In this second Q&A in the series, Momentum invites a Mohawk College alumnus to speak with a current student to share advice, wisdom and understanding of how things change and how they stay the same. In recognition of the college’s focus on building success in its Athletics department, former MVP volleyball player (2003-2008) and Hall of Fame member Peter Sniuolis, who graduated from Architectural Technology in 2007 and then earned a Mohawk-McMaster Bachelor of Technology, speaks with current varsity player Turner Neame, who started at Mohawk in 2020. He has finished a two-year Construction Engineering Technician – Building Renovation program and is playing his third year on the volleyball team. He is an OCAA and CCAA all-pro academic player and plans to seek his Red Seal as a carpenter.

Peter to Turner: What was it like to be on the team during COVID? 

That was my first year on the team. We had a full pre-season but then got shut down. We did Zoom calls online as a team and played online video games together. We really got to know each other and then in the second semester, it was crazy. We played nine games in four weeks and we had quick playoffs. If anyone had any symptoms they had to wear masks on the bench but not on the court. Some practices we had to wear them, too.

Peter to Turner: What kind of equipment do you have access to?

Matt Ferreira, our athletics director, is pushing a culture of excellence. We have two full ball carts, a serve machine and our weight room is amazing. We just got new Mountaineers jerseys with new colours and the gym floor was repainted with the new branding. We have a varsity change room, an athletic lounge where athletes can study and have access to massage therapists and trainers.

Last year, at the start of the season we had a mental coach who talked to us about handling stress and on-court regulation. Those tips and tricks were definitely helpful, especially for first-years who are coming from high school or club volleyball. The mindset of excellence we have now isn’t all about winning, but always striving to win.

Turner to Peter: What was the equipment like during your playing time?

We had six balls in my initial year, including one that wasn’t round and had the outside peeling off, and we played in rejected Team Canada jerseys that were too big for us. Back then we didn’t have a serving machine, so we all have bad shoulders now because we were our own serving machine. Definitely didn’t have access to the resources that are currently available.

Turner to Peter: What was your record?

In my five years at Mohawk, I think we lost about six league games. We had a strong team every year and we pushed for provincials and nationals each season. We medalled once at nationals. This success can be attributed to our coach, James Bradley who shaped us into a perpetual championship team.

Peter to Turner: How is your team looking this year?

We came fifth last year and fourth the year before that. We are definitely going in the right direction with our program and our team. We are looking for a medal this year. We have five recruits this year who are looking solid. We have a decent number of veterans, which leaves the rookies time to get better. We know Humber College is going to be good, they always are. Fanshawe College is going to be good. They have a five-year setter who has come back for his last year after being CCAA player of the year. We lost both setters after the COVID year so I had to step in to be a setter. I’m only 5-foot-8, so blocking wasn’t fun. I’m now a libero, a back-row defensive specialist.

Turner to Peter: Do you keep in contact with your teammates? 

We were and still are extremely tight. I have a small family, and when I was getting married I invited about 25 people to the wedding, all from volleyball. We still go to the cottage together, we play rec volleyball, softball, and continue to do things together. They are probably my best buddies. You’ll never lose contact with these guys. You’ll be groomsmen at each other’s weddings and 
there for each other when you have kids. That was the greatest benefit of playing team sports in college.

Turner:

We are great friends and I think COVID made that even stronger. I was a groomsman for our team captain from last year. His groomsmen were all volleyball guys. Does that friendship help you on the court?

Peter:

I think it was the key to our success. We were always a smaller team but a lot of it came down to how close we were and how we played as a team. That relationship definitely allowed us to win games we shouldn’t have.

Turner to Peter: How did sports impact your career? 

I ended up as a Professional Engineer currently with the roads department at the City of Hamilton. Sports have been huge for me. My time there has gone a long way in the real world helping me understand people and how they work. Some people need constant reinforcement, others don’t. Some people need you to scream at them, others need a pat on the back.

Wherever you work you are going to be part of a team. Through sports, you learn to relate to people and how to talk to people. I was a quiet person before volleyball, but that changed after the first year. The intangibles you don’t get in school, you get in sports. You learn to work with people who are different than yourself. You can’t teach it, you learn it.

Peter to Turner: What has volleyball taught you?

There will always be conflict. You have to get over it quickly and problem-solve quickly and move on from it. I was also quiet in first year but I found myself being a veteran in second year. I had to step into a role of leadership and help guide new people. That was good for me.

