By Aaron Schulze

Tisdale’s 28-year track coach among those honoured at Appreciation Night

Nov 22, 2018 | 8:00 AM

The Town of Tisdale and Department of Recreation & Parks’ Appreciation Night was downsized to a tighter room in the RECplex with a smaller group than usual, however that didn’t make the accomplishments or stories any less meaningful.

Coaches, instructors, and students in music and sports such as hockey, track, and archery were honoured for awards and acknowledgements on a national and provincial level.

All awards were worthy of taking note, although the final award and speech of the night had the room engaged and tuned in.

Harvey Weber couldn’t hide his emotions after he received a Volunteer of the Year and Lifetime Achievement award, after he spent 28 years as Tisdale Middle & Secondary School’s track club coach.

“It didn’t really hit me until a colleague got a little bit choked up,” Weber said. “When I started talking about coming to Tisdale it really started to hit me as it being my home for 28 years.”

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Weber was a track athlete at the University of Saskatchewan for four years before trying out for the Canadian National Track Team in 1987 and 1988. He moved to Fox Valley after missing out on both years to teach while he continued to train for the national track team.

As he sat in an Ottawa airport with his track coach, Weber had to make a life altering decision: go back home to his mother and father’s 25-year wedding anniversary, or go to a competition in Montreal and attempt to make the national team once more.

Weber chose the latter, thus ending his chase to make the national track team. However, Weber mentioned he doesn’t regret his decision nearly three decades later, as family is very important for him.

With national team ambitions in his rear-view mirror, Weber received a job to teach at Tisdale Middle & Secondary School in fall of 1990 (which he reminded that he was the second choice for the position). After the Tisdale Track Club was established under his watch, Weber didn’t look back from Tisdale for 28 years due to community’s support and the people he met along the way.

“Any time I needed parents to drive or help at a track meet, or just to coordinate something there was always somebody there that I could lean on,” Weber said. “That just made it so much easier than trying to do it on my own. If I tried to do it on my own it wouldn’t have happened.”

Weber retired from teaching after the 2017-18 academic year, although he still teaches track to two groups in Saskatoon while still competing in events.

Evenings such as Appreciation Night make it difficult for Weber to stay retired, but of all the things he said he’ll miss the most, it’ll be the progression of a young student.

“When you start with an athlete that’s young,” Weber said. “You see them progress and develop, and within the period of three to five years and them achieving their highest level, when they fulfill their goal that they work for, that’s what means the most to me, that’s when I get so excited.

“It’s a part of you that helps this athlete get there, but it’s when that athlete makes that achievement and you know that they’re unbelievably happy.”

For his final words in his speech, and later on in the evening, Weber recited a quote he chooses to live by:

“If somebody (says) you can’t do something and you believe in it, find a way that you can make it happen.”

aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow