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IV year meets up with fitness guru extraordinaire
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(M) & (W) Curlers Compete with the big boys & big girls
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Experience of a lifetime for Darren Cates at World University Championships
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OUA Uncovered: Alex Pym, RMCC Paladins – Team Captain – shares his experiences at the college
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NCdt Wendy Gracias, 26434, is a 33 year old honours psychology student at RMCC. She enrolled in the CF in July 2011 and began her university education in August 2011 at CMR Saint-Jean and transferred to RMC Kingston in August 2012. NCdt Gracias has volunteered her time to do various activities at the college including organising winter and graduation balls, she participated in the college’s Peer Assistance Group, and most recently she has been working with the First Response Team to provide first aid for events around the college. NCdt Gracias will be graduating in May 2015 and will continue to pursue her career as a personnel selection officer.
IV year meets up with fitness guru extraordinaire
Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tomasz Deren (photo right), a strength and conditioning, nutrition and unarmed 
combat instructor at the Kingston Military Community Sports Centre. In addition to working with military personnel, this fitness and outdoors enthusiast has also worked with elite athletes, and emergency services personnel. Most recently, Tomasz has been involved with coaching RMC’s Sandhurst team, and coaches part time at Crossfit Limestone.
Having been in one of his gym classes last year, I got to know a little bit about Tomasz and knew he had been involved in competitive powerlifting with the Ontario Powerlifting Association. However, when I asked about his greatest accomplishments, I was surprised to learn that it was in academics where he had achieved his greatest successes. His success is fascinating to me for two reasons: the type of research he was doing, and how he was able to do this.
While he was working on his Bachelor of Science degree in human kinetics in 2009, Tomasz came up with an interesting research question. He explained to me that football players often become victims of heat strain and he wanted to explore why this happens. Contrary to what many people believe, dehydration is not the only cause. Tomasz presented his undergrad project to key individuals in the NFL and the unique perspective from which he aimed to study causes of heat strain piqued their interest. Tomasz was offered $130 000 through an NFL Charities Grant, to pursue his Masters degree. In his Masters thesis, An Analysis of Thermoregulatory Sweating and Heat Balance in American Football Linemen and Backs, Tomasz examined differences in heat strain among linemen and backs in NCAA Division American football players, during live training camp drills, and focussed on differences in sweating efficiency and body morphology. This research is important because his results showed that heat stress is caused, in part, from differences in body morphology and sweating efficiency. Tomasz has several published articles and he has even presented his work at conferences.
Personal disclosure here: I am a little jealous of Tomasz. As an aspiring academic and researcher, and I suspect this is true for all researchers, I want to do research that draws interest and curiosity from other researchers. I also want to discover something that has the potential to make a tremendous impact in the scientific community- Tomasz has achieved both, and quite early in his academic career, I might add. Perhaps a post-doctorate degree is in the near future…?
To conclude our interview, Tomasz offered one key piece of fitness related advice:
“People have a tendency to compartmentalize fitness, focussing on certain body parts and components of fitness individually. However, focussing on one training modality restricts the body from performing to its full potential. A better approach is to view fitness as a lifestyle, and to find a balance with training, nutrition, and variety in activities.”
I would like to thank Tomasz for taking the time to speak with me, and for sharing his unique and exciting life experiences with myself and all e-veritas readers.
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RMC Competitive Curling
Thanks to the generous support from the RMC Foundation, the RMC Curling Club was able to expand on its Friday night recreational curling by entering a men’s and women’s team into Garrison Golf and Curling Club League. Both teams are very much enjoying the chance to curl competitively this year and are proudly wearing the new RMC uniforms which were again made possible through the Foundation.
The women’s team is comprised of five members:
Skip – 26944 Mary Valair – 9 SQN;
Vice/Skip – 26684 Marisa Warner – 10 SQN;
Second/Vice – 26572 Jamie Doucette – 1 SQN;
Lead/Second – 27205 Sarah General – 1 SQN; and
Lead – 26445 Vanessa Prevost – 3 SQN.
With both new and experienced curlers, the ladies team has improved from a slow start to a 4-4 record over the season so far. The Women’s League at the Garrison has been very welcoming to the RMC Women’s team, and it is a lot of fun to curl with all of them.
The men’s team has four regular members and two spares:
Skip – 26372 Matthew Walsh – 5 SQN;
Vice – 26968 Mikael Lemieux – 3 SQN;
Second – 27072 Sunny Lildhar – 2 SQN;
Lead – 26512 Sean Manser – 9 SQN; and
Spares – 26350 Zach Brayman – 9 SQN and 26507 Graham Austin – 9 SQN.
The men’s team finished 5th out of 13 teams in the initial round robin, with a record of 7-5, placing them in A-Division for the next round. This past Tuesday (10 Feb), they played against team Jackson which is comprised of three ex-cadets:
Skip – Maj (Retd) Dave Jackson;
Vice – 15157 LCol Craig Moore, Class of 85, COS CADTC HQ (Canadian Army Doctrine and Training Command);
Second – 13987 LCol (Retd) Bryan Bailey, Class of 83, ED RMC Club; and
Lead – 15592 Dr. (Maj- Retd) Pat Heffernan, Class of 86, Dean of Graduate Studies & Vice Principal Research
RMC lost 5-3 in a very tight match which came down to the last shot. Both teams will face each other to close out the current round robin. LCol Craig Moore and LCol (Retd) Bryan Bailey played on the varsity curling team while at RMC, and Mr. Bailey is currently the RMC Curling Club Supervisor. A future goal for both RMC teams is to obtain the necessary “competitive status” needed in order to be eligible for OUA play.
The RMC curling club is always looking to add new members regardless of experience level. Beginners have the opportunity to learn and play the game on Friday evenings when RMC books ice sheets. If interested in playing recreationally or competitively, the POC is the club Vice-President, Marisa Warner.
All of the RMC cadets are thankful for the chance to curl during the week and look forward to the chance to do so in the future. The cadets of the RMC Curling Club have certainly benefited greatly from league play gaining the opportunity to garner greater experience in the friendly but competitive Kingston curling community.
Marisa Warner – Curling Club Vice-President & Sean Manser – Curling Club President
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Darren Cates, Director of Athletics at RMCC has is heading home this week following his role as Chef de Mission at the World University Games held in Spain over the past couple of weeks.
From all report it was quite the experience.
Canada finished in 18th place out of 24 countries competing in the medal count earnings :
We won Silver in Women’s Hockey and Women’s Curling and Bronze in men’s Hockey, Women’s Slalom and Women’s short track speed skating for a total of five.
The Russian Federation earned 56 medals far and away the best. USA won eight good for 12th spot.
Full medal count here:
The commandant, BGen Al Meinzinger had this to say: “Thanks for the insightful stories and anecdotes. What a life experience! We are so proud of your efforts and know that you made a difference for the Canadian teams! Safe trip home.”
Reflecting on the experience, Darren had this to say: “What will I take away from these games? As my family well knows, I we always make “top 5” lists when we go on holidays so here are my “top 5” memories off these games:
1. How Spain embraced our delegation. The echoes of “Go Canada Go” will remain lodged in my head for years to come.
2. Meeting new people from other cultures, learning how their sport systems work and that they share the same passion for amateur athletics that I do. Last night we had a table of about 30 coaches and officials from around the world trading stories, ideas and laughs.
3. Being invited to the men’s hockey team room after the bronze game and into the women’s curlers photo (see below). Made me feel like I made an impact.
4. The range of emotions all of our athletes go through when representing Canada. So human, so real.
5. Lastly, smiles are more effective than screams and laughter is universal. I will take this and many other lessons home with me.
We join the commandant in wishing Darren a safe trip back to Canada and RMCC.
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Great short video on the hockey Paladins team captain and his choice to choose RMCC and his experiences at the college. See this video here.