BALWINDER SINGH SETHI WINS FOR CBU

Balwinder Singh Sethi wins once again for CBU; claiming a bronze medal at the AUS championships 2023 held in St. Johns, which was hosted by UNB Reds. After a brief interview, we were able to find out several details about the journey that has brought the athlete’s career to commendable heights. Singh Sethi mentioned that he has been practicing regularly for 8 years. Six of those years were dedicated to running in track & field and two years in hurdles. He did not start hurdles until he became a student at CBU. However, his dedication for running and taking part in athletic competitions has been going on since childhood. He has been participating since he was in India. He has raked victories in an impressive number of competitions as well. He holds the title of three times state champion (Punjab), which enabled him to take part in the Nationals. He participated in the national competition twice. Here after entering Canada as a student of CBU, his love for the sport did not fade. He became a prominent participant in the CBU athletics group and entered several sports tournaments. In 2022, he won the AUS silver medal which was noteworthy as it was the first-ever CBU track & field medal. In 2023 he was injured, but with the support of coaches, he was able to win the bronze in the 60m hurdles. He made his personal best and it was also a new record for CBU. Additionally, he also received the 5th position in the 300m event. Through these details, we were curious to find out what were the challenges a university athlete faced. So, we asked the question to explore deeper into the athlete’s life and take a closer look at the hurdles he faced in achieving this level of excellence. In Singh’s opinion, running indoors was extremely difficult. This was because he is used to the open fields in India and the change in the surface makes it much more challenging to run as efficiently. He claimed that being an international student is hard as he is required to score well in his academics, attend his job & also train. However, this is what makes his “Academic all Canadian” victory much more impressive. The qualification for “Academic all Canadian” status is that the students must have an aggregate score of 80% or higher while playing for their university team. Through the support of his coaches, Singh wishes to add that he received a scholarship which was very helpful. He specifically wished to thank his head coach, “Mr. John Craig Hudec” for his support and encouragement. Singh claims that there are many impressive benefits to being an athlete apart from fitness, such as multitasking, recognition, and a sense of satisfaction. This also became a major reason for him to choose a very active career in the future. He aspired to join the Canadian Police force and wishes to be an athlete among them as well. After discussing the depths of his journey so far, another important note was the role CBU had played in his achievements. He mentioned his gratefulness for CBU for providing the facility & support in training, practice, competitions, coaches, academic finances, implementing a regime and recognizing his achievements. We wished to conclude with his personal thoughts & message where he stated that the CBU athletics association does not provide their full potential of support for track & field. There are multiple instances where they are expected to compromise which makes it harder for track & field to recruit capable athletes. Lastly, a special mention to Balwinder Singh Sethi’s girlfriend & support system, Chloe Symmons.