No regrets for Jade DeLisle as he embraces cross country

By: Julia Vellucci
Humber Athletics Communications

Jade DeLisle hated cross country growing up but now has a passion for it. This is his second year on the Humber Hawks' cross country team.

"I did it from grade one to grade eight, and I hated doing it, but something in me did it every year. Then when I got to high school, that's when I completely stopped for three years because I just I hated the sport," DeLisle said.

"I went out for the cross country team at my high school, tried out, and didn't make the team. It was kind of a blow, so I kind of stopped cross country at that point. I graduated that year and I came to Humber and I grew up a hockey player. My whole life, hockey has always been my number one sport, so I tried out for the Humber hockey team here, but I didn't make it," he said.

DeLisle said that despite this disappointment, being at Humber and seeing all of the varsity athletes made him a desire to be a part of that, and he discovered that they have a varsity cross-country team.

"At that point, I ran the Humber 5K, and I did pretty well and so I just put my mind to it and I worked really hard and I managed to make the team. I trained really hard to make the cross country team, a sport I hated my whole life. All of a sudden I was training every day because I really wanted to make this team," he said.

DeLisle said it was made apparent to him that his chances of making the team weren't really good with five out of the six spots on the team already filled but he tried his best and beat the odds, taking up that sixth and final spot.

He said one of the team's rookies who joined the team on his last trial was nervous about making it so he told him exactly what he told himself when he was in that position.

"I told him, and I think it helped him a little bit, or I hope it did that at the end of the day, what's important is not whether or not you make the team; it's about not having any regrets," DeLisle said.

"I told him the big thing I wanted out of him was not to leave anything in the tank but to finish on empty because at the end of the day, if you didn't make the team or just in general, if you have a bad race, it is what it is. But what's most important is that you don't leave with any regrets and wishing there was something more you could do," he said.

"To me, that's way worse than any place you finish than not making a team is having any regrets. The key piece that I've been trying to teach to some of our newer runners is don't worry too much about your placing or how you do on the podium and what not, but be more focused on not having any regrets, finishing on empty and giving it everything you have," DeLisle said.

He expects his cross-country journey to end after college but will be all for it if opportunities present themselves.

After college, DeLisle aspires to be a firefighter which is what he is studying at Humber and he would love to do more runs in the future that support worthy causes.