In This Issue
What a Good Sport!
Student honoured for contributions to U of G's intramural, peer helper programs
BY TERESA PITMAN
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| Sports play a big role in student Simran Singh's life. She works in the Department of Athletics, officiates at games, plays volleyball and badminton, and volunteers with Special Olympics and Movin' On. Her contributions have earned her national and campus awards. Photo by Martin Schwalbe |
There's an old saying: “If you want to get something done, ask a busy person.” Fourth-year sociology student Simran Singh might just be the busy person they're talking about because she's definitely getting a lot done.
Singh is the assistant co-ordinator of intramural sports in the Department of Athletics and has been a peer helper in the department for three semesters. She is a member of the Special Olympics Committee that is hosting a basketball hometown tournament later this year and volunteers with Movin' On to help public school kids be more active during the school day. She's also a special friend to an eight-year-old girl involved with Family and Children's Services of Guelph and Wellington.
These activities have won Singh two awards in recent weeks. First, she received the Canadian Intramural Recreation Association (CIRA) Post-Secondary Leadership Award for her work co-ordinating and promoting intramural activities. A few days later, she was presented with U of G's Lin Coburn Award for her contributions as a peer helper in the intramurals program. This award also recognizes scholastic achievement, campus and community involvement, initiative and ability to serve as a role model for other students.
“I don't do it for the awards,” Singh is quick to say. “I do this because I enjoy it.”
This is the third consecutive year that someone from U of G has won the CIRA award, and she believes that speaks highly of Guelph's intramural program. “It's one of the most successful programs in the country in terms of the percentage of students who participate,” she says.
After receiving the awards, Singh attended a week-long conference in Texas for U.S. and Canadian managers of intramural recreational sports.
“This was a followup to the CIRA conference I attended in February,” she says. “It was very exciting to be part of it and to meet people from across North America. I've come back with so many ideas about things we could be doing.”
As you might expect, sports have always been a big part of Singh's life. At her Brampton high school, she was captain of the volleyball team, president of the Athletic Council and Athlete of the Year, all while maintaining a solid grade average.
“What kept me going was knowing that I was going to play volleyball at the end of the day.”
Even though sports were important to her for balance and sanity, it was Singh's academic achievements that got her into U of G, where she's completing a double major in criminal justice and public policy and sociology.
She admits that in her first year, she had some trouble adapting to life at university. But that “culture shock” didn't last long, and by second year she was involved in intramural sports and had applied for the assistant co-ordinator position.
In that position, “I help run indoor and beach volleyball, badminton, tennis and Ultimate Frisbee,” she says. “I hire the people who officiate at these sports and prepare the work schedule for the officials. I do the score cards and the filing — lots of filing.”
Another important part of the job, she adds, is customer service — dealing with situations where someone has a complaint or a question.
Of course, Singh doesn't just co-ordinate sports: she also officiates at games and plays volleyball and badminton. “I feel that when I'm playing or officiating, I need to show excellent sportsmanship and do the best job I can because I'm representing the program.”
She's been sidelined in recent weeks, though, by a knee injury that required surgery. “It's like something has been ripped out of my chest not to be able to play sports, but my plan is to come back strong in the fall.”
Although not able to compete, Singh has still been officiating at games. “Sometimes I forget about the injury and surgery and start to run — and then my knee reminds me that I can't quite do everything I used to do.”
Her other volunteer duties managed to keep her busy throughout the semester, however. The Movin' On program, for example, had her visiting Tytler Public School once a week to work with primary and junior students.
“The objective is to introduce play and activities to help the kids become more physically active,” she explains. “Otherwise some of them will go out at recess or lunch and just sit around. So we go and organize a relay race, obstacle course or skipping game and just kind of play with them so they have fun being active.”
Singh intends to continue working for U of G's intramural program over the summer and would like to make sports administration her career. “It doesn't even feel like work because I enjoy it so much.”