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Racial & Social Justice Initiative
Through My Lens is a monthly feature sponsored by CoSIDA’s Executive Board of Directors as part of its Racial and Social Justice initiative in conjunction with CoSIDA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Through member stories, the series illustrates the differences and similarities that make us stronger as people and professionals.
To tell your story, contact CoSIDA Intern Danielle Potts at
daniellepotts@cosida.com or (270) 227-7026.
Growing up an athlete, I was always especially drawn to team sports, be it soccer, basketball, volleyball, football – even a brief stint in field hockey (but not ice hockey… a bad Canadian, I can’t even skate). Something about working together and achieving a common goal appealed to my subconscious, and has kept me seeking that team environment ever since.
Certainly not a social butterfly, I’m not someone that has or needs a lot of friends, but I’ve always loved having teammates.
Before starting my current gig as a full-time SID, I worked for a year in digital communications for an auto group. The reason I left that job, sold our house, and moved 1,100km (680 miles, for Americans) to rejoin the sports world? Easy: at the end of the day, car sales are an individual sport.
Flash forward to life as an SID. I’ve been at the Royal Military College of Canada (go Paladins!) for over three years now. Even before I started, I knew this opportunity would be a challenge, as RMC had never employed an SID before. I wasn’t just signing on to be a “one-person shop;” I had to build the shop, too.
Although I happily find myself back in the sports world, I work almost entirely alone. Yes – I work
with our student-athletes, coaches, and administration – but after a game, an interview, or what-have-you, my office door closes (I say “office” metaphorically, these days, as I sit in my living room, in the same kitchen chair I’ve sat in since March 2020), and then it’s just me.
Now, that’s not to say that I don’t have a tremendously supportive work environment: RMC is a wonderful place to work; my AD has fought to allow me the chance to make big changes within the department; and the military aspect of the College engrains a sense of camaraderie in everyone who sets foot on campus. No – when I say that I’m alone, all I mean to say is that, as an SID at a small school, I don’t have teammates in a traditional sense: no fellow SIDs or assistants or interns with which to overcome problems or achieve common goals. And that’s something I can’t help but miss.
In a normal year (due to the pandemic, we haven’t had university sport available here in Kingston, Ontario, since March 2020), being swept up in team environments as I go from game to game – even on the periphery – fills the gap I’ve been increasingly aware of this year. For better or worse, I’ve had a lot of time to dwell on how alienating being an SID can be.
When you’re the only person at your institution who knows or even understands all the work that goes into the final products people see – regardless of how appreciated your work is – it can underscore that feeling of estrangement.
But since I started in a full–time sports information role, and increasingly over the last year, I’ve talked with and leaned more on my SID colleagues across the OUA (Ontario University Athletics). While everyone has their unique circumstances, I know we all have the same goal in mind every day we get up and go to work – even if these days that just means rolling out of bed and turning on our computers: we’re here to tell the stories of our schools, teams, coaches, and above all, the impressive student-athletes we have the privilege of getting to know.
And with the formalization of CanSIDA over the last several months, it’s nice to know I have this network of support, who I know are dealing with or have dealt with the same obstacles. To know there are people who I can rely on – and who rely on me – for both the small things, like gameday rosters and pictures from away games, but also a comforting message on days when nothing goes right (we’ve all been there!).
Three years into working for the RMC Paladins, decked out in our red and white swag, I’ve found the teammates I’ve been looking for since leaving high-level sports as a teenager; fellow SIDs, thank you for being the awesome, funny, cynical, creative, dedicated, and supportive group that you are. I couldn’t be happier to be one of you.
Gallery: (4-12-2021) Peter Reimer | Through My Lens