How did you each manage the commitment of varsity sports with a college workload?

Turner:

You are so busy that you have to be efficient and take any time you have to keep up on your work. I did lighten my course load last year so I didn’t drown. Making lists and taking time on the bus (on the way to games) to do readings has really helped me. I use the athletic lounge to do some work in a quiet space.

Peter:

I knew I wanted to go into the BTech program so I had to work a bit harder to get my grades up following my first year. You give up a lot as a student athlete. We practised from 10 p.m. to midnight and then 
I was back up for an 8 a.m. class. There’s definitely sacrifices you make, but you gain friendships and social aspects through the team considering we’re always together. It was all worth it.

Turner to Peter: What was the old rec centre like?

We loved playing there. The roof was lower than it is now and there were stands only on one side. It was a great facility. But to see how far it’s come with the David Braley Athletic and Recreation Centre facility now, is really cool. The resources available to students is something I wish we had. Hopefully, we played a small part in pushing things in that direction.

How about the fan support?

Peter:

So in my first year, I remember the BlackBerry Bold with a screen for text messaging was just released, so we could text, which was strange. There was no social media and you had to build relationships in person. I’m happy that none of that was around when I played. I’m not a social media guy now so I think (all the social media attention on athletes) may have been a challenge for me. We had loyal fans come out to all of our games and lack of social media contributed to that. We didn’t need as many fans to come out to fill the gym and make it exciting.

Turner:

I don’t use social media much either but I do love the highlight videos the Athletics department produces. It’s pretty cool to see them after a game. A lot of students now watch the games on livestream so there isn’t a crazy amount of fans at the games, other than parents and other athletes. But definitely, during playoffs, the gym is packed. It’s a big gym, so there is a lot of space to fill.

Turner to Peter: How was your transition from being a student to working?

My biggest advice is to remember you are a student first and an athlete second. If you do well in the classroom, you’ll play better and you set yourself up for success. It’s very difficult to play volleyball professionally, so the chances of making a living are slim, but you will make a living based on your academics. Sometimes it’s about finding something you don’t hate to do, rather than what you love to do. I studied engineering, became a Professional Engineer, and ended up initially designing roads and bridges and quickly found out it wasn’t for me. Now I’m in roadway maintenance and I enjoy it. Also, take care of your body now. My knees are giving out on me at 39 – it catches up to you. 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Varsity athletes might get a lot of the glory but it takes 150 people to make Mohawk College’s Department of Athletics and Recreation operations run smoothly.

“So much of what we do goes beyond varsity athletics,” says Director Matt Ferreira. “We are one of the largest employers of students on campus. We employ close to 100 students across our department.”

All told, the Athletics department employs 150 people, including coaches and assistant coaches and four full-time administration staff.

The department instituted a high-performance culture and structure for varsity athletics a few years ago but that mindset extends into every aspect, says Ferreira.

The student employees in Mohawk College’s Athletics department work in facilities management, manage intramurals, extramurals, and drop-in sports, broadcast games, write game-day stories, post on social media, set up for game day, and act as commentators, statisticians and table staff.

Students also serve as team managers, handling team uniforms, setting up equipment and assisting the coaching staff for the nine varsity teams.

Mohawk College is home to the state-of-the-art David Braley Athletic and Recreation Centre (DBARC), which houses three gymnasiums, a fitness centre with a weight room, cardio equipment, and walking track, a multi-purpose fitness and spin studio, two outdoor basketball courts, multiple socialization areas, and meeting and office spaces.

Managing those facilities requires a team of 52 students, who are either employed or on co-op placements, says Facilities Supervisor Ashley Mamone, who’s been with the Athletics department since 2018.

The Facilities team interacts with Mohawk students, athletes, faculty, staff and community members who rent gym space. They check in facilities users, clean and maintain equipment, help out with intramural and extramural leagues, provide customer service, and provide game-day set up and tear down.

“We ensure that all programs – varsity, intramural, extramural and community – operate smoothly.”

“This is a busy place and very customer service-focused. The people who typically are interested in working here aspire for a sports-centric career. This shows them what the day-to-day operations are all about.”

“There are incredible opportunities here from a student staffing perspective. This is a big operation and we are really proud of it.”

Recreation Therapy student Alysson Claxton works in facilities within the Athletics department as a Wellness Customer Experience Representative.

“Athletics is a great environment to work in. I’m a very go-go-go person and there is always something going on. I love coming to work every day.”

