Believe it: you lost to an arts school

There’s a party going on in the front yard of Rosedale School for the Arts. Students are wrapped around a bandstand, enjoying the jazzy vocals of a school band.

In the gym on this mid-June day, that energy manifests itself in an amiable chat with the school’s athletes of the year, Maggie
Grundy-Glynn and Connor Wooldridge, and phys ed head Hovig Keshishian.

Between questions, Grundy-Glynn pirouettes and Wooldridge banters with his coach about the World Cup.

One thing the two athletes have in common is their amusement at when other schools lose to “an arts school.”

“When a team beats us, they’re like, ‘Whatever, we beat an arts school,’ but when we beat them they definitely feel crappy,” Grundy-Glynn said.

“They always walk off the field saying, ‘I can’t believe we lost to an arts school,’ ” Keshishian added, with a laugh. “I hear it all
the time.”

Grundy-Glynn had a lot to smile about this season, leading her soccer team to a 4-0-2 undefeated record in Tier 2 South Region soccer.

Unfortunately though, the team’s first loss, 4-1 to Marc Garneau Cougars, came in the quarter-finals.

“It was extremely hot,” Grundy-Glynn said. “I actually got heat stroke.”

Though it was tough to bow out so early, the success puts a smile on her face. Wooldridge also saw some athletic success with Rosedale Ravens, putting in a good tournament at the Ontario Ball Hockey Association’s high school tournament in early May, as well as on the co-ed volleyball team and soccer squads.

Both Grundy-Glynn and Wooldridge put in maximum effort in their roles as leaders on the respective teams.

“I tried to show as much leadership as I could, excluding volleyball, because that was just trying to play a sport,” Wooldridge said.

Grundy-Glynn counters, “He’s better than he’s saying he was.”

“I tried to be as much of a leader because I wanted the younger kids to get better, so they could do what I’m trying to do when they’re older,” Wooldridge added. “And keep Rosedale sports coming.”

He was one of three key players on the ball hockey team that made a strong push in the tournament.

With their starting goalie injured, though, the scoring prowess of Wooldridge, Casey Cain and Alex Glutch was not enough to pull them through.

There’s a strong bond among the two students and their teacher Keshishian.

They banter, laugh and enjoy the last days of school as exams take up most of their time.

Wooldridge is off to Humber College to study theatre performance. Grundy-Glynn will follow next year.