Shirley Villar 2014 - 2018

BEAP had not only helped me develop as an athlete, but also as a person. Coming into grade nine, I was painfully shy. Making new friends was scary for me as I didn’t have anyone from my middle school going to Birchmount. However, by the end of my first year I felt like I was part of a family because that’s what BEAP really is. For one, the fantastic BEAP teachers really got to know me throughout the four years not just as a student in their class but as Shirley. They got to understand my strengths, weaknesses, and how to push me to work harder. Also, I was able to make friends easily as we all had the same struggles of balancing school, BEAP workouts, our outside sport, and school sports. We knew how hard it was to get to school for 7:30AM to go to early morning BEAP class and the satisfying feeling of drinking chocolate milk from the breakfast club when it was over. At times it was a lot to handle, but we supported each other until the end. These shared experiences truly brought as closer as a group. At the end of my senior year, I had gained a new-found confidence and am still close to my friends whom I met in grade nine.

Going into BEAP, I didn’t know what I wanted to do for the future. I knew that I loved sports, but I didn’t know how I could stay in that field. I couldn’t really look forward to an athletic scholarship like my other friends because universities aren’t really looking for anyone who practices karate as it isn’t a varsity team. I just went into BEAP wanting to be a better athlete, but thinking that I would probably go into another career like law. Throughout the years, I learned a lot about different training methods, how to train for principles like power, the importance of nutrition, and other various aspects of sports. I was able to apply this knowledge in my own life like making my own workouts and knowing what to eat and when to eat. As I understood more about all the different topics about sports from the biological to the psychological I knew that I had to go into kinesiology. BEAP gave me knowledge of the basics of kinesiology and the realization of what I wanted to do. In the future I hope to have an occupation in the sports field whether it be a sports medicine doctor, a physiotherapist, or a sport psychologist while being an instructor for karate.