By Liana Naccarato
Beyond the dazzling performances and victories lies a rich tapestry of interests, passions, and endeavors that define their lives off the sports ground. In a captivating exploration, this article delves into the multifaceted dimensions of athletes—showcasing their diverse hobbies, philanthropic endeavors, entrepreneurial pursuits, and academic interests.
Jamani Barrett
Jamani Barrett is a basketball player from Humber College studying Media Communications. When Jamani isn’t playing ball, he’s working on sports media. Barrett is currently working through an injury he has a torn lateral meniscus and has follow up dates in terms of getting potential surgeries.
His initial injury was in 2020, a torn ACL meniscus and bone damage and had a surgery for it in 2020. His injury was what got him to start creating content. “I kind of had this divide where like, I’m injured. Why am I playing sports when I would be working?” said Barrett. Originally enrolled at lakehead he decided to drop out his last year.
The year before he moved to LA where he filmed content for four to five months. “I booked a 1 way there… we flew to LA the next day,” he said. While Barrett was there, he stayed in a content house with a bunch of other creators “we were staying at a content house, so our rent was short form videos,” Barrett said. After he returned from LA he decided to go back to school and start at Humber College. “The assistant coach there was my head coach from high school… they basically reached out after and kind of gave me an offer,” said Barrett.
Barrett’s first exposure to media was taking photos for his sister.
“Growing up she would kind of force me to take photos of her and things like that… but, I never really had the time or resources to dive into it,” he said.
He had an epiphany when he got injured to look at things in a different perspective. He used his girlfriend at the time’s Nikon D 3500 and began to film games. “You know, I made something out of nothing,” he said. “During CERB, I literally used those checks to buy a computer, my first camera, just everything under the sun,” said Barret. Barrett’s biggest milestones in his media career has been working with Sportsnet, home opener of the global jam and videos for a Black History month piece last February. “As an athlete you kind of have like an elevated status access to certain things,” he said. What’s next for Barrett is working on launching a Podcast and a clothing brand.
Jesenia Alvarez
Jesenia Alvarez is a Rugby player at Saint Lawrence College currently studying Behavioural Psychology. Alvarez got into rugby from the influence of friends and temping offer of free pizza at the meetings.
She Is currently working on a thesis paper, “I’m evaluating the efficacy of the positive space workshop, specifically to a home-based housing staff,” said Alvarez. “Last April, we presented the Positive Space workshop to staff and students at Saint Lawrence College, and we actually did a really cool opportunity,” she said. Alvarez was happy to be granted permission to use the PowerPoint for home-based staff.
She knew this topic was something of interest to her, “It focuses on creating positive space for LGBTQ people… it covers the terms and concepts and a bit about the history of the community and why its supper important,” said Alvarez.
As someone who identifies as queer and a Latina it’s important for her to empower the staff there and help the community, “I know not everyone comes in to, you know, their workplace with the same knowledge or experience… And I know that this kind of topic around the queer community is really nuanced and its definitely kind of coming up more in the last couple years, the last decade,” said Alvarez.
Her goal is to continue to do inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility, more specifically case management and shelter work. Alverez balances both her worlds by staying present. “I think just being able to be present where I am, like when I’m at practice, just being at practice and kind of leaving it all on the sideline, is kind of how I like to think about it,” she said. Alvarez wants readers to know “more people we include and bring to the table, the more solutions we can find,” she said.
Victoria Skoyles
Victoria Skoyles is a Interior Design student from Saint Claire College, her sport is Cross Country. Skyoles grew up sprinting, “I was a 100 and 200m runner and up until the end of high school and then when I came to college, we don’t have a track team, we only have distance,” she said.
Skyoles decided she loved running too much, so we adjusted to distance running. Her favourite thing about running is that it’s very good for the soul, “it’s so soothing to me and every time when I finish a run, I just feel so proud and good that I was able to do that because it is really hard to do distance running,” she said.
Skoyles got very ill in the summer, ending up in the hospital from a sudden onset with her heart.
“I was at work and all of a sudden, I was in an ambulance. I couldn’t feel my hands,” she said. “I was there for four days, and they ran every test imaginable trying to figure out why a 21-year-old endurance athlete couldn’t sit up without almost passing out,” Skyoles said.
It was hard for her to go from being an athlete to struggling to get out of bed. She still went to every single practice; she wasn’t ready to give up yet. “I went to every practice, although, I often ended up leaving with my heart aching because I wanted to be there with the girls,” said Skyoles.
She believes this situation has changed her as a person, “I’ve defienetly grown a lot in the past few months dealing with all of this, and it defiantly teaches you not to take and the little things for granted,” she said. Skyoles is currently working through her injury to prepare for a marathon.
“As much as there are times that you don’t think you can get back to your normal life after something like this, it is possible,” she said.