Athletic Lives of Distinction - A - L
A - F
Dorland, Jason '83 - Rowing
It’s a sports cliché, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Our next inductee has used the highs and lows of his sporting career to gain perspective on the truly meaningful elements of an athlete’s journey. He was an ISAA and OFSSA swimming champion several times over, but his greatest success came on the water in a rowing shell. He won the Neil Campbell Award for Oarsmen of the Year in 1982. His crew won multiple CSSRA Championships and the Stotesbury Cup. Asked about his greatest sports memory, he recalled, “Standing on the podium at Schoolboy in 1983 after winning the Calder Cleland with my best friends: I was exhausted, overjoyed, proud, and incredibly sad that my rowing days at Ridley were now over.” Happily, he returned to Ridley as a coach many years later, leading the 2012 Heavy Eight Boys back to the Royal Henley Regatta for the first time since the nineties. Upon graduation, he attended Syracuse University on a rowing scholarship and went on to represent Canada from 1986-1988 in the Commonwealth Games, the World Championships and the Olympics. Now a published author and consultant, he mentors athletes and coaches, sharing with them his philosophy about the true nature of victory – one that takes a long-view of success, and which cannot be measured in medals alone – in order to unleash unlimited personal and athletic potential.
“It is ALL about the journey, and the relationships!”
P.O. Box 3013, 2 Ridley Road St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 7C3 Canada 905 684 1889
With more than 700 students from 60 countries, the largest boarding programme in Ontario and the third largest in Canada, Ridley College is a truly international, co-educational, day and boarding school of the world that prepares students for the world. It has provided enriching learning and life-shaping experiences focused on the arts, academics, and athletics since 1889. Ridley’s Lower School offers JK-Grade 8, its Upper School consists of Grade 9-PG, and Ridley graduates attend some of the top universities and colleges around the world. Ridley is the only co-ed independent boarding school in Canada and one of only three in North America authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum programme.
