“I was in P.E., I was in grade 12 and I really liked my P.E. teachers and they were a great support system for me because before then and before I got involved in P.E., just being an assistant to a grade 8 class and joining a super fit class, I thought I was a weak little thing. But then it was my teachers who pushed me to my potential, pushing me hard in the workouts at school and allowing me to be the leading positions in class. It was around that time I had to apply to College/University. I actually went to Douglas before I came here, so I went to Sport Science. I knew in the beginning I wanted to go to UBC for Kinesiology but it was too expensive and I didn’t have any experience. All I had was my high school stuff and I didn’t do anything so basically went from loving P.E., it was always my favorite class, to going to Sport Science then eventually here to do Kin at UBC.
My initial goal from the beginning was Physio, straight out of the gate going to Physio but right now I don’t know if I want to commit to Physio because I’ve never even shadowed at a clinic, I don’t know what any of it is about, but I do plan on volunteering this summer. I don’t want to go to school right away for it, so after I just want to work as a Kineislogist at a clinic, eventually specialize in Physio or Occupational therapy or nursing, I just know I want to go into health care.
I hate being still, I tend to get really anxious when things stay the same for too long, I always try and do something new every summer. I am motivated by the anxiety of not getting ahead, in terms of my career and my academic career, I also have motivation to be active. So I come from Surrey everyday and I come to school 5 days a week, and I try to workout 4 times a week and my motivation there is to not become so physically and mentally weak. I’ve always been small my whole life and really skinny and not feeling like I’m a strong person but I finally do feel like I’m somewhat strong so in order for me to maintain that and to maintain good mental well being, I force myself to get up at 5/5:30, take the 1.5 hour commute to come here, get my ass to the COOP, do what I do for an hour and a half, and that makes me feel really good because otherwise I just feel like shit if I don’t lift, or move, be active or do anything.
My older brother, he’s a nurse, I’ve always kind of modeled him as someone who I want to be like because he’s in health care and I want to go into health care and he’s also quite active himself. He use to run half marathons, do lot of running, and now he’s big into cycling but the way he balances his leisure life, his work life and his social life so well maintained, that’s a big inspiration for me. I volunteer at the Varsity weight room and a lot of the athletes are really inspirational too because they have so much on their plates, they’re athletes, they also go to school and they also do their training. And the fact that they can do that stuff and still look like they are striving in their academics and their sport is really inspirational to me.
I have 2 older brothers, my other brother obviously inspires me too. They are both at least 10 years older than me, so I’m the baby. When I was a kid they would always take me out to hangout with them because I was very introverted and reserved as a kid, I did have friends but I wasn’t social with them. So I would always hangout by myself. They would always invite me to hangout with their friends and I was like 12. I just remember going out with both my brothers friends to watch movies or go out to eat and they were all in their 20s, and I was a weird adolescent. That was really nice of them to do. The 1st brother I talked about, I wrote an essay about him because he has quite an interesting life in his nursing and active life, he also travels to the Philippines a lot to do dental work, which I thought was pretty cool. Writing the essay about him in grade 9 made us a little bit closer.
When I first started post secondary I went to Douglas, and I was in Sport Science. I thought I was in a program that I can fit in. Yeah I had a background in ‘enjoying going to the gym.’ I had been going to the gym since grade 10 and I didn’t really know what I was doing but I thought I been doing it for so long I know what I’m doing. But when I got to Douglas I felt so out of place because everyone was actually an athlete and they had that background, they had that history playing in team sports or in traditional sport but I didn’t. Well I played Volleyball in early high school but I stopped in grade 9 so I thought I wasn’t a part of the student body that I was representing. That was pretty hard for me to cope with for a bit, it got to a point where I didn’t know if I wanted to come to UBC even though that was my goal from the beginning. And even when I did come here a year ago, I was like ‘oh is this even the right place for me to be’, it was hard for me to find a community that I fit in with because I wasn’t a top notch athlete even though I know not everyone’s like that but that’s who I wanted to be. But I couldn’t figure out how to be that person and that was a prolonged struggle. And the loneliness of transferring here, I transferred into my 3rd year and it was hard to find my group because everyone had already formed their clicks of friends when they are in 3rd year and I was in a lot of 3rd year classes but I just managed to find people who I vibed with in my classes. I volunteered in the KUS and the Varsity weight room who I’m still with today. I eventually found that I enjoyed Powerlifting and I even joined the powerlifting club, attended a few meetings here and there and the people at that club are really nice and welcoming. That has made me really want to excel in that sport a little more. So overcoming that struggle of who I am.
My regret is not joining sports as I could. I remember playing with a soccer ball in my living room and kicking it against the wall and being like ‘yeah I love soccer, I want to play soccer.’ My mom would be like, ‘no, soccer players get sick because they play in the rain.’ And I was like ‘ok fine.’ I remember I wanted to join the basketball team in grade 3 and I was like ‘oh I should join but I’m going to be going on a trip when the season starts so I don’t think I can go.’ I always made excuses for myself to not join these sports because I was always very shy and thought I wasn’t good enough but there was a part of me that really wanted to. I think that part of me is what made me go into Kiniesology as well but I wish I had join more sports. I feel like I missed out on a lot because of that. I can still do it now, it would just be hard for me to get into the groove and becoming physically literate for a certain sport. But that’s one reason why I like power lifting because I’ve been lifting for several years so I kind of know how to do it.” – Sabrina Gaspar