THEA CULLEY – Field Hockey

I’ve never blogged before, so when part of being an athlete rep for the CAN Fund was submitting blogs, I was a little intimidated. As I prepared for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, not only was I wondering when I was going to find time, but also I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about. I had written in my agenda that I would write my first blog on the plane while en route to India. It would be the first opportunity I would have to sit down and think about the life that lately has been blasting past me.

Okay, so first problem overcome—now what to write about?

The Wednesday before we left, I was downtown dropping off a modem and digital cable box to Shaw Cable. (My roommate and teammate, Katie Baker, and I moved September 1st and are no longer in need of the equipment). What I hadn’t realized on my way down was that I was dropping off the equipment at the Shaw Tower, the location of the CAN Fund Athlete House during the Olympics.

As I approached the tower, tingles started to ripple across my skin and an overwhelming sense of nostalgia washed over me. I hadn’t been to that part of downtown since those two crazy weeks in February. For those two weeks, I had felt like I lived at the Shaw Tower. My introduction to the 11th floor was due to the fact that I had volunteered as an athlete host, but the reason I rarely left the 11th floor was because I had quickly discovered that the CAN Fund Athlete House was quite possibly the best place to experience the Olympics, second only to actually competing in the games.

The feelings and memories that came back to me while I was downtown got me thinking again about how amazing those two weeks really were. I am grateful to have become a part of the CAN Fund family during that time. I would like to thank the CAN Fund, Shaw, Sprott, and all the other sponsors who made my experience unique. But most of all, I would like to thank the Canadian Winter Olympic team for being so awesome. It is because of their hard work and ability to rise to the occasion that I, myself, am a CAN Fund recipient.

With that being said, I finish my first blog having learned two lessons: blogging isn’t as scary as I thought it was, and that inspiration can come from anywhere, even when you’re running errands.

Thea Culley

Women’s Field Hockey Team