Tuesday 12 August 2014

It's time to say Goodbye

Hello, everyone! I’m back.

Fall is coming to Vancouver. Of course it’s still hot but I can feel the cooler breeze nowadays and it’s also raining a lot more!

I came here a year ago when the weather was like this. I was so excited and dreamed of many things to do in Vancouver. I thought a year would be very long time and in some ways it was. I missed my family (except for my mom and brother because I came here with them), friends, my ex-boyfriend (no, just kidding) and food. But, on the other hand, it was also a very short time especially after I started working with Football BC. Time has gone really fast since I started here in May. I don’t know why but I guess that’s because working here was so fun and exciting:)

Last August at English Bay


I’ve written 11 posts in the last three months and it’s hard to believe this is my last post with Football BC. I know you’re going to miss me! 

To get inspiration to write my last post, I re-read my first post that I wrote back in May. Reading through the post I could look back at that time and I think I had a great time with Football BC and I experienced a lot.
When I wrote the first blog post I mentioned I didn’t have any football knowledge. I didn’t even understand why people watch football. But now I can understand a little about football and enjoy watching it but I know I still have to learn much more. I went to BC Place to watch a game and visited several kids camps. Now I can tell what’s a good play and a bad play. If I didn’t work here I might never have the opportunity to watch a football game in my life. I’m glad I could watch it and I really thank Football BC for giving me that great chance.




Furthermore, I had a chance to meet many people who work with Football BC and even famous players. When I had my first interview with Darren and Sunny I was so nervous to talk to them. I had no idea what to ask and how to ask. After the interview, listening to the recording I felt really shy because I thought my English was terrible and I could feel that I was nervous. But my post about Darren and Sunny was clicked by a lot of readers and I was proud of it. And when I interviewed Dave and Angus, I felt more comfortable than before. It would be a great step for my future goal of being a sports journalist. 

Above all, my English skills both speaking and writing have really improved over the last three months. I had many chances to talk with my supervisors and other interviewees. Also I had to write a post every week. (It was hard and a little bit stressful though…) It made my English improve a lot and I’m sure that my English has improved a lot more in the last 3 months than in the 9 months when I was a student of an ESL school and the Gastown Business College. 

Well, I experienced many things and learned a lot. And I would like to pick the three best moments and the three most difficult moments working here. 

My best moment was interviewing Angus Reid. We were lucky to run into Angus at a camp. We decided to use that chance to interview him so honestly I didn’t have a lot of information about him. But after the interview Angus told me it was the best interview he has ever had. My supervisor also said he was impressed. I was so proud of it and I felt my English speaking improved.





My second best moment was going to BC Place and watch a Lions game. As I told you, if I didn’t work here I might never have had the chance to watch football. It’s not a popular sport in Korea and I wasn’t interested in it at all before. Because Football BC let me experience this it has widened my interest in sports.

My third best moment here was… well, actually it’s the best and one of my most challenging moments.
It was at the Seahawks camp! It was very interesting event and I saw Russell Wilson which was really cool. But that day I also had to try some football obstacles and it was very hard to do. My ability was terrible and if you watch the video, you will know what I mean. I was so shy to be on camera and my face in the video was also terrible… haha yes, it was the best but also worst moment for me.




Another difficult moment was my first interview with Darren and Sunny. Well, it was the first time I ever interviewed someone in English so it was probably natural for me to be nervous. But I just want to go back to that day and interview them again. (Of course to do better than the first time!)




My last difficult moment working here was… no, is now. 
Until now, on my second last day as I’m typing this, I can’t believe my internship is finishing. I’ve never done an internship before even in Korea so it was the first internship I did. I was nervous and worried at first but also excited. And I really enjoyed my working here.

To work with Football BC, I achieved everything that I wanted. I wanted to widen my sports knowledge, make a career that can be helpful for my future and improve my English skills. I can’t say I have a perfect sports knowledge, career or fluency in English but I gained and developed a lot. 

Now it’s time to leave and go back to my school life. It will be busy and hard but I’ll never forget my time here and I’ll miss everyone I met working with Football BC (even though they might not remember me…) I will always remember working here and try hard to achieve my long term goal. If I become a famous sports reporter I’ll let you know through this blog!




