SportsLife is Manitoba’s amateur sports magazine. This is where
sports fans will meet the Olympians of tomorrow and the
medalists of today and they all compete right here in Manitoba.
We exist to pay tribute to those who make sport so important
to this province.
Published by SportsLife Publications, it is edited by Scott
Taylor and is designed and developed by Scott Taylor, Debbie
Dunmall and OV Suvajac. SportsLife Magazine is printed by The
Winnipeg Sun.
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not necessarily express the views of the magazine, or of the
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PUBLISHER
OV Suvajac
[email protected]
#202B - 2621 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 0P7
204-996-4146
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Scott Taylor, [email protected]
ART DIRECTOR
Debbie Dunmall, [email protected]
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COVER PHOTO
Jeff Miller/100 Acre Wood Photography
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Scott Taylor, Andrea Katz,
Adam Wedlake, Al Gowriluk
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
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Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame,
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Greg Bouchard, Softball Manitoba
SportsLife is published at least six times a year by
SportsLife Publications. All sales are managed by
SportsLife Publications. All design and layout is provided by
Debbie Dunmall and SportsLife is printed by The Winnipeg Sun.
If You Can,
Play Every Sport
T
his month here at SportsLife, we
were intrigued by a dispatch from
Hockey Manitoba.
You can read the story about
it on page 10, but to give you
the executive summary, Hockey
Manitoba is now encouraging young
players to try “other sports.” In
other words, don’t just play hockey
12 months of the year, but hang up
the blades in the summer and play
baseball or soccer or lacrosse. Try roller hockey. Play games
that will give you a broader sense of you own athletic
awareness, something you don’t get by repeating the same
skills and working on the same muscle memory over and
over and over.
I find Hockey Manitoba’s position both interesting and
refreshing. After all, many of the best hockey players in
the world – in fact, some of the greatest in history from
Wayne Gretzky to Steven Stamkos – played baseball in the
summer. Remember when Manitoba’s own Gerry James
played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Maple
Leafs at the same time? It doesn’t hurt to be a multi-sport
athlete.
It’s also quite interesting considering that earlier this
month in our sister publication, Game On, Manitoba’s
Hockey Magazine, one of our biggest supporters, Riley
Dudar at United Therapies STRIVE, wrote a column
– without knowledge of Hockey Manitoba’s dispatch
– encouraging all pre-pubescent hockey players to go
out of their way to play other sports in the off-season.
Coincidence maybe?
The trouble with so many sports, not just ho