paying attention to that match it seemed. It was a 3 game match and he played very well but in the end I came out on top and acquired a lot of new supporters because of it.

Giving a TV interview before the awards ceremony

I don’t live in Trinidad, I was born and raised Canadian but my mom was born and grew up in Trinidad and Tobago before moving to Canada. So through her I got my Trinidadian citizenship which allows me to compete for them internationally. Because of this I am not in the country much and just come home for nationals or the odd vacation. This means that the badminton players down there that are not from my club never really get to see me and my abilities until the championships roll around each year. This lead to quite the interesting newspaper headlines for me during the tournament, with each round that I progressed the titles got more and more interesting. I made it all the way to the singles final with some interesting matches on the way there. I went 3 games with the rest of my opponents as well not being able to adjust as quickly to the conditions. Overall things were good though and the players were quite fun to play against. In the semi-final match I played against my fellow club mate who was 2 points away from match point but I came back and won 5 points in a row to close out the game and take the match securing my spot in the finals.

Links to some of the online articles about me (they were also published in the local papers):

"Canadian shocks top seed"

|"Canadian reaches national semis"

"Canadian escapes again to reach national final"

I got a day to rest in-between the semifinals and the finals which would take place the Sunday night. I rested up as playing on the courts down there had taken a toll on my body and various parts of me were starting to hurt and be beyond sore. The day of rest did some good though I was able to go out to the zoo with one of my best friends and we had a great day together. That was something that I really needed to keep me grounded and not stressed/anxious. So finals came around and it was in classic finals style. One court, line judges, the full package. The news was there and some VIP’s were also in attendance from sponsors to past players, etc all there to watch the finals. This was not the first tournament final I have been in but this wasn’t just another provincial tournament in Alberta this was my countries nationals. Something that I wanted to win badly but also left me feeling nervous. I was up against the 2^nd seed Kerwin Pantin who had 6 national titles in singles behind him already. Last year the scores were decently close and this year things started off with a bang 1^st game I lost 19-21 and then it all went downhill from there. My body didn’t like me anymore didn’t want to cooperate with me at all, my mental fall apart and with it so did my game plan. fast forward I actually ended up messing up my inner hip and required about 3 weeks of recovery and rehab to fix it upon returning home. The 2^nd set wasn’t a pretty sight and it was pretty much just self-destruction that occurred and got the better of me. Kerwin played fantastic and did what he does, that’s the reason he is the national champion. So once again I had lost to him and would be the runner up at the 2014 Trinidad and Tobago National Championships.

Receiving my prize money and medal 

Mens singles (left to right): Semifinalists, Runner up (Me), Winner

My medal and winnings

That would mark the end of the nationals, I did play doubles and mixed but those unfortunately didn’t turn out as well. I made quarterfinals for both of those events eventually losing to the 1^st seeds. The experience was a great one and I am happy that I flew down to Trinidad and played in the championships. I had a great performance and would hope that it would have been enough to warrant my selection onto the commonwealth games team. The event would be happening the end of August in Glasgow, Scotland and was one of the things that I had been training hard for the past 4 years. Commonwealth is a mini Olympics for the Commonwealth countries and therefore something amazing to be able to attend. Flash forward a few months Trinidad unfortunately much to our demise did not send a badminton team to the Commonwealth games. I was heartbroken and most of the other players from Trinidad were also feeling the pain of not getting to go either.

Farewell and victory dinner with my club mates

That was the end of my trip to Trinidad though, short and sweet I really didn’t get to do much else other than see the zoo and hang out a lot with Shannon. Because I made it so far in the tournament I was unable to make a trip to the beach which I am so sad about. The last time I was on the beach and swam in the ocean was May 2013 in Tahiti, French Polynesia while I was there for a tournament. I packed things up and got ready to head back home, but first I would be making a quick stop (3 days) in Calgary before going back to Vancouver and back to training to prepare for upcoming international tournaments; Argentina International and Venezuela International. 

Zoo with Shannon

Shannon, me, and the giraffes 

Graduation

So the time had some I finally would be finishing my career as a university student. The end of 2013 saw me finish my final courses needed to obtain my university degrees at the University of Calgary. Almost 6 years in school and I would be walking away with 3 bachelor’s degrees to my name. The journey started right after I graduated high school, I had recently discovered badminton and wanted to pursue it and see what it was all about. This led me to attend Mount Royal College (it was a college at the time) because they had a badminton team. I had not been training or even playing long but knew this is what I wanted to do. That being said studies wise I knew even less about what I wanted to be and choose to go into Computer science, but it was a university transfer program as MRC did not offer university degrees at the time. I had dreams of finishing the 2 year transfer program and then move to another city to finish schooling. Yeah that all fell through and after a semester in computer science I realized that was not the field that I wanted to work in long term. I switched programs and moved into the Kinesiology university transfer then known as the physical education program. Finishing first semester I preceded to take 10 months off from school to move down to Trinidad for 6 of those months when I first started to compete internationally for the country. Unsure if/when I would return to Canada for school. That time came after Christmas when I returned and continued where I had left off at the college in my Kinesiology program. Continuing to play on the badminton team and enjoying the whole experience; times would soon change though. The college was turning into a university, it would not offer university degrees in my field right away though as that would take some time.  So after doing a bit of my degree I took some time off and then went to Trinidad for 6 months, that is when I first started to play badminton internationally for the country. I then took some more time off to travel and train.

