For many players, the reach of sports extends far beyond the lines painted on the field. This is definitely the case for fourth-year midfielder Yordan Stoyanov of the men’s soccer team, who was awarded the Ontario University Athletics West Community Service Award.
“It feels nice to be recognized for something… I was doing because I wanted to just give back to the community, help out,” Stoyanov said. “That's what I got in my first few years as well. I just wanted to give back.”
“It wouldn't have been possible without all the other organizations and everybody that was a part of everything that I could contribute to. So I'd like to thank them all,” Stoyanov added.
Men's Soccer -- @mcmasteru's Stoyanov wins @ouasport Community Service Award, while six Marauders were named as all-stars on Thursday. #GoMacGohttps://t.co/Q2RV4AxZ17
— McMaster Athletics (@McMasterSports) 1 November 2018
[spacer height="20px"]The third Marauder in the last four years to win the distinction, Stoyanov was heavily involved in many programs in the McMaster community. Stoyanov was involved with Think Pink and other fundraising organizations, in addition to being the team’s representative for Mac Athletes Care.
“The hospital visits… I think it's great because you can interact with kids and it's just a great experience overall,” Stoyanov said. ”The leadership component of that is you talk to your teammates and you ask if they're interested. It's not just ‘soccer, soccer, soccer’; there's another part of it. So that is something I really like.”
The importance of giving back to the community was something instilled in Stoyanov going back to his earliest days as a Marauder and drove him to want to be a part of initiatives like Mac Athletes Care. This also something that comes as second nature to the midfielder.
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[spacer height="20px"]“In my first and second year, a lot of the veteran players would always talk to us about doing hospital visits, and you just get to be a part of something bigger,” Stoyanov said. “Another reason was because I like being involved in it. I want to have an impact on my environment and the people around me.”
Stoyanov’s large off-field impact does not discount his important place on the team. As one of the longer tenured players in the program, the venerated midfielder was one of the team’s co-captains this past season. This put him squarely into that leadership role, helping mentor younger players adjust to the new environment, especially with concerns such as balancing their academics with athletic responsibilities.
“My role would be to support the players during games or practices, even outside of the practice, outside of the change room,” said Stoyanov. “Just trying to set a good example for the new guys coming in, as one of the leaders of the team.”
Despite being unable to directly help his team in the later stages of the season due to an injury, Stoyanov saw this time as an opportunity to make an impact off the field for his team, which is in line with what he considered to be his role.
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[spacer height="20px"]Although McMaster had a shorter playoff run than they would have liked this season, Stoyanov still sees a lot of positives in what he took away from the season, including the friendships maintained between the players.
“I felt we had a good start to the season, it was a great bunch of guys,” said Stoyanov. “I think we played well, play[ed] good soccer. We had some unfortunate results that could have went both ways. The start of the season, the goal was to make it to nationals, and the fact that we fell short of that is a little bit disappointing. But I think the overall attitude is very positive, and everybody will support each other throughout the season. So I think coming into next year, we know what we need to work on and I think we'll be much better.”
Stoyanov hopes to play another year in the maroon and grey come next season, where hopefully they will be able to make a lengthier playoff run. Yet, whatever the result on the pitch, it is clear that a new season will bring more opportunities for Stoyanov to give back to his team and the Marauder community at large.
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Megan MacLeod, a fourth-year honours health studies and gerontology student, has just finished her third annual Warm Up for Winter clothing drive. The campaign, which she started herself in her second year at Mac, collects and distributes winter clothing for children and adults.
MacLeod was inspired to start this initiative after volunteering and working at the Norman Pinky Lewis Recreation Centre in North Hamilton.
“I saw a need in the community for warm winter clothing,” she said.
“Children were coming to the after school program with inadequate winter clothing … [and] I definitely felt that I could do something to fill that need.”
She certainly did her best. As of the distribution on Oct. 19, she had collected 6000 items, far more than the 3000 last year and 1000 in the program’s first year.
The clothing was stored at MacLeod’s family home in Caistorville, a small town of about 100 people, where a team of her friends and family sorted and packed the thousands of items to be transported to the Hamilton community centre.
