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NEW: SEAN EGAN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
This newly-created fund is to encourage people to live active, healthy lives as Sean did day in and day out.
This scholarship will financially assist University of Ottawa students in the School of Human Kinetics in projects that demonstrate leadership in physical activity related to health, and promote awareness of physical activity and health in the community.
ABOUT SEAN
- Sport Psychologist and Associate Professor of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa, Sean was a great teacher, mentor and friend
- Suffering from a respiratory infection and altitude sickness Sean (1942-2005) died after suffering a cardiac arrest on Mount Everest on April 29 th 2005
- He believed that the body and soul function together and referred to the body as “the temple of the soul”
- Sean’s Holistic Fitness Model was based on seeing the ‘whole’ person (wholistic); as equal parts Body, Mind and Spirit and training all three as One
- He stressed prevention and self-responsibility for one’s wellness, emphasizing behavioural and ‘mindstyle’ factors rather than scientific precision
- “the best teaching approach is to be a model” he claimed - Sean truly practiced what he preached
- Sean believed in ‘keeping it simple’ and using a common sense “Just Do It!” approach to fitness and wellness.
SEAN’S CONTRIBUTION TO WBK:
PREVIOUS TO WBK:
- While researching the Body-Mind-Spirit connection, Chris consulted with Sean in 1997-98 while developing and operating an Exercise Therapy Program for the homeless and mentally ill clientele at the Shepherds of Good Hope in downtown Ottawa.
- Sean and Chris shared the belief and experience that “Fitness is Religion” and that there’s ‘more than one way to pray; ’that one can raise their “spirit” through more than traditional Christian Religion and the church
- Sean had been a Catholic Monk for 5 years in Europe before leaving the monastery because he was unable to teach Catholic youth physical education
- Coincidentally, Chris was preparing to enter a seminary to study Theology and become a Christian Minister before he realized that the gym was his “church” and that boxing training was his “religion” and “ministry”
- While at the University of Ottawa, in 1997-98 Dana was taught by Sean in his Physical Activity and Wellness Course and his Physical Activity and Lifestyles Course
- Sean also supervised Dana’s Fourth Year Research Project; the Effects of Physical Activity on Depression (See Article: No Manure – No Magic)
- Whitebrook Health and Fitness (1999-2002) was previous to WBK, where Dana and Chris offered various fitness training services, not just boxing!
- Being a former amateur boxer, Sean believed that there was no better way/tao to train the body than through Western Boxing Training. He advised Dana and Chris to specialize; to focus primarily on boxing. He believed that this was the way/tao for their future in the fitness industry
WBK’s BOXING FOR BETTER LIVING
- Dana and Chris followed Sean’s advice and in the fall of 2002, streamlining their business to Whitebrook Boxing Kinetics - WBK
- Sean also believed that the only thing missing from Western Boxing Training was a guiding philosophy. He encouraged Dana and Chris to study the Martial Arts (especially Qi Gong) and Eastern Philosophies (Taoism and Zen Buddhism) and to integrate their concepts into WBK. Hence the ‘TAO OF WHITEBROOK’ and ‘THE BODY IS THE ROOT’
- Sean’s teachings and spirit are still “alive and punching” with WBK
THANKS SEAN!
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