From Sport To Leadership - Bonnie James

I began my life in sport as a competitive swimmer. My parents wanted my sister and I to be involved in sports, and back then there weren’t a lot of choices, especially for girls. We had tried gymnastics but were told we were “too tall” so we were excited to find swimming. Swimming taught both independence and teamwork in sport. Independence because how hard you work directly affects how well you do, teamwork because other members are relying on you for relays and team aggregates.

As a competitive swimmer we were “forced” from a young age (I started at 8 y/o) to be organized/ disciplined. We swam 5 nights a week and as I got older Saturday mornings as well. The season lasted for the entire school year so you had to be disciplined and organized to get your homework done before practice so that you could have some free time after. This disciplined lifestyle helped us become honours students and high-ranking swimmers. However good coaches taught us to work hard but make sure to have fun.

In Junior High I branched out trying as many sports as possible: cross country running, volleyball, basketball, badminton, and multiple track events (which now my height was a blessing not a curse). These afforded me the opportunity to continue in both individual and team atmospheres. As I got older, I realized that a team is where I enjoyed being the most and by 16 I quit swimming to focus on school sports, especially basketball. This carried on into my first round of college where I played for the Red Deer College Queens Basketball Team.

Most sports come with their share of physical injuries but the most challenging moment for me was mentally. In grade 12 I was co-captain of the Churchill Griffins basketball team. One day after practice, I broke down at the coach, questioning why he always yelled at or made an example of me. I felt it wasn’t a fair representation of my play. His response caught me off guard. He agreed with me, but he said “I use you as an example because I know you are strong and can take it. I need to get my point across and if I direct the comments at others on the team, they will immediately fall apart”. That was the moment I learned that life wasn’t always going to be fair but that through my years of participation in sports, especially individual ones, I had developed the skillset to help my team. I also realized then I had the ability to help and influence others and the potential to become a leader.

I sort of stumbled upon my career path. I had been working for 5 years full time at the Hospital and had come to the realization that the career I had chosen was not going to sustain me in the long term, thanks to an amazing boss who mentored me well. But I had no idea what I wanted to do. In my spare time I had become a lifeguard as an adult, and the water was still calling me. One of my instructors had just been hired by the Lethbridge Fire department and encouraged me to look at this career path. So, I decided to give it a try, what did I have to lose?

With the support of my boss, I enrolled in EMT-A. and I loved the training. As we finished class and headed out on our practicums, I was ready to pack my bags and move to Calgary. The only reason being was that in Lethbridge, EMS and Fire are combined... and women weren’t firefighters. I had grown up watching Johnny and Roy on TV starring in “Emergency!” but that was a career for men not women. About a week into my practicum though I was hooked. I decided to give it a try and 30 years later here I still am.

Without sport I would not have had the physical or emotional strength to walk down this path. My early sport gave me the mental strength and confidence in myself, and my team sports have given me the desire to become an integral, productive team member. I am definitely at my best as part of a team and there is no greater team than that of a fire crew. We comprise a second family for each other, we don’t just work together we literally live together. Training, preparing meals and eating together, spending our off-work time together as well (a lot due to our crazy schedules), and most importantly placing our lives in each other’s hands.

I don’t believe that it is a coincidence that the majority of firefighters have come from hockey backgrounds. But even if not hockey (some of us did not have that option), some sort of sport background. It is knowing how to be a good team member that gets us through each day. The ability to support, encourage and celebrate each other are all vital skills learned from sport. The funny thing is though as such a strong team advocate, I have never really thought of myself as a leader. My goal everyday has always been to improve someone’s life whether it be a citizen or a fellow employee, make things better than they were yesterday, and to share my experience and knowledge with those around me. However, the treatment, comments and support I receive everyday make me realize that I am in fact a valued leader, not because of the stripes on my shoulder but because of the values of the person behind them.

Sport itself is actually a teacher and mentor helping us to become strong rounded individuals. It teaches us physical skills and strengths which contribute greatly to our health, but more important are the mental skills: coping, resilience, determination, confidence and self-worth just to name a few. There is an old saying by Friedrich Nietzsche 1888, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, and although he was talking about war not sport, I believe it fits sport as well.

I now have a teenage son who is involved in sports and every time we arrive at a practice, game or tournament the last thing I have always said is, “Play hard, have fun” I don’t believe sport should be just about winning. Although the goal is to win, it is the experience and trying your best that makes a better person. I think that this is a very important item to remember. Sometimes we get so caught up in winning we forget to applaud our kids, or ourselves, when we have tried our best. Remember there are important skills learnt from losing as well, maybe even more important than the ones we learn from winning. I truly believe that sometimes doing your best, and not winning, helps us to grow more and become more resilient, confidant, better humans.... Although winning always feels better.

Although direct team sport participation has not followed me into my later adult life I have maintained involvement through many aspects of volunteering. Whether a medical volunteer for various camps and events or positions with Lethbridge Sport council. These positions have afforded me the ability to see future generations reaching their potential as their best selves.

As I near the next stage of my life preparing for my planned escape to the mountains, I find myself looking forward to individual sport again in the great outdoors. I also consider myself extremely fortunate to have chosen the career I did. It is my current role as a Fire Captain that I have the honour of leading the next generation of firefighters. The respect and admiration shown to me in this position is priceless and I hope that I can have a positive effect on their lives and careers as my mentors and coaches have had on me.