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Moresports Personality ProfilesNatural Born Leaders
Arshana Nakanthiran – 5'2" and 105 lbs. Due to my mom; it's so sad because I'm pretty sure that both of my sisters will be taller than me and it's not fair because I'm the most healthy one and I drink my milk every day. Sri Lankan
Chinese
English because we're doing Macbeth and we're acting plays out.
I listen to anything that sounds good. I'm really diverse too. I like classical music too because I used to play the piano.
Art, drawing. In Grade 4 I was put into a Grade 6 art class.
Personality counts for sure and so does looks. You have to be athletic or maintain a healthy lifetyle, and you have to respect everything around you. It's not just women you should respect if you're a guy, it's everything around you. They need to be educated and better be in school because dropping out is not cool.
I will be finishing law school or I hope to be playing soccer or basketball for that university. Basketball would be a miracle because of my height issue.
Nikkita Wong – 5'4" and 140 lbs. My dad is 6-feet, my mom is 5'6", and my brother is 5'11" so I was short-changed and my brother got the tall and coordination genes. Chinese, English, Swedish
I don't really know. I'm really wishy-washy. I keep going back and forth. Pho.
Does lunch count?
I'm very diverse. I have things from the Beatles to T.I.
Taking dance, reading, trying to get into fashion and make-up.
Personality definitely but hey they still have to have the looks and be athletic and creative, really diverse because I need someone to connect with. I do a lot of things so I need someone who is understanding.
Hopefully finishing up my studies in sports medicine and traveling after graduation, that's one of my life goals, to travel.
In all my years of working with youth I have been privileged to work with these two very mature and dedicated young women. They have demonstrated the potential to become great coaches, mentors, and positive role models at such a young age. I cannot wait to see them reach their full potential. Keep up the great work Arshana and Nikkita.
In my experience, the youth who get most involved in the community are the ones who usually do well in school too, and are most prepared for life after school. They often get good summer jobs and are usually off to university after they graduate. Of all the youth involved in our programs, Arshana and Nikkita are the most involved and likely the most effective coaches we have. It hasn't come easy. They have worked hard at their coaching, taken the training programs offered to them, and have taken advantage of every opportunity out there. They have been there for us (the organizers) and most of all, for the children. They have become great mentors.
Nikkita and Arshana
Arshana and Nikkita arrived to the interview looking every bit the muscular athletes they are. Prompt and put-together they share easy smiles, flawless complexions, a love for shopping, and a remarkable self-assurance for their 16 years of living. After greeting the Family Dog with "oohs" and "ahs" they settled in to talk about how they came to be the coaches they are today. "I started getting interested in volunteering as part of Girl Guides," Nikkita says. "I volunteered as a MoreSports mini-soccer coach through school and then starting going into (its) fastbreak basketball." She'd played volleyball, basketball and ran cross country in elementary school and began playing soccer and tennis in highschool. Arshana was enrolled in girls-only sports programs at Kensington School and her coach Elisa Wong, who was also coaching MoreSports Fastbreak basketball, suggested that she give it a try. "MoreSports basketball was co-ed then and my mom had a little problem with that, but because she trusted my coach she gave the nod so I could play," Arshana says. "My mom really wanted us to be involved in a lot of things so I did skating, swimming and basketball." Today, Arshana plays club basketball and soccer, school basketball, and has played tennis and badminton. Nikkita says, "School is a big factor in this because you get references to go into leadership, basketball or other courses or programs, and then the community tries to recruit you into roles within their organizations." MoreSports promotes its programs through schools, community centers, and neighbourhood houses. "When MoreSports kids are too old for the program they can join the YELL program -- where youth engage, learn and lead – and become coaches for the next generation of MoreSports kids," MoreSports Coordinator Dick Woldring says. "And, a lot of our coaches still play sports in school and other programs." That means the community of participation and leadership keeps expanding: "Put together MoreSports and YELL create an incredibly sustainable and rewarding sporting community," says Woldring. "The model is also easily transferable to other communities." The benefits of being involved in MoreSports, YELL, and community have the two girls thinking about their futures in practical terms. "I think other kids should definitely get involved in the community because it gives you more opportunities," Nikkita says. "I'm trying to get into sports medicine and I think that helping in the community through sports will help to get me in." "Once I hit highschool I needed community service hours because you need a certain amount of hours to graduate so I started in Grade 8," Arshana adds. "Then by being certified in soccer (through the National Coaching Certification) we were able to coach kids and can be paid to coach. It's a good opportunity because you get known in the community and can either work or volunteer and both you help meet your other goals." Though the girls have strategies for their pending adulthoods they're also feeling the pressure of life now. Highschool is a challenge both academically and socially. "School is really demanding and people are changing so fast; it's a little scary," says Nikkita. Her involvement in sports and coaching helps with those stressors. "I've gone out a lot more, gotten more active in the community, been a lot happier and busier," she says. "What makes me busy makes me happy. I feel a lot better about myself too because I get to work with kids. Just knowing that you've helped someone or taught someone something that they didn't know before just feels really good and it's a feeling that you don't get a lot." Arshana agrees and says the challenges and transitions of becoming a certified coach are incremental and the process is enjoyable. "In the beginning the coaching wasn't that big of a deal because we had older people co-coaching with us," she says. "We didn't have to do practice plans and we would report any problems to them. In Grade 9 I was assigned teams to coach and that was ‘whoa.' It's just like a blur. The biggest thing I'd say is when we did mini-soccer we actually, actually coached them and had to come up with our own practice plans. We coached Grade 4 and 5 boys. We never really got stressed out and it was so much fun." The two girls coach together and they lead in other aspects of their lives too. For instance, both are first born children with siblings. Arshana has two younger sisters: Aarthika, 15, and Nesane, 12. Her mother works in the hospitality industry and father, Sellaih, works in the janitorial field. Arshana was born in Sri Lanka, but because of the civil war there the family fled and spent time in Malaysia, Singapore, South and North Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Senegal before settling in Vancouver. Nikkita was born in Maple Ridge and has a younger brother Loren, 14. Her father, Roy, is an RCMP officer and her mother, Tina, works for Federal Express. Her parents both play recreational volleyball and baseball and are younger than most of her friends' parents, which puts them "a little closer" to her daily reality. The family celebrates both Chinese and European holidays. The girls giggle about their status as older sisters, but when it comes to leadership in the community they're serious about their commitments. Nikkita says their community mentors "are straight with us" and Arshana says they have made their transitions from players to volunteer coaches and now paid coaches easier with their support and by modeling professionalism. The girls hold themselves to the same standard and are throwing a shout out to Tupper Community Schools Coordinator John Mullan, MoreSports Midtown Hub Coordinator Tupper Activity Programmer Ny Lath, and Elisa Wong. These natural born leaders have met the formal test and the rest is not history; it's the future. |
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