And because of her promotional efforts, only 200 items were left over at the end of the day. The network of community organizations and school principals helped bring a record crowd to her distribution day.
The reaction from those people who picked up the clothing was also positive.
“Some people shy away from reactions like [hugging],” she said. “But a lot of people were very appreciative of it, even if they didn’t … say it, you could tell … a burden was just released from them just because they didn’t have to put out hundreds of dollars to clothes.”
MacLeod’s community involvement is not limited to Warm Up for Winter. In fact, this is the third clothing drive she’s organized. The first was a shoe drive for people living in Haiti at the time of the earthquake, for which she sent 4000 pairs of shoes to help with earthquake relief.
She also organized Glitz, Glamour, and Graduation, an initiative that provided grade 8 girls with dresses and beauty services for their graduation ceremonies.
All of her campaigns were clothing drives, but she didn’t plan that.
“I didn’t think about any of them,” she explained. “They were all spur of the moment, and because there was a need.”
She plans to continue this kind of community service in future, and not just with Warm Up for Winter.
After completing her health studies program, as well as a certificate in not-for-profit business offered through the new Social Sciences collaboration with Mohawk College, MacLeod hopes to pursue a Master’s at McMaster and eventually work for an NGO.
“A dream job would be to take what I’m doing right now and turn it into a career … something along those lines, giving back to the community. I would love to eventually do that.”
Gold Level award winner Kyle Edward-Salter
Kyle Edward-Salter, a third year combined honours political science and labour studies student, has been awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Award - one of Canada’s most prestigious youth leadership awards. He is one of only 8,012 recipients of this specific Gold level award in the program’s 56-year history.
Edward-Salter will be travelling to Ottawa on September 12 to officially receive the award from His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, KG, GCVO, SOM, ADC.
The award was founded in 1956 by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The Duke of Edinburgh Charity aims to empower youth ages 14-24 to become involved in the community, develop practical and social skills and be physically active. The award itself requires substantial commitment and perseverance to meet the necessary volunteer and fitness requirements. The program has three progressive levels that youth can work towards, which result in Bronze, Silver or Gold Awards.
Kyle began the program at age 14, initially focusing on attaining the Bronze level. Eventually he set his sights on the Gold Level award, which he completed at age 20. The Gold Level requires participants to commit to leading an expedition and developing a residential project, which will enrich the community in the long-term. These two components are on top of the already rigorous fitness and community service requirements.
Kyle was guided towards the Duke of Edinburgh program through his early involvement in the Air Cadets. Many of his community projects, including debating coaching, outdoor expedition trips and participation in the Around the Bay Race have involved other members of the Air Cadet squadron. But he was also quick to point out that the Duke of Edinburgh Award is open to all youth and could be an especially powerful way to harness youth leadership in universities and in urban areas such as Hamilton’s Downtown Core.
“Youth in cities really need this. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a huge personal achievement that is open to any and I would like to introduce it to as many people as possible“
Kyle was supported throughout the process by his mentor and coach, Captain Mike Lacombe. Cpt. Lacombe has known Kyle for several years through the Air Cadets Program.
Lacombe noted that in general, Duke of Edinburgh Award recipients typically stand out from the average young person in terms of their commitment to community service.
“Kyle in particular had 400-500 hours of service, well above the 100 required hours. And no one told him to do that…he just did.”
Lacombe, a former recipient and alumnus of the program described the excitement surrounding the upcoming awards ceremony. Kyle will be the second Hamiltonian, after Lacombe himself, to receive his award from a member of the royal family. Cpt. Lacombe received his award from HRH Prince Andrew while Kyle will receive his award from HRH Prince Edward.
Looking back upon his success in the program, Edward-Salter stated he wants to continue to be an ambassador for the award into the future. There is currently no Duke of Edinburgh program or affiliated clubs at McMaster but Edward-Salter remarked that this would be an interesting endeavor to begin. However, Kyle sees a greater demand in simply promoting the entire Canadian program, which is less established and does not have the same mainstream recognition in Canada than the initial program in the United Kingdom.
