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Sheridan hosts an annual banquet to celebrate the achievements of hardworking athletes who play for the college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the 2017-18 season for the OCAA women\u2019s soccer league, Challis was given an Athlete of the Year award from her school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while the OCAA soccer season begins in August and wraps up at the end of October, Challis and her team train for these moments of glory and triumph all year round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the season their coach, Paul Angelini, has them training every weekday \u2014 except the days after a game. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n But when the season wraps up, he says they should be training more and not less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Angelini, a coaching veteran for over 20 years, advises his athletes to do two things during the OCAA\u2019s off-season. One is to continue playing soccer at a competitive level. The other is to make use of the athletic therapy program at Sheridan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery team has a therapist, and the therapists are prepared to make them personal training programs for the summer,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Angelini says the plans are tailored to each individual athlete and can include plyometrics, weight-training for endurance and stretching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey have more time on their hands and so we recommend six days a week in the off-season,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The OCAA season may run from August through October, but the main season for soccer is during the warmer months \u2014 from April to August \u2014 where many OCAA athletes continue playing competitively. Additionally, indoor soccer leagues run during the coldest months of the year, when playing outside isn\u2019t possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the OCAA season wraps up, Challis only takes a brief resting period. Then, she\u2019s back to a rigorous training regimen to come back an even stronger athlete than the previous season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/span>\u201cI usually take a few weeks off because the schedule is so compact and \u2026 you have to take a break at some point, your body needs it. So, I usually take a week or two and then I\u2019m right back into training,\u201d she says. \u201cIt feels good to relax but then after a while my body starts to get jittery and I want to start going again and it\u2019s an athlete\u2019s way just to keep moving, always working out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As both a kinesiology and health promotion student and a lifelong athlete, Challis is familiar with the effects of overtraining. She says she experienced some of the negative aspects associated with not taking a break last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re just more sluggish, you really don\u2019t want to do anything, your appetite is not really there. For me, I didn\u2019t really slip into a depression, but I just didn\u2019t want to do things and I was just tired. It\u2019s just not a good feeling,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Athletic burnout and overtraining are two common conditions that many dedicated athletes can be afflicted with at some point during their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 2013 study \u201cHope and athlete burnout: Stress and effects as mediators,\u201d Henrik Gustaffson, et. al write that an estimated range of one to nine per cent of all athletes are suffering from some form of athletic burnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burnout is characterized in this study as \u201ca psychophysiological syndrome comprised of three dimensions; emotional\/physical exhaustion, a reduced sense of accomplishment and sport devaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sport devaluation encompasses a loss of interest in or cynical attitude towards a once-beloved sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBecause you\u2019re training, training, training and then if you don\u2019t take a break or anything, your body is just going to give up. The biggest thing is: take a break every once in a while,\u201d Challis says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But because of the rigorous schedule of student athletes, taking a break can be harder than it sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheridan Bruins women\u2019s soccer defender Marianna DeFina says she\u2019s always on the move and she doesn\u2019t necessarily take a break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI find that once the season is done I\u2019m pretty much right into the next,\u201d she says. \u201cFor me in the winter, my biggest motivation is that I prefer indoor soccer \u2026 and then in the summer it\u2019s just what I love to do. I work at a job that involves a lot of soccer as well and I can\u2019t see myself not doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeFina works at a camp over the summer where she helps kids connect with their own sports-based passions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t do much else other than the job that I work that requires running around with kids all day in the gym,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If OCAA athletes do take a hiatus from their sport, they risk not even making the team the following season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou see it the very first practice \u2026 they show up and you know right away who has been working in the summer and who hasn\u2019t,\u201d Angelini says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite knowing that they have to stay on top to stay in the game next season, motivation can sometimes be hard to come by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeFina uses self-talk to get her through the days where she just doesn\u2019t feel like putting the work in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOn days like that I just try to self-motivate, so I just try to talk to myself and say, \u2018You\u2019ve got to do it, it\u2019s going to make you better,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Challis has been playing soccer since she was three, and has been playing competitively since she was nine. She\u2019s no stranger to the year-round grind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But throw school into the mix and it\u2019s long hours of training several days a week, plus travelling across the province for games, all while trying to maintain a high GPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Challis says it can be a struggle because she also works on the side, but she\u2019s still managed to win three OCAA-All Academic awards during her time playing at Sheridan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The OCAA hands out these awards to athletes who maintain honours-level grades. DeFina also managed to secure one of these accolades last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked what makes the grueling hours of work and school plus the commitment to her sport worth it season after season, Challis says, \u201cthe biggest honour for me is being called captain of the women\u2019s soccer team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStaying on top of school work, getting the grades, setting an example for all the first years and second years\u2026 at the end of the day it\u2019s about being that role model.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kendra Challis says she couldn\u2019t believe it when she got a standing ovation at the Sheridan College Athletics and Recreation awards banquet last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1.jpg",600,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1-160x160.jpg",160,160,true],"medium":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1.jpg",600,400,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1.jpg",600,400,false],"large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1.jpg",600,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1.jpg",600,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1.jpg",600,400,false],"td_150x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1-150x100.jpg",150,100,true],"td_218x150":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1-218x150.jpg",218,150,true],"td_300x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"td_324x400":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1-324x400.jpg",324,400,true],"td_485x360":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1-485x360.jpg",485,360,true],"td_696x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1.jpg",600,400,false],"td_1068x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1.jpg",600,400,false],"td_1920x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/12\/NoRest1.jpg",600,400,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"sweatmag","author_link":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/author\/sweatmag\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Kendra Challis says she couldn\u2019t believe it when she got a standing ovation at the Sheridan College Athletics and Recreation awards banquet last year.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1069"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2211,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1069\/revisions\/2211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/sweatmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}