A balanced approach is best

Julian Antonation is a very impressive and insightful 17-year-old, Grade 11 student at Westgate Mennonite Collegiate.

Julian enjoys an array of sports, including ultimate Frisbee, basketball, cross country, and weight training. Julian plays in an ultimate Frisbee league and also plays basketball for his school.

“Ultimate is maybe my favourite sport. You get to really run around a lot. There is lots of space and creativity that comes into play with ultimate. Rain, wind, mud makes for a different, fun, and challenging game. There is a lot of strategy in ultimate Frisbee, too,” he said.

“With basketball, I just started recently playing again in Grade 11. I took a couple of years off, and am now back in it competitively with the school. There is a certain thrill when you sink a basket, or make a strong defensive play and block a shot. Basketball is fun with my friends.”

Julian lives in Armstrong Point with his dad Scott, mom Kim and his brother Brogan.

“I want to say thank you to my mom and dad for driving Brogan and I around from place to place,” he said. “Thank you for always supporting us and helping us to be better. I love you and thank you for always being there for us.”

Julian hopes to study to become a mechanical engineer after high school.

“I want to build houses, buildings, bridges, etc., to help make our community better and stronger,” he said. “I want to help make our community a better place to live for everyone.”

To that end, Julian said he does well in his math and science classes.

“I am a B-plus, A-minus student, mostly. My favourite class to study is physics or pre-calculus. I find those subjects to be pretty simple,” he said. “You don’t really need to study it like other classes, I just have to learn the procedure, and then it’s just plug in the numbers and move forward.”

I asked Julian about his future with sports.

“As I get older I see myself continuing to work out and stuff like that. Maybe not playing competitively, though,” he said. “I do see myself playing sports with my friends. I think that is mostly what sports are for. To have fun with your friends and have a good time.”

For a young man, Julian has a very wise perspective on things. I asked him what advice he would give young athlete:

“That is a tough question. I would say do what you love, but also spend time with school and your friends. I think if you do that you will have much more fun with sports. Approach life with balance.”

Troy Westwood
Westwood's Sports Heroes

Former Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicker Troy Westwood writes about Winnipeg’s unsung sports heroes every other week in the Canstar Community News weeklies.

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