Health Champion Profile: Collin Dillon

Health Champions Profile: Collin Dillon

Collin Dillon

Educator

St. Joseph Catholic High School, Grande Prairie

HPEC Social Media and Website

Health and Active Background: “Graduated from St Francis Xavier University with a Physical Education degree and have been staying active personally, by participating in sports such as hockey, golf, and softball, and with my family by hiking and geocaching!”

What health advice would you offer to a younger version of yourself? Why? “I would have told the younger me to try and preserve as much hair as you can! In all honesty I would say not to worry about trying out for spring hockey camps or to try and be the best in only one sport. Keep playing the sports you want to because it will give you the confidence to play anything you want and to get involved in those activities when you get older. There will be times where you will wish/wonder if you had played only hockey at a young age you would be able to go further in your hockey career: you’re wrong. Believe it or not your mom and dad were right: Try new things and don’t just get caught up in hockey. There is baseball, golf, soccer, cross country, so many things that they will support you in and you won’t understand the sacrifice they made so you can be at all of those sports. They will tell you that you are the best at everything and anything you choose to do and to always stick with your goals no matter how hard they may be. I share this because it is finally coming to light that early sport specialization is not the answer for our youth. Becoming immersed in multiple sports and activities allows kids to not only be healthy and happy but also a WHOLE athlete not just specific to certain movement abilities. Finances may have played a contributing factor to us not pursuing various hockey camps but I’m also so glad that I got to experience the multiple sports that I did as it moulded me into the person I am today: A health and physical educator who is not afraid to take risks or try new activities for myself or with my students.”

What keeps you motivated to be healthy? “My family. My wife (@laurachristinedillon) and I maintain a healthy lifestyle through hiking, geocaching, golfing, and small activities that we do together. Now that we have welcomed our first child into this world, health and wellness as a family has taken over our world, in a good way:). From our nutrition to our daily activities as a family, we want to ensure that we not only are setting a good example for our daughter Elsie, but we are also maintaining our health so that we can be active members in our daughter’s life as she grows into adulthood. Another motivator for me is to focus on my personal health. Now that competitive sports are in the past, I strive for two goals for my healthy lifestyle: To continue to play hockey, softball and golf recreationally and to continue to push my personal functional fitness in order to reduce my personal limitations as I grow older. I feel that the competitor in me will run forever, I can’t even play a game of cards without getting competitive, so at least if I can stay involved in organized sport in a recreational setting I can still have an element of play in my lifestyle. A long term goal for me would be to reach a fitness level to participate in a Tough Mudder/10K race type event. Reaching those personal fitness goals will help me improve my functional fitness so when my daughter asks me to play with her I will rarely have to say no.”

What is your favourite quote? “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” - Wayne Gretzky
This one has been put in my brain by my dad since I was a young boy. He idolized Gretzky, which is where I got my love for hockey and for the Rangers, and I now look at that quote as a reminder to never shy away from taking risks in life. You never know what can happen if you don’t try it once.

#HealthChampions #EASHC
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