BY COLE SHELTON AND EMANUEL GEORGE
The Toronto Blue Jays congratulated Sheridan College Athletic Therapy students Wade Sadoway and Meagan Anstruther ahead of their game against the Cleveland Indians on Sept. 8. Sadoway and Anstruther were saluted on the field for their dedication inside the classroom and hard work outside during internships and extracurricular activities.
Anstruther received the Dr. Ron Taylor award given to a student who has a high academic average and displays a high level of commitment to extracurricular activities. Anstruther spent time helping coach back in her hometown.
“I wasn’t able to do that last year because the placement was extremely demanding with travel time and what they expected in us,” said Anstruther. “But the previous years I was coaching rowing back in St. Catharines at the high schools and I did one year at Brock University.”
She was also very active in the college community as well, participating in a Sheridan’s Powder Puff Program, which is Sheridan’s flag football team.
However, she was anxious to go out on the field to accept it.
“I was very excited but also very nervous, but mostly excited,” added Anstruther. “ I just didn’t want to trip out there. It was very exciting to come down and get out on the field and get that point of view.”
Meanwhile, Sadoway was the recipient of the Toronto Blue Jays scholarship which allowed him to intern with the team this season. Sadoway admits that he has been a lifelong Jays fan and this scholarship was one of the major reasons that he travelled from Edmonton to attend Sheridan.
“One of the biggest things when I was trying to pick a program, I kept on hearing how good Sheridan is and how it is one of the best programs in the country, one of the oldest programs in the country so that was a huge draw,” Sadoway said. “Just that reputation. I found out about the internship with the Blue Jays and that kind of sealed the deal that I was coming here and made that my goal for the program.”
“It was incredible. It was a dream come true,” Sadoway added. “I came over to this school to try to get this and grew up a Jays fan. Yeah, a dream come true and an amazing opportunity.”
With the goal achieved, Sadoway was set to work with the Blue Jays, and when his first day came around he knew he couldn’t act like a fan and had to handle himself as a professional.
“Just kind of play it cool, yeah,” he added. “I was a fan so I kind of had that fan side but I had to come in here and act like you belong. You just can’t be starstruck, I guess, you have to fight that the first day.”
Throughout his first few weeks with the Blue Jays, he was focusing on making other people’s jobs easier and making sure he was doing his job to his best ability.
“Just come in and basically do anything, just help out with what you can,” Sadoway said. “Maintaining inventory stuff, restocking, keeping things clean and in order and then just lending a hand with whatever I can to make everybody else’s job easier.”
As the season went on Sadoway began to gain the trust of the players and other trainers. His job grew to include performing tapings and therapy on the players. With Sadoway doing more and gaining trust in the players, Blue Jays centre fielder Kevin Pillar went up to Sadoway and asked him to tape his ankles. This would be the first time Sadoway would tape a professional athlete and it sure ended up being a memorable one.
“Most memorable part was, I think it was in July, for the first time, it was my first time taping a guy. I taped Kevin Pillar’s ankle and he hit a walk-off home run in, like, the 10th inning,” Sadoway explained. “He came off, cut off the tape, signed it and gave it to me so I actually have that framed in my place right now. It was incredible.”
As incredible as it was, the Blue Jays season is winding down and school is starting up, Sadoway will be in his fourth and final year at Sheridan and because of this internship he is ready to take on his final year of the program.
“I learned so much from watching the therapists day-to-day and incorporate it into everything I do going forward.”