Until then, I hope it won’t be a long time before we meet again. I hope all my readers take care of themselves. If I can I will upload my life onto this blog, even if it’s not related to Football.

So… It’s time to say goodbye! 
Take care, stay health and be happy:)

Thank you for reading my blogs for the last few months.

감사합니다! (Thank you!)

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Who wants to be the next Angus Reid?

Hi there, it’s Hayley again! Did you enjoy long weekend?
For me, it was really exciting weekend. I’ve been here with my mom and younger brother - who is not a sports guy- for almost 12 months and my daddy came to Vancouver last Saturday! We are leaving soon (we will be going home to Korea in a couple of weeks) so he came to have a vacation with us. As soon as he arrived home we talked about the records of our favorite baseball team :P
We had dinner together after a long time and we went to Victoria on BC day. It was great weekend!

Anyways, back to the football blog.

Before the long weekend I visited a football camp that Football BC technical director Dino Geremia runs and helping him out was Angus Reid, who retired from BC Lions earlier this year.
When he had a break, I had a chance to talk with him.




How did you come here to coach kids today?
- I’ve known Dino who runs this program since I was maybe ten years old. He helped me through all of my young age with sports, he was always there for me. Then I grew up playing football in this province. I was at the young level, high school level, college level and eventually the pro level. So for me, I have two connections. I played a sport here and I’ve known Dino since I was young. So anytime Dino calls and has to deal with the helping kids playing sports I always say yes.


How do you like coaching kids?
- I love it. it helps keep me young and it keeps me around the sport a little bit. I’ve been involved in  sports since I was young so I can’t just leave, I need to be around it. This is a fun way for me to feel young again and help give back a lot of what I’ve learned from a lot of coaches in my life. Now I can help pass it on to the next generation.


When you coach kids, don’t you want to go back to the field?
- Yes, I do. Until I get out there and my body starts aching, sore and I realize I’m not young like these guys anymore. So in my head, in my heart ‘Yes’ but my body says ‘You’re done. It’s over.’ It’s okay. I live through them now. 


How is your retirement?
- Retirement is less painful, it’s good. It’s funny though I’m probably busier than I ever was when I was playing football because playing football was a pretty simple life. I went to practice and worked out, I went home and rested to do it again (the next day). But now I’m working in the business world and I do the radio show, TV show and write for newspapers. There is sort of time to do everything because I’m not going to practice all day long. So it’s very different but it’s very busy. 


Do you like your life after retirement?
- I do. I mean, I will miss playing football forever. I think if I had my way I would stay 30 years old and be a football player for the rest my life. But that’s not a reality, it’s never going to happen. So I’m okay with not playing anymore. It was the time for me to move on and I’m happy with what I’m doing now. But being able to come out to these kind of things gives me  enough football still to stay around it. 




If one of these kids came up to you and said ‘I want to be the next Angus Reid’, what advice would you have for them?
- Do as much as you can. I’m proud of myself on asking for as much help from everyone I could and then actually working on the advice given to me. A lot of people talk about how bad they want things but actually they are not working hard on it. 
When I made the decision at the young age this is what I wanted to do, I asked help from everybody and I was lucky that most people helped but actually I followed the advice as hard as I possibly could and I never stopped trying to get better. I worked on the fundamentals, techniques and I could never get the half of it. It became all my days and it’s hard for kids nowadays because video games are pretty good now. And I didn’t have to do the internet and time wasting things as much. 
But they’ve got to make decision this is what they want, find a few friends who want the same thing and make it what you do with your day. And really, really, really work hard to do it. You are not only getting good but you’ll be proud of who you are and that is so big with today’s youth to find something to be proud of. You can feel good about yourself and build your self confidence. Because even if football doesn’t last there will be someone who is not scared work for dreams, and to be who they really want to be. That’s a big, big deal. 



The advice he gave to kids was not only for kids who want to be a football player but for everyone who has their own dream and also for me. As you know (or you don’t know) I want to be a sports journalist. But I just say ‘I want to be a sports journalist.’ I hope I would be but I actually do nothing and sometimes I don’t read even one sports article for a day.
As Angus advised I should ask help and listen to advice and learn form it. 

I’m so honoured and happy to meet him and get this advice before finishing my intern work with Football BC. I’ll keep it in mind to achieve my goal. 


Thank you Angus!