Lea Storry graduated from Ryerson's Bachelor of Journalism program in 1997. She was a member of the varsity swim team and worked for the university's athletics department writing weekly updates about Rams teams. She now lives in Edmonton, Alta. and owns a memoir writing business. 

Over two decades removed from graduation, Storry reflects back on her time as a Ram, and how the university's unique location, pragmatic style of instruction and collaborative athletic programs helped her get to where she is today. 

During my first week of classes at Ryerson in 1995, I went looking for the pool. As a varsity swimmer at my previous university, I wanted to keep up my fitness and endurance. However, what I found at the Recreation and Athletic Centre (RAC), was more of a puddle. 

"The pool is so short!" I thought to myself while walking onto the deck with my bathing cap and goggles in hand.  

I was used to 25 metres, the competition standard;his pool was 25 yards. I jumped into the water anyway. 

"It's like I'm swimming in a bathtub!" I thought to myself while pushing off the wall and taking my first stroke.  

The water was hot, around 90 degrees F, which wasn't the correct temperature for swimming laps and laps. But, I kept going and after an hour, I was done. Climbing out of the pool, the lifeguard said to me, "You should join the swim team."  

I hadn't even heard that Ryerson had any sports teams, let alone a swim team. I had just moved to Toronto from Nova Scotia to become a hard-hitting and serious journalist. I was attending the Journalism for Graduates program, my second degree. At the age of 22, I had no intention of joining a team. My studies were going to keep me busy and I'd have no time for swimming. 

Or would I? 

I had two years of eligibility left—student-athletes at Canadian universities have a total of five years of eligibility—after swimming for Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S. Acadia is a picturesque place with wide green lawns and impressive sandstone buildings set in a quaint town with bells that ring out over campus every hour. Walking to the pool for practice was a delight while taking in the idyllic setting. How would a city university, plunked in the middle of concrete and traffic and millions of people, compare? Maybe I could just try out and see what the Ryerson Rams were like. 

At the first practice, I was immediately welcomed onto the Rams swimming roster. I didn't have to try out because the team was tiny, around 20 members. The coaches, Adrienne Kovacs and Alison Lee, were almost as young as me. From the moment I stepped on deck, I was expected to be there twice a day, morning and afternoon, and once on Sundays. (The bribe of doughnuts on Sunday helped get me on deck after a fun night out.)  

The women and men who made up the Rams came from all different programs including engineering, fashion, nutrition and architecture. Ryerson was such a hands-on school and I wasn't the only one tackling a full load of papers, projects and internships; swimmers often came to morning practices not having had a wink of sleep.  

Part of the reason we made it onto the deck each day were Adrienne and Alison. Their budget was small but they were skilled, energetic and trained us like Olympians—which one of us actually was. 

The coaches also cared about us. When I moved from the Pitman Hall residence into an apartment in the fall of my second and last year at Ryerson, I had to walk through Allan Gardens from Parliament Street to get to the pool for 6 a.m. Pre-dawn, there were some sketchy people loitering in the area and I was often approached and asked some stomach-churning questions. I told Alison that I felt unsafe and I could only swim in the afternoon. Her response? "I'll pick you up." 

Every morning before practice, I'd peek out of the blinds in my room and see her car. She never failed to get me to the pool. It made me feel like I was an important part of the team. I'd leave the pool tired and my face bright red like all the other swimmers moving fast in the unbelievably hot water.   

The Rams were my friends and competitors. We pushed each other in the pool and supported each other outside it. We had a lot going for us, including talent, strength and camaraderie. When we went on the road to meets, we went up against giants. Teams from the University of Toronto and McMaster University had 10 times our numbers. Their pools were bigger and could fit the equivalent of 10 RAC pools in them. 

The pools were longer, too. The Rams always joked about missing the wall in a race. It was a horrible feeling to flip in the water, reaching your toes for the wall, and then sinking as you realize you turned at the 25 yard mark, not the 25 metre mark. Ryerson also faced derision from other universities; we were mocked for our old-school lockers in campus hallways, a lack of historic ivied buildings and for always wearing black to meets (we didn't). 
Since the Rams were a small team, members did races they wouldn't usually do. As a sprinter, I was put into a 200-metre freestyle event during a McMaster meet. My whole body shook as I climbed onto the block. I wasn't sure how I was going to do eight laps as fast as I could. When the gun went off, I dove in and immediately felt like I was swimming through molasses. However, when I surfaced, I heard my team cheering for me. It propelled me on and I caught up to the leaders. 

Another time, I was driving a group of swimmers to the University of Guelph. I had Alison's car since she was driving a hired van filled with the rest of my teammates. The trip down was supposed to be only three hours but that evening was the start of Oktoberfest in Kitchener, Ont. The traffic was horrendous and heavy and we were going to be late for the meet. All I could think about was getting to the pool while weaving through the ludicrous number of vehicles on the road. 