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

Cross-country runner Matias Tessel and basketball guard Stefan Anisko balanced varsity athletics with their studies in Aviation.

Two Aviation Maintenance students made big contributions this past season as Mohawk Mountaineers varsity athletes.

Cross-country athlete Matias Tessel has qualified two years in a row for the national championships and was named both seasons to the all-Ontario second team. In 2021, the team finished with a bronze in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) and last year, finished fifth in the OCAA.

Tessel only began running cross-country three years ago when he decided in 2020 to transfer to Mohawk College. For the two previous years, he had been a sprinter at Wilfrid Laurier University.

“It is a different type of training to go from sprinting to cross-country. The transition was difficult at first and I got injured from over-training. I’m a very competitive person and I just went too hard.”

Tessel, who is from Guelph, says he had to adjust to committing more time to training each week.

“We run 8 kilometres. We do hills and forests, generally in a 2-kilometre loop. That requires building endurance and strength.”

It’s tough to balance varsity athletics with an intense, hands-on program, but Tessel says he managed through concentrating on time management. That included studying ahead, waking up early to run in the morning or squeezing a run in on his lunch break.

Tessel, who is captain of his team, is a “valuable teammate and a very important part of this department,” says Athletics Director Matt Ferreira.

The team of six men and four women trains year-round under coach David Hopton, who coaches triathletes at McMaster University. There is a new high-performance focus in an effort to become one of the elite cross-country schools in the country.

Stefan Anisko, a first-year Mountaineer basketball player, loves the hands-on work in Aviation Maintenance and the state-of-the-art facility at the Hamilton International Airport.

“It’s a great program and I’m really enjoying it. And we had a great season on the court, so it’s a win-win. My teammates are fantastic and I had a lot of fun.”

Anisko, who is at Mohawk College on a basketball scholarship, also had a great year. Men’s basketball finished the season with a 14-4 record, second-best in the OCAA West Division, and won the OCAA bronze medal. Anisko was awarded the OCAA Sixth Man of the Year award and was named to the OCAA All-Rookie Team after averaging 20 points per game (seventh-best in the OCAA). He also shot 40 per cent from three (eighth-best in the OCAA) and made 46 threes (seventh-best in the OCAA).

“Stefan had an incredible year and made a major impact as a rookie,” says Ferreira.

The team, coached for 16 years by Mohawk graduate and former Mountaineer varsity basketball player Brian Jonker, last won the CCAA national title in 2012.

Anisko’s schedule was intense. Classes run every day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then he had 90-minute practice four days a week and a weekly workout in the weight room. And once, sometimes twice a week, there were away games, which can be hours away.

“As long as I stayed on top of things, I could manage it. My instructors were very helpful. They were always available and so were my coaches.”

Anisko, who lives in Caledonia, says he enjoyed the travel time to away games because it meant more bonding time with his teammates.

“We are more than a team. We are more like a family.”

Tessel graduates in May but has decided to come back in the fall in order to run another cross-country season.

The College supports its athletes in many ways, says Tessel, including buying professional software that tracks training and performance and providing access to a mental performance coach. He says having a smaller roster of sports at Mohawk College is a strength.

“It’s a small community and everyone knows each other. The high-performance focus means everyone is working together to win.” 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.

The Sports Information team documents athletic performances and aims to fill the bleachers.

As Mohawk College ramps up its varsity athletics performance, the Athletics department is ensuring the achievements of its athletes are well-documented.

Sports Information Coordinator Satbir Singh was hired in September 2021. He runs the Athletics website, manages all the social media platforms, liaises with external media, and oversees all the stories, photography, videos and news releases produced within the department.

That includes the work of two student journalists who write game recaps and managing the relationship with the Broadcast Media program whose students film home games. There are also student positions in photography, social media and graphic design.

Singh also contributes advance stories for high-profile games.

Singh, a Burlington native, worked at the student newspaper at Brock University for five years and served as a broadcaster for basketball and volleyball games. He then worked at a newspaper in Niagara for two years covering community news and politics.

The opportunity to focus on sports again drew him to the opportunity at Mohawk College.

“All my experiences in student positions were so valuable to me. It’s great to give those experiences to students at Mohawk.”

One of his hires is Alex Macdonell, a Health, Wellness and Fitness student, who is filming all home games and producing highly stylized highlight reel videos (also called hype videos) that are being widely shared on the Mohawk Mountaineers Instagram account.

