Logan White - May 13, 2004
This week's TCO "Athlete of the Week" is Patricia VanderMeer, a 19-year-old second year Mohawk College student studying software engineering.
Patricia's primary sports interest is judo, although throughout high school she also competed in cross country running, and track and field. She has been involved in judo for seven and a half years, and is now a coach, an assistant and a director at the Brantford Judo club. This athlete is level 1 certified from the National Coaching Certification Program, and is also certified for first aid and CPR.
She assists in running a yearly tournament at the judo club and is involved in peer tutoring at college, offers lab supervision, and helps out at the school newspaper. Patricia has managed to achieve high academic scores in high school, graduating with honours (above 80 per cent grade average), and has done the same in college. She is on the dean's honour list with a grade average of over 85 per cent.
Patricia is currently ranked number one in Ontario in her judo division. To obtain such results, she trains three times per week for judo - to compliment this, she weight trains twice a week. She can be very proud of her over 55 awards won.
Among those awards, there are numerous top-three wins. Some first place rankings include 2004 - Royal Military College; 2003 -Junior Nationals; 2002 - Ontario Junior Championship; 2001 - Brantford judo tournament; 2000 - Shinbukan; 2000 -Yama Kata and Canada cup.
Patricia's second place wins include: 2004 - Ontario senior provincials; 2003 - Michigan State Fair; 2002 - Kohbukan; 2001 - Budokan; 2000 - Ontario juniors and Ontario seniors.
Patricia's future goals include graduating from Mohawk College with honours (over 85 per cent grade average), ranking among the top seven at the nationals this year, and achieving her black belt this summer.
Congratulations Patricia on all your achievements. |