Entering the Guelph pool, I heard my race, the 100-metre breaststroke, being called. I hated breaststroke because I felt I couldn't get any speed (I was a butterfly swimmer). Luckily, I already had my bathing suit on and I stripped off my street clothes while walking to the blocks. I hadn't warmed up or anything by the time I dived into the cool water and whipped kicked my way down and up and down and up the lane. I didn't win the event or secure a personal best, but it was the calmest I've ever been before and during a race. There had been no time to let stress take over. 

When I graduated in 1997, there was an economic recession. I had a hard time finding employment in the journalism field and I ended up working at the Gap on Queen Street West for a few months. I then found a job teaching English in South Korea. I put my journalism skills to use overseas and wrote a bi-weekly column for my local paper in Nova Scotia. I continued with the column when I moved to The Gambia, West Africa, the next year.

In Gambia, I was the publications officer for a pan-African non-governmental organization  (NGO) called the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies. I wrote about human rights abuses taking place in African countries. 

Ryerson gave me the confidence at a young age to be able to go out into the world and tackle work I might have otherwise passed up. I always found time to swim and, when I moved to Calgary to be a news writer for A-Channel Calgary, I joined a masters swim club.

My career path took off in another direction and I went home to Nova Scotia where I learned how to fly Cessna aircrafts in 2000. I obtained my private pilot's license, intent on becoming a commercial pilot. Then, the September 11 attacks happened in 2001 and the airline industry stalled. I found my way back to writing with a stint in communications at Mount Allison University. Then I moved north to Fort Smith, N.W.T., to be the editor of a small weekly community paper. 

Three years later, I took a post in Vernon, B.C., as the managing editor of the Daily Courier but after eleven months, I was laid off. It was a terrible time for many people as it was another recession. I moved to Revelstoke, B.C., and was "job free" for over a year. Luckily, the small mountain town is surrounded by snowy peaks, great for skiing down. 

My next position was in another mountain town, Whistler, B.C. I worked as a sportswriter for the Olympic/Paralympic News Service at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Then, it was back to Calgary where I became a reporter at the Calgary Herald. There was another Ryerson journalism grad at the Herald, Jason van Rassel. Jason had graduated a few years earlier than me, so we didn't know each other in Toronto. We know each other well now; he's my husband. 

Both Jason and I were laid off at different times by the Herald. We moved to Edmonton after Jason got a job in communications with the Alberta Public Service. I became an entrepreneur. I decided to take all the skills I learned at Ryerson such as interviewing, writing and layout, and put it into my own business, Our Family Lines. Now, I write memoirs for people and companies and take the projects from start to finish. 

Jason and I have attended Ryerson alumni events and whenever we're in Toronto, we make a point of swinging by the campus. We've stopped at the "Library" for a pint and also visited the Mattamy Athletic Centre after it opened. We were impressed with the facility. Now, how about a 25-metre pool?   

My swim teammates and I are still connected through social media and we have a Facebook group chat. In 2020, we gathered over Zoom to catch up and reminisce. Many of us remain active swimmers and are active in other sports. It's challenging to keep fit once you're in the workforce because you seem to have less and less time. Add family and friends on top of that, and days disappear in a blink of an eye. Nevertheless, it's important to have a healthy body and a healthy mind. 

Being part of a Ryerson team helped me discover how to deal with anxiety, handle expectations and try new things. I learned how to budget my time, organize my priorities, keep up my fitness level and so much more. Being a Ryerson Ram meant that I had a group of friends that I could train with, lean on and encourage through school and life. 

I can look back on swimming without a touch of the rose-coloured goggles. It was tough getting up on those early cold, bleak winter mornings and hitting the pool. It was tough trying to finish a reporting assignment before afternoon practice. It was tough spending weekends away at meets and missing parties on campus. It was tough facing anxiety about racing. However, my Ryerson teammates were going through much the same thing. 

Ryerson has never been a typical university. It's a knowledge centre where students learn through hands-on education. As well, many students are commuters, taking transit or driving to and from the heart of Toronto every day. For anyone questioning the "extra" time it takes to be a student-athlete, know that by combining education and athletics, you'll be benefitting not only from a supportive team environment today, but also building great memories and friendships for years to come. 

University experiences do not have to be all bookwork and practicums. There's so much to gain outside of the classroom as a student-athlete that can enhance your learning. Take it from me, someone who didn't even know Ryerson had sports teams.   

Images supplied by Lea Storry. Header image shows the Rams women's swimmers at the OWIAA Championship at Laurentian University in 1996.

If this story inspires you to recall your own memories of your time as a Rams student-athlete, we would love to hear from you! Please contact Nick Taylor, Director of Development, at nick.taylor@ryerson.ca to share your story.