Dayna Saunders
Faye Ling

Dayna Saunders - Team Sungod member for 8 years, competing from novice to Junior National level in that time.

I currently work for eBay Inc, where I was the first successful employee to move from a customer service rep to a lead and then upward to a supervisor role. I accomplished this in 7 months time with the goals and determination I set for myself.

I manage a team of 17 customer service reps and I can honestly say that all my time spent in sports and being in a team environment has not only helped me to be successful at my job but also as a person. Swimming helped me to learn self discipline, goal setting, motivation, determination, respect, setting high expectations, visualization, and commitment and that hard work comes rewarded. Additionally I learnt valuable lessons, of which I did not know at the time how they would impact my life. I discovered the importance of honesty, good ethics, team morale and simply what it means to have a strong support structure of team mates that were always there for you and taught me to keep pushing. I also believe that sports have helped me make more right decisions in my life than wrong. I grew up with high expectations for myself and from the assistance of my great coaches; I understood what it meant to overcome obstacles, to rise to a challenge and to not give up on my goals.

I integrate these values in my every day work and motivate my team to see results. Together we set weekly and monthly goals and provide them with the tools and resources to be able to achieve success. This makes me realize that people need to be motivated and encouraged and not only that but once the right behavior or path is being chosen then it is important to recognize that and reward it. In a way, I treat my team as though I am their coach and ultimately my job is to prepare them to take on my role, in doing so how do I prepare them for this so that when giving the opportunity they rise to the occasion and outshine others. I am proud to say that I currently have the highest producing team in our Vancouver Center.

Although there were times when my alarm clock would go off at some ridiculously early hour of the morning and I would be wishing I could sleep in, I am grateful that I my parents encouraged me to engage in a healthy sport that taught me so many things, some of which I am sure I have yet to discover. And let's be honest it probably kept me out of trouble from time to time as well! I can say that when time comes for us to have children that I hope to place them in sports or activities as I know it will help shape their future and give them a foundation of core values to live by and help them be successful in their lives. (May 17, 2004)

Faye Ling - Started swimming at 6 years of age. As of 2004, entered Queens University, Kingston, Ont. in B. of Science program

It is difficult to express just how much swimming at Sungod has given to me. Who I am today is the culmination of lessons and experiences I have gained from swimming. Although perhaps it’s not what is learned that is most important, but rather what isn’t learned.

I didn’t learn that winning means beating everyone else in the pool. If that were true, I would have been losing more often than not, and as far as I’m concerned I’m not a loser.

I didn’t learn that the people I swim with everyday are just teammates. No, they are much much more than that. If swimming were cake batter, having swim friends would be putting the cake in the oven - batter has the potential to be incredibly satisfying, but without friends, difficult to digest. (of course I would never eat cake before a swimmeet…)

I didn’t learn that worthwhile obstacles are the ones easiest conquered. The best goals are the ones which aren’t achieved today or tomorrow or next month, or maybe not even next year. But when it happens, there’s a super duper feeling that rumbles in the tummy and causes one to speculate spontaneous combustion.

Lastly, I didn’t learn that swimming ends when the body is too fat to haul (residence butt…here I come) or the arms are not muscular enough. It doesn’t end when one is so far over the hill that the hill is a mound of dirt (I saw a 90 year old man swim 200 breast!). There will always be time to swim, even when there isn’t. Thank you Sungod Swimming. (Jan 7, 2005)