Centennial Collegiate Vocational Institute teacher Amanda McAlpine recently competed in the Veterans World Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
McAlpine is an award-winning Judo competitor and most recently took home a silver medal from the Veterans World Championships in the Judo over 78kg category.
When reflecting on this most recent competition, McAlpine said, "It was an incredible experience to compete in the Veterans World Championships! It felt so great to see the time in and hard work pay off. Competing on a world platform with amazing athletes from all over the world was beyond expectation!"
McAlpine said training for an event like this "can be grueling and exhausting and the physical act of being thrown, pinned, or submitted over and over again can be incredibly challenging." She continued to say, "Training consists of 5-6 days per week sometimes twice per day with conditioning/weight training and tournaments leading up to Worlds."
When not teaching, training or competing, McAlpine runs the STRONG program through UGDSB Continuing Education. This program is designed to support students using a holistic approach that encourages physical, emotional and intellectual development with a focus on well-being and personal development.
STRONG uses the platform of physical training and Martial Arts. McAlpine said, "Upon completion of the [STRONG] course, students have reported improved self-esteem, greater ability to focus, a learned value of service and helping others, positive feelings of connection to a supportive community, improved physical wellness and resilience, dramatic improvement of confidence, better physical condition, clearer sense of purpose and goals, greater desire to continue engagement with self-improvement."
Congratulations, Amanda, on this great achievement!
