The Best Player on the Toronto Raptors

Yesterday, history was made. The Toronto Raptors won the NBA finals and are now the champions of the world! I couldn’t be more proud. Who is the best player on the Toronto Raptors? I will tell you because I love Canada, sports, competitions and mostly, I love winning.

Yes, that was a very enlightened comment. Winning is the best. I used to wear a No Fear cap as a child that said ‘winners do what losers didn’t’. That’s how I became the calm, non-competitive, gentle Zen monk I am now…

#nofear

The Best Player

Let’s talk about who the best player on the Toronto Raptors is. There is no debating it; what I write is fact. He is the most dedicated athlete on the team; he has had more court time than anyone. I will tell you a story about the best player on the team and what happened twenty four years ago.

The History

Back in the day, I did gymnastics competitively and loved it. I committed myself to the sport at age two after my mother enrolled me out of desperation to cope with the living, breathing can of Red Bull that I was as a child.  When I was about eleven or twelve, I had two wonderful coaches. They were dating; both young, happy, positive influences on me and my fellow gymnasts. One was a female and she was our main coach. One was her boyfriend who taught us, primarily, tumbling.

My Coach

For me, his influence was much more than skills. He was an absolute wild man; his entire universe was a circus (that he imagined in his head) and he was constantly throwing random, dangerous and entertaining skills. I was at an age where I was a decent tumbler, very courageous when it came to trying skills and easily influenced by a daredevil like him. We got along very well.

At the time, I could do a tumbling pass with one flip in it. Run, tumble, back tuck (single rotation). In a matter of one year, he taught me to flip twice in the same air. Double back tuck. It was the coolest I had ever felt. I tumbled with the intensity and uncontrolled aggression of an intoxicated flying squirrel. He spotted me by bumping my body up nice and high so I could spin as fast as I fucking could, not knowing where I was in the air and somehow magically, landing on my feet, knees or face (all successful). It was the best.

Learning through example

I have only positive memories of learning double backs and crazy skills from him. He taught me how to transform fear into excitement. Instead of fear tactics, threats or force when it came to trying a new skill, he was able to get me so excited to try that my fear became constructive adrenaline. His motivation and precision when it came to correction is what allowed me to amplify my adrenaline and utilize it for courage, power and learning.

He taught us through his own example. He had a true love of moving his body; flipping, twisting and having fun doing so.

Continued learning. What not to do.

One time, he broke his arm because he was doing a handstand on a moving golf cart and I guess it didn’t end well. He had no negative feelings about this. Just a cool cast and a great story. We loved it.

One time, he was making fun of us for being afraid of beam skills. For the record, beam is scary af. It’s a four inch piece of fiberglass that you launch yourself upside-down on. No one sane would think that beam was a breezy delight. He, however, felt we were big giant babies. We encouraged (dared) him to do a press to handstand on the beam, if it was SO easy. No problem, he said. Such confidence!

He nailed the press to handstand, put his feet on the beam, took one step and slammed down with one leg on either side…balls first, into the four inch death plank. This is called ‘splitting the beam’. For a woman, it’s painful. For a man, the ‘splitting’ portion of the fall takes on a whole new level. That’s why it’s a women’s event in gymnastics.

I’d never seen a grown man in such pain. We laughed at him for a long time. You like beam? Join us anytime coach. Everyone had a great coach-athlete relationship with him; filled with inspiration, humour and learning.

The Big Job in Toronto

During the competitive season, he was offered a new job. His girlfriend, our main coach, told us he wouldn’t be able to coach as much anymore. I was really sad. I loved having him coach me but luckily, for that first year, he continued to come into the gym to help out anytime he could. Typically, I only performed my hardest skills with him there.

Still to this day, I remember the feeling of running as fast as my stick legs could take me and launching myself into that double back, knowing he would definitely save my life if anything went wrong. Nothing ever did; he was a fantastic spotter and always ensured I made both rotations around and understood what had happened if I landed short (aka on my face). He was great! Later that year, he invited us to watch him at his new job. A whole group of gymnasts, our coach and many parents purchased tickets to the Toronto Raptors game. We watched with such pride as our coach Ryan did a front tuck off a trampoline and sunk a basket.

The best player on the Toronto Raptors is Ryan. The mascot.

He was THE Toronto Raptor. And still is.

At halftime, Ryan walked up to our other coach (his girlfriend) and in front of thousands of people and all his athletes, he proposed. We flipped out! She said yes and he told us that the only part that went wrong with his proposal plan was that he couldn’t kiss her because his giant Raptor mouth wouldn’t allow for it. So instead he kind of ate her head. A dinosaur kiss; Jurassic style.

Twenty four years later, my former coach Ryan is still the Toronto Raptor’s mascot and I could not be more proud of him. He inspires me to follow my dreams and never let go of what I find fun. To be playful, adventurous and courageous. I draw on the lessons he taught me about fear often; when fear is appropriate and when it can be transformed into excitement, adrenaline and ultimately become a catalyst for moving forward instead of holding back. He was my favourite coach. And now, he is my favourite NBA player.

Winners!

Congratulations to the 2019 NBA Champions – The Toronto Raptors!

Special congratulations to the dino-legend, Ryan. I have never respected any dinosaur as much as you. I would never do anything as crazy as a handstand on a moving golf cart but I may or may not do one on the top edge of a thousand year old, rumble, unstable, fifty foot castle.

Has any caught Ryan on TV doing front tucks off trampolines? Let’s celebrate this awesome Winnipegger!