Inside King's-Edgehill School
Dear KES Family:
After what seems like years, it is “game day”! Baseball is playing a tournament in Ottawa. Girls’ hockey is in PEI. Girls’ basketball is in Antigonish playing StFX! Boys’ and girls’ soccer are playing a tournament on campus, and our boys’ hockey team is hosting a tournament. Wow! This afternoon we will have our first “noise day” for the soccer teams who are playing at our Tanna Athletic Facilities.
I am excited not just for the players but for our School. How long have we been waiting to be able to have a day like this? For a teenager, a year is a decade. Any longer is forever.
As I greeted the students arriving on campus this morning, I could hardly contain myself. Seeing Gabby Shaw drive up with her sister Nataliya, I remembered that she is in Grade 9 and would be playing St. FX tonight. I don’t know who is more excited or nervous about her playing in this game, Gabby or me, but in my enthusiasm I greeted her and then asked, “Did you eat your Wheaties this morning?”
I received a blank look.
Wheaties?
Am I really that old?
Throughout the 20th century, Wheaties was “The Breakfast of Champions”. Long associated with sports and high performance, Wheaties was what you ate for breakfast if you wanted to win. To be on the cover of a Wheaties box was like being on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Baseball legend Lou Gehrig was featured as far back as 1934 (long before I was born by the way…). Jesse Owens was on it in 1936. Elinor Smith in 1934. Michael Jordan was on the cover 18 times!
Ironically, I never ate Wheaties. We were an oatmeal family. Boxed cereals were expensive. However, the concept of eating for success in sport, and specifically having a good breakfast, has been a huge part of my life. I always figured that eating your Wheaties was a metaphor, not a meal.
Now that Gabby has reminded me that we are in the 21st Century, my choice of metaphors will need to change. I am at a loss as to what though. Hmm…