It’s been a busy year. He’s often filming two games a week, which takes about five hours of time. Then sorting through footage and editing it together takes another 10 to 12 hours.

“I love videography so much that I will make sacrifices to do it. That usually means staying up late.”

Macdonell used money he’s earning to buy new cameras and a computer for his videography work. Wherever his career takes him, Macdonell knows videography will be a part of it.

“I’m investing in myself because I want to make videos my full-time job. I’m always thinking about new ideas for videos. I’d say 70 per cent of my energy and thoughts are about videos.”

Macdonell loves that his videos are shared by players, teams and spectators.

“If we can fill up the bleachers and if I am playing a role in that, I’m happy. My job is to show how good our athletes are. There is nothing like being there at the game.”

“We hope to see the excitement and energy of American collegiate athletics infused into the culture of Mohawk College,” says Singh.

“We are celebrating our student-athletes’ achievements and we want to show future students that Mohawk College is the place to come play.”

Undefeated in the regular season last year, the women’s soccer team have their sights set higher for this coming season.

The women’s soccer team at Mohawk College went undefeated in the regular season last year – the first time that’s been done since 1998 – before falling to Durham College 1-0 in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association’s quarterfinals in October.

Ever since, the squad has been focused on reaching the championship this year and on winning regular season games in an even more convincing way.

“We had a lot of close games last year,” says midfielder Paige Epp. “We hope to get some leads in the first half next season.”

Fourteen of the 18 players from last year are returning this year. And the team has ramped up its off-season training regimen, with several cardio and strength-training days in the gym each week, plus games in an indoor league.

“We will be stronger this year. The games that we should win, hopefully they come easier,” said coach Paul Giannini.

A Hamilton native, he has 20 years of experience in club and league soccer, where he has enjoyed much success.

One of his club teams won a national championship and every player – including Epp – went to Division 1 schools in the U.S. on scholarships.

Giannini was convinced to take the job at Mohawk College when he met Athletics Director Matt Ferreira, who asked him to retool the team under the department’s new high-performance culture.

“I listened to his plans for the department and the soccer team and I decided I wanted to try it. The experience has been fantastic. I love working with the older players. They are motivated and can deliver what you’re asking of them.”

Giannini has focused on recruiting players from degree programs and has particularly zeroed in on Mohawk’s Nursing programs.

“It takes a long time to build the unity of a team and the leadership of student athletes, so four years gives us more time,” he says. “And Nursing students have very good time management and they are committed and focused. They make ideal players.”

Giannini points out that the grade point average necessary to get into the collaborative Mohawk-McMaster Nursing degree program is more than 90 per cent.

“These are young women who work really hard off the field and on the field.”

One of his recruits is Lauren Snider, a recent Practical Nursing graduate who is playing both varsity soccer and basketball. It means a challenging pace, especially September to November when both seasons are running. It means five hours of training and practices a day, followed by a 12-hour placement the next day. On top of that are games, midterms and assignments.

“The best part of playing two sports is I also had double the support from both teams, which makes balancing a lot easier,” says Snider, who has applied for the bridging program to the Mohawk-McMaster Nursing degree program.

If accepted, Snider says she’s looking forward to picking up where the team left off.

“We were undefeated in the regular season of 2022-2023 and with all the talent on the team, I can imagine Mohawk women’s soccer will go even further this year.”

The team plays home games at Tim Hortons Field, making it the only college team to play on a professional field.

“It’s awesome to play at Tim Hortons Field. It steps up your game automatically,” says Epp, who is studying Urban Planning.

And the high-performance varsity model at Mohawk College matches the facilities, say the players.

Centreback Abi Woods, who is team captain, a first team all-star and a Practical Nursing student, says the players and coaches have fully committed to success.

“Each game and practice we are always progressing. Our coaches push us and challenge us and it’s up to us to achieve.”

Epp and goalie Samantha DeHaan both earned nods as Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Athlete of the Week last season.

DeHaan says the demands of her Nursing program sometimes means she has to miss a practice.

“But if I can’t make it, I set aside time to train on my own. Our team never wants to let each other down.”

Epp had decided she wasn’t going to play soccer anymore when she returned from her college in Massachusetts. But Giannini convinced her to put on her cleats for Mohawk.

“It’s a fun but competitive environment here,” she says. “It was the best decision to come back.” 

This story originally appeared in Momentum Magazine.