{"id":675,"date":"2020-12-11T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kidsportcanada.ca\/manitoba\/?post_type=news_stories&p=675"},"modified":"2020-12-10T20:23:35","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T20:23:35","slug":"qa-with-colin-hodgson","status":"publish","type":"news_stories","link":"https:\/\/kidsportcanada.ca\/manitoba\/news-stories\/qa-with-colin-hodgson\/","title":{"rendered":"#TeamKidSportMB Ambassador Q&A with Colin Hodgson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
We are back with another #TeamKidSportMB Q&A! This week we are featuring Colin Hodgson, Lead on Team McEwen. Read more to get to know Colin and his involvement with sport, curling, and KidSport.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Baseball, Curling, Volleyball, Golf, Track & Field, Badminton, Basketball<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Being able to participate in my first Grand Slam of Curling event. Sharing a locker room with some of the greatest players to ever take to the ice. Kevin Martin, Jeff Stoughton, Niklas Edin, David Murdoch and many of the other great athletes I grew up idolizing and trying to mimic. I found myself competing against them and my drive to be on their level has never receded.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every aspect of my life has been shaped by sport. I\u2019ve lived a fairly nomadic lifestyle travelling to where the opportunities arose and that has really shaped who I am as a person. Travel breeds perspective and I\u2019m grateful for the opportunities to see the world from many different angles. Where I live, who my friends and colleagues are, to who I am about to marry has all directly been influenced by my passion for sport and the opportunities I have been so fortunate to have received.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I would have worked with my dad as an electrician. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with my father and that would have been a very fulfilling life.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. Physically and most important, mentally. Self awareness is one of the greatest tools anyone can possess. People aren\u2019t strong or weak, everyone has moments of strength and weakness. Leaning on other people can take so much weight off of your shoulders and there is no shame in that. Quite the opposite. Happiness is the key in my mind to truly winning.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Play for fun and to make acquaintances. There is not a single person in the world who was good at curling when they first started. Perseverance and sheer stubbornness is what lengthy and enjoyable careers are about whatever your goals may be.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Being selected for the Ross Harstone Sportsmanship Award at the 2020 Tim Horton\u2019s Brier was genuinely the most satisfying and fulfilling moment in my career. To be selected by my peers as someone who distributes those types of qualities was very humbling as I\u2019m fighting tears of what that Brier meant to me. When I was younger I thought it was all about winning trophies and my attitude was representative of that. Life has so many different momentum swings and you realize that trophies don\u2019t fill voids. The experiences and how you react to situations can be everything.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In our sport we have a very fine margin between the elite and the secondary tier of athletes. Fortunately that means we have ample opportunity to play against the greats. What other sport can you just sign up to an event and play the #1 ranked team in the world? Having opportunities to see and learn with my own eyes was a catalyst in development.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is a tough one to narrow down because I have had so many different influences at very varying times of my life. Back to a kid it has to be my parents, I don\u2019t remember ever hearing no to participating in sport. My parents found a way to either take me or get me to where I needed to be whether it was baseball, curling, volleyball you name it, they got me there. I remember specifically one time my dad had me at the curling rink when I was about 12 years old until I could get rid of my \u201ctoe slide\u201d. Couldn\u2019t leave until we did it. After about 1.5 hours of complaining I did it and that probably saved my knees for life.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Obviously more inspiration came from the greats I grew up watching on old VHS tapes. Martin, Howard, Ferbey, Burtnyk, Stoughton, I used to pretend I was them with golf balls and a mini hockey stick on the floor with some twine I stole from my moms craft supplies to tape down rings on the carpet. Every player was quirky, unique, and were my heroes.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was fortunate to be asked after the Brier this past season to join as a KidSport ambassador. I had a great experience during the semi final watching with a big group of junior stars in the crowd and it was a very special moment going back to my roots in the stands watching big game curling.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Supporting our youth and giving them a place where they can be their own genuine selves is so important to the development of not only the kids that are directly involved with KidSport but everyone they come in contact with for the rest of their lives. Sport has improved my quality of life and I want to have so many more kids experience that as well.<\/p>\n\t
Colin joined #TeamKidSportMB in April 2020, and in the short time that he has been an ambassador for KidSport, he has had a few KidSport initiatives on the go. Including sale proceeds going to KidSport from the \u201cHurry Hard\u201d burger at a restaurant in his hometown Lacombe Alberta, and featuring KidSport on his mixed doubles team jersey, which you should keep your eye out for their appearance on the ice in 2021! Colin is also advocating to start a local KidSport chapter in Lacombe as well. We are excited to have Colin on #TeamKidSportMB and help make an impact in the province and across the country! Stay tuned for more updates from KidSport Manitoba.<\/p>\n