Year in Review: The Best of 2015

Well, it’s been a CRAZY and interesting year… I must say! There has been so many things that have happened, that I never would of thought of happening in a million years. And I can’t say enough about how excited I am for the future!

So, in today’s post I’m going to highlight my top 5 experiences of 2015!

  1. Toronto Raptors Strength and Conditioning Internship – There is no doubt that this number one and probably one of the best experiences of my life so far. To be honest, if you told me I was going to work with the Toronto Raptors this year and train guys like DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valancinuas, Luis Scola, Bismack Biyomobo, James Johnson, Patrick Patterson, and the rest of the team…. then I probably would of told you that your crazy, especially since I never came from a basketball background. Also, I can’t say enough about how much I learned from guys like Alex Mckechnie, Jon Lee, Ray Chow, Rory Mullin, Scott Mccullough and the rest of the people within the organization. There was so much I learned, many connections made and I can’t say how grateful I am for this opportunity. Lastly, it’s pretty nice to say that I was the ‘first ever’ strength and conditioning intern for the Toronto Raptors 😉

2. Fixing My Lower Back Troubles – Alright, so most of you all know about my back and I made some HUGE strides throughout 2015. I am not only back to normal activity but I’m more educated and experienced than ever about lower back troubles. I was able to fix my back for the most part and I know what works for my body and what doesn’t now. Mind ya, this was one of the longest processes I have ever gone through but they key was to stay optimistic and continue learning!

3. Completing my Bachelors Degree – After a long….. but great 4 years, it was finally nice to complete my bachelor’s degree with Honors in Movement Science. Met some fascinating people throughout those 4 years and I will never forget some of the memories I had with them!

4. Beginning my Master’s Degree – Well, I guess I didn’t think 4 years of education was enough, and I needed to continue on to do my Master’s. Things obviously took an unexpected turn with the Raptors internship but I plan on finishing up my degree hopefully by the end of 2016. I will be doing a thesis with probably something that has a physiological focus.

5. Moving to Toronto – Moving to Toronto…. this is something I had planned on doing after finishing up my bachelor’s degree and to be honest, it unexpectedly happened, since I had landed the Raptors internship last minute. Anyways, since moving to Toronto, I’ve been able to meet and get in touch with some of the best in the strength and conditioning industry and hopefully I can get in touch with some more. Also, it was just great to visit some family up in Toronto and also experience the big city living for once 😉

So, there is my top 5 highlights of 2015! I hope some of you have had a similar or even better experience than I have had 😉

All the best to 2016!

Remi

remi raptors