MRC Badminton Team Picture

MRU Badminton Team Picture

Upon returning to Canada I finished a half a semester at MRU (it was now a university) and then would head over to University of Calgary (UofC) in the fall semester. When I transferred some stuff happened to my courses and I was unable to directly transfer into a Kinesiology specific program as I had one grade that was a letter grade to low but that’s another story. So upon going to UofC I still had scholarship money left so didn't waste it and decided to do another degree but why do 1 when I could do 2. So I ended up enrolling and doing 2 degrees at once, a geography degree and a communications and culture degree. On top of that I still hadn't finished my Kinesiology degree so I would also be taking some classes to also finish that up too. The interesting part was that in this time I would also start competing for Trinidad full time so I needed to manage school, training, and traveling to tournaments. This would prove more difficult in my final year of studies.

Time passed and I continued to knock out my core courses one by one, taking on average 3-4 courses a semester and when I wasn't traveling to China in the summer then I would take spring and/or summer courses. There seemed like an ever growing list of cores that I needed to complete. As I would complete one then another one would seem to appear out of nowhere. But slowly and surely I knocked them out one by one. With a lot of travel happening as I started to compete more and meant missing more school as well as exams and assignments. My professors in the geography department knew me well as the athlete who traveled and they were all ok with it because I would be able to link the concepts in class to where I went. That and I would always take pictures for them of relevant stuff in the country that I was traveling to relating to the course content so they could use it in their presentations.

My time at the University of Calgary started to come to an end as I was finishing up my courses. In my final year in 2013 all I needed was 10 option courses to complete the rest of my needed credits to graduate. That was what felt like the biggest waste of time because I had already done all my cores and now I just had to take random classes to get my degree, I felt like wasting money but at the same time it allowed me to take some interesting courses I may have never had the opportunity to otherwise. I took film courses (the horror movie, the melodrama, French film), I took “the history of video games” and an art class all about gardens. But I had already used all my available 200 level course and one of the requirements for me degree was that I needed some 300, 400, and 500 level classes. Usually those all require prerequisites which I did not want to have to take more courses to take an option course. The most interesting experience was 1^st semester 2013 I took 2 500 level research class’s and for one it was essentially a graduate thesis project that was to be done and presented at the end of the semester. The only problem was that I was heading to New Zealand and Tahiti for almost 3 weeks to compete in tournaments.  So long story short I stayed in a fancy hotel the 1^st night in Tahiti and did my part of the presentation via video conference with the beautiful beach and water in the background (at this point there was still snow on the ground in Calgary) so let’s just say a lot of students and teachers who attended the presentation didn't like me too much. Along with that I also wrote 2 finals via the internet during that same night staying in the fancy hotel because I needed a stable and good internet connection. That is probably my fondest and funniest memory from school while traveling.

The resort I stayed at and the backdrop I used during video presentation

2013 summer I also didn't go to Asia to train meaning I took a full course load in both spring and summer. Finally the home stretch the last semester of my undergraduate career had come. I would be attending 2 tournaments both opposite sides of the world and to be honest more emphasis was set on those than actually focusing on school. Not that doing good wasn't a priority it just kind of took the back burner during the tournaments. I attended classes and flew out to Brazil and Macau for a week each. I always felt guilty about traveling when I was working in a group and just had to take off because I felt like I was placing unnecessary worry on the group even though I would always make sure the get my work done and submit it to them by the deadlines.

Then December 2014 rolled around, it had come the last set of finals that I would write. The last time I would grace the University of Calgary halls as a student. It was a feeling that I did not know how to embrace in all honesty. I was a student for so long that it had always just been a part of who I was, a way of life when I wasn't busy being an athlete. But now that was all coming to an end, my student career was going to have its lights shut off. I felt a little more than sad to know that I would be done and wouldn't have to attend classes, study for exams, and write papers anymore. But at the same time it was a nice feeling knowing that I was done and that I had accomplished getting my degrees. I would not get to walk the stage to receive my degree, not that I had any particular desire to sit there for hours while they go through the names waiting for my 20 seconds in the spotlight. I would instead be flying to Argentina the day of my convocation so even if I wanted to attend I simply wouldn't have been able to. And thus ended a chapter that had been ongoing for the greater part of my life, my time as a student in school had come and gone. I accomplished what I needed to and learned a lot, I will always be a student for life in the real world continually learning but as for studying at a learning institution I have graduated.