The art of sport is truly a beautiful element of life. As people grow older, it’s common for this passion to fade away, especially at the start of post-secondary education.

Not so for Jayke Wong. As a pivotal voice for student athletes around Canada, Wong shares his journey in overcoming personal defeats as a testament to never abandoning your ambitions. “Don’t give up,” Wong says. “In my first year of school, I got cut from the baseball team.”

Many fear the idea of failure, the embarrassment of failing in front of their peers. Yet, Wong attempted two times before establishing himself as a player on the team before becoming a captain, demonstrating what it means to be a Humber Hawk.

Not only that, Wong exemplifies what it means to be an athlete, and more importantly a student. Among those struggles are the benefits of his story and how his passion continues to shape his academic career.

In fact, Wong is a local senior student at Humber College who completed his degree in accounting. Growing up in Brampton with the same dreams but now with a bigger goal, Wong currently finished his last year playing baseball.

Many benefits come with playing sports as a student. It creates great characteristics, such as leadership, commitment, collaboration, time management, and so on. All these skills are extremely transferable and allow you to apply them in whatever path life takes you.

“Teamwork, being a good teammate, being a leader… all those kinds of things help you in the future.” Wong says.

According to Statistics Canada, a 2023 survey showed 50 per cent of Canada had some involvement in sports, past the age of 15 and older. Ice hockey, soccer, and swimming were the most popular among Canadian viewership. It is so unique to form relationships based on a shared passion for sports and create that connection between your peers.

When asked about the relationships built through academics and sports, Wong said “The guys that I’ve met on this team… I can confidently say they’ll be my brothers for the rest of my life.”

Additionally, service provider BioMed Central (BMC) conducted a 2023 survey on how sports engagement enhances emotional well-being among youths. Their findings suggest 83.7 per cent of secondary students suffer from anxiety and more importantly, 95 per cent are left feeling overwhelmed or tired.

Physical activity is clinically proven to release endorphins, a neurological chemical that relieves stress alongside low adrenaline and cortisol, all of which are responsible for elevating stress. As an athlete, it can be easy to turn to sports as an escape and break from the mental strain academics can cause.

“At the beginning, it kind of upped my stress… but after that first year, it kind of lowered it a lot… the excitement to be at school was just a lot better.” Wong says.

When asked how he managed playing and school, Wong stated, “Having a calendar… just knowing when stuff was due… was definitely a big one.”

Resilience is key. At university, sports are more serious than ever. Wong said “Having four to five practices a week plus two to four games a week was definitely rough.”

Yet with time and consistency, players quickly learn to adapt to the routine. This allows you to create the ability to withstand various aspects, whether that’s from the game or even in school. Life always throws curve balls.

“Baseball is such a mentally stressful game… it teaches you to be calm and not let things really bother you… if you mess up, you just kind of have to move past it.” Wong says. “Sometimes you might not get the grade that you want… you just kind of got to move past it and hope you can recover.”

With any sport or school project, confidence is immense. The ability to harness a strong level of certitude takes time to effectively achieve. Whether it’s public speaking or stepping up to the plate, confidence starts with yourself. With the high rates of anxiety, the power of confidence can overlook that.

“It just kind of branched me out, took me out of my shell. I think it improved my confidence and how calm I am in situations” says Wong.

*Photo, Mick Haupt, Unsplash License