Living the Dream - Amanda Sharpe
At UNB, there are only a handful of student-athletes that can truly call this city “home.” Amanda Sharpe is one individual that has grown up in her hometown of Fredericton and is truly the embodiment of what it means to be a varsity athlete. From a very young age Amanda has watched and followed the Varsity Reds, and it became her life-long dream to one-day play basketball for UNB. For the past five years Amanda has been able to live her dream, as this will be her third year captaining the UNB Varsity Reds women’s basketball team.
Having already completed a Science and Kinesiology degree, Amanda is now in her 5th year of university and completing her degree in Education. To this day Amanda is still following her dreams, as she is hoping to play for a professional team in Europe in the near future. Over the past five years, Amanda has been able to uphold her academics and playing basketball whilst maintaining the time to organize and participate in programs led by Varsity Reds. Heads-Up and Read with the Reds are two programs that integrate varsity athletes through a partnership with School District 18 where the athletes give presentations on what it means to be and be apart of the REDS team.
The Heads-Up program focuses on children whom are in the 4th and 5th grade by relating personal and athletic experiences to the acronym R.E.D.S, which is broken down into Respect, Esteem, Dedication, and Strategy. For Amanda, Heads-Up has been a way in which she is able to relate her own concept of Esteem. “In order to succeed at this level, you need to have the confidence, the internal dialogue that sets the stage for your performance.” Amanda is one player that is confident in her potential and whom fully leads by example and as a result her efforts have not gone unnoticed as she maintains Academic All Canadian status and ahs been an AUS All-Star for the past two years. Reading with the Reds is another program that focuses on children that are either in kindergarten or in the 1st grade, where athletes read to the specified class. The latest books by Garth Wade of School District 18 have been specifically created for the REDS program to explain what it means to be a part of the REDS by expressing fair play, academic success and a healthy lifestyle.
Amanda is the embodiment of what it means to be a true Varsity REDS student-athlete. Not only has Amanda been able to compete at the highest levels in a CIS recognized sport, but she has also devoted time and energy to participate in community out-reach programs. Amanda has also chosen a path that will enable her to teach and “inspire others to do their best” and striving to attain your goals by “being confident, determined, and trusting yourself to follow your dreams.” As an athlete, an academic and a role model, Amanda is one example of an individual who has followed her dreams and in her eyes “the most successful people look at setbacks at opportunities for comebacks.”