I asked a simple question last November at a Leadership Team meeting. “Tym, you look stressed out about head coaching the Senior Girls’ basketball team. Can I help?” I wasn’t actually expecting him to give the answer he gave, which was, “Yes, I could really use your help.” I am pretty sure I just meant [...]
BY: ESTHER DE JONG, ACS PARENT Christmas Spirit As I slowly began the process of pulling out my Christmas decorations, after hearing the first Christmas song playing on the radio, I pulled out the old Christmas sweaters from my ”tickle trunk” at the top of my closet. I successfully pulled out two brightly coloured knit [...]
It has literally been 20 years since I coached soccer. So when Koenraad Beugelink texted me about helping him coach our Knights boys team, it took me a minute (or two) before responding. But given the fact that I have two boys on the team, and the fact that in of all the things I’ve [...]
On an annual basis, during late January/early February, my father flies all of his boys (3 of us) and a son-in-law out to the Phoenix area for a long weekend of golf. This year was no exception. Not only was it a great weekend of golf with memories that came from this, but it was [...]
Not long ago, I heard secondary teacher Trent De Jong describe athletics by saying, “At ACS we don’t just compete, we represent.” I heard a great story the other day from one of our coaches in the staff room that exemplified this idea. Here is Joanne Friesen, the Junior Boys’ Volleyball Head Coach, in her [...]
At the beginning of the school year, I introduce a KM club to my class. The KM club is always done during class time, as a class. Essentially, as a class, we each run a KM (kilometer) and keep track of how many KM's we have done all together. We track our KM's on a [...]
During one of our recent middle school chapels, I asked all of our students who had been involved in any of our athletic teams to stand up. I started with cross-country, then volleyball and basketball, followed by grade 7 and 8 badminton, track and field, secondary soccer teams and golf team. In the end, we [...]
I was at the last basketball game of my son's high school career, two weeks ago. They finished 6th, losing in the final seconds of their second game to the team that went on to win the championship. It was a sad day for me and for my wife. Not just because we lost, but [...]
I was only able to see 3 1/2 of our Senior Boys Volleyball matches at the Single A Provincial Championships, though arguably the most important ones: the opener, the last round robin, the semi-final, and the final. Three events stood out for me: The lesson: In the match against Fernie, one of their players spiked [...]
Athletics. To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, “What’s the deal with athletics?” It seems that everyone has some thoughts on how ACS is doing and what we should be doing differently. Allow me to weigh in with some thoughts as a school administrator, parent, and coach. Straight-up, we have an excellent athletics program! Have we won a [...]
