Student-athletes honoured with StFX Community X-Cellence award

Courtesy Corey LeBlanc, The Casket

The championship effort continues for StFX student athletes when it comes to giving back to the community.

To recognize those successes, a male and female varsity athlete is honoured with the StFX Community X-Cellence award during the annual Celebration of Excellence Athletic Awards Gala.

Rob Slaney (hockey) and Shane Coupland (basketball) – co-merited – and Melissa Gottschall (basketball) received the honour April 7 at the Keating Centre.

“We come into this community … and we really become part of it. And, at the end of the day, you want to say you somehow left your mark here at StFX,” Slaney, a human kinetics student from Portugal Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, said.

“Giving back to the youth that are eventually going to make up the population of this school I think that’s the best way to do it.”

He and his fellow recipients reflected about their Xaverian experience in the community shortly after the gala ended.

“Growing up here – Antigonish has given so much to me over the last 21 years that this is just a great opportunity for me to give back to them,” Gottschall, a fourth-year business student, said.

“I took every opportunity I could to give back to them. I am just grateful for the opportunity and everyone that has been through this with me.”

Coupland, a business student from Brisbane, Australia, said he loved helping in the community that has “given me so much.”

“I have just cherished every moment I have been here. I am just privileged and honoured to have been able to give back to the kids in the community,” he added.

The three recipients, captains with their respective teams, were also StFX Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT) members.

‘Positive impact’

The student-athlete trio was exemplary in balancing busy athletic and academic schedules with tireless community service.

Gottschall, who coached with several youth basketball teams while at StFX, volunteered at L’Arche Antigonish, including during summer camps and other events. She also worked with the welcoming committee for the Nova Scotia Special Olympics.

She was a volunteer during the Antigonish Highland Games bike race and Sobeys employee appreciation day.

Along with running a two-day basketball camp for a local middle school girls’ team, Gottschall participated in the StFX Halloween Safe Crossing initiative and assisted with the X-Women basketball Shoot for the Cure fundraiser for breast cancer awareness.

“It is about looking outside yourself and give someone else the opportunity to achieve greatness,” Gottschall said, when asked about the importance of ‘giving back’ to her.

“We have been through a lot – we have grown up, we have been through many achievements, so to be able to give the opportunity to other children to achieve their goals [is great].”

During this season, Coupland worked closely with an Antigonish CACL workshop member with Down syndrome, along with assisting youth at weekly Fit-4-Life events, in conjunction with the StFX human kinetics department.

The SALT president, who also coached minor basketball, played a key role in organizing the annual X Athletes for Charity event.

Coupland, a member of the StFX Service Learning Society, has volunteered with X-Out Bullying, Halloween Safe Crossing, Best Buddies, Literacy Week and Big Brothers/Big Sisters while at StFX.

“For us – I think I can speak on behalf of all of us – seeing a smile on a kid’s face when we come to do a clinic or go to a school is what we want to be able to do for everybody,” Coupland said.

“To do that here and for all the kids in the community, it is just great.”

Slaney, the recipient of the AUS Godfrey Award for community service, volunteered with the StFX human kinetics Fit-4-Life and Fit-4-Tots programs, served on the Student Athlete Leadership Team, helped organize the X Athletes for Charity event and took part in the CACL Classic fundraiser hockey game.

He was a volunteer tutor for numerous students, coached with a local pee wee AAA hockey team, was a StFX Best Buddies participant and served as an emergency room volunteer at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital.

Slaney also helped organize a Coady International Institute ‘on-ice’ event for international students who had never skated.

“When you have the ability to make an impact on a community, and you have all the children in the community who look up to us as the only major sports event in the area, it just provides a great opportunity to give back to them and be positive role models,” he said.

“I think I can speak on behalf of all three of us when I say it is something we all strive to do, just make a positive impact on the community.”

Many memories

For the award winners, the highlights of their time in the community are many.

“I think for me it was skating with the Coady. They were people who had never seen snow, never seen ice, and they thoroughly enjoyed the experience; you could see the looks on their faces,” Slaney offered as an unforgettable memory.

“For me – because that was my domain – to give it to them was something special.”

Gottschall recalled “hanging out” with members of the L’Arche community on a summer day at Oland Centre.

“We were just playing around, throwing balls around and running around with them; the smiles on their faces were priceless.

“I will just remember that moment for ever,” she added.

Coupland spoke of the development of his relationship with Shane, the CACL workshop member.

“Just the way that he responded to me; we both – for the first couple weeks – couldn’t understand each other; me being Australian and him having some communication difficulties,” Coupland said.

“But, the way he listened to me and I was able to listen to him, and the way that our time together was transformative.”

He said they would “hang out” for three or four hours per week, with their time together including X-Men hockey games.

“We worked out together in the gym. We shot hoops; I would rebound for him for an hour or so,” he added.

Over a couple months, Coupland said his friend shed 10 pounds, something both were very proud of.

“The energy that he had during the last couple weeks we were together was triple what it was at the start,” he added.

The StFX Community X-Cellence award winners were part of a student-athlete effort that contributed more than 2,000 volunteer hours to the community this season.