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I was at St. George's from 2019 to 2024. Five years is long enough that I actually remember showing up in grade eight, nervous, not knowing anyone. The school is in Vancouver's Dunbar neighbourhood. What made it different for me is the flexibility. I was serious about tennis. Like, training five days a week serious. And the school worked with that. I'd leave early for tournaments, come back late, and my teachers just... understood. They didn't make a big deal out of it. That meant everything.

Getting to coach. Not the fancy stuff. Just the small moments. A kid hitting his first proper serve. Another one figuring out how to control his volleys. That feeling when something clicks for them. I learned more about myself from coaching than from anything else at school. I'm proud I stuck with tennis all the way through. There were times I wanted to quit. Junior year was exhausting. But I kept showing up. And now I'm studying kinesiology at Western. That path started at St. George's. The school let me be an athlete and a student and a coach all at once. That shaped what I'm doing now.

I would've started coaching earlier. I waited until grade nine to volunteer. Could've done it in grade eight. Missed a year. I also would've talked to my teachers more. Not about grades. Just about what they knew. Mr. Wong knew everything about kinesiology programs. If I'd asked him earlier, maybe I'd have figured things out faster. My advice for someone considering boarding school: don't try to do everything. Pick a few things you actually care about and go deep. That's what colleges actually want to see. But more than that, that's what makes the experience worth it. Also, get outside. Vancouver is beautiful. Don't waste it.

The trust. St. George's trusted me to manage my own time, to handle tennis and school and coaching and ski instructing. They didn't micromanage. They didn't make me choose. They just said here's what we expect, figure out how to make it work. That taught me something. Now I'm at university and I know how to handle my own schedule. Not everyone figures that out. I did.

Get a coffee at Matchstick in Dunbar. Best spot. The snack bar has these protein bars that got me through after-school practices. Grab one. Also, go to Jericho Beach on a summer evening. Sunset, the mountains, the water. That's Vancouver. That's the place you're in. Don't forget to actually enjoy it.

Here's the thing about the academics. They're serious. But not in a way that felt like punishment. Class sizes were small. Maybe fifteen or sixteen kids. So the teachers knew when you were slacking. I took kinesiology-related courses when I could, because I knew that's where I was heading. Mr. Wong for biology was my guy. He'd stay after class to talk about whatever we were learning. Not because he had to. He just liked it. The workload was manageable if you stayed on top of it. I didn't always. Junior year I remember falling behind after a tournament trip. Came back, told my teachers, and they worked with me. That's what I appreciated. They pushed but they also understood.

Tennis is different at St. George's. It's not hockey. We did not have a massive facility on campus. We practiced at local clubs, mostly Jericho. The school has partnerships with a few places. The team was small, maybe twelve guys. But the commitment was real. We'd practice after school, play matches on weekends. The coaching was solid. My coach, Mr. Davidson, had this way of pushing without yelling. I liked that. Sports are required through grade ten. After that you can choose. Most guys stick with something. The school has a gym, weight room, fields. But for me, tennis was the thing.

I was not in that world. At all. But I had friends who were. The theatre productions at St. George's are actually impressive. They put on musicals in the auditorium, full sets, costumes, the whole thing. I went to a few shows and was surprised how good they were. The music program has a band and a jazz group. They'd perform in the chapel sometimes. My roommate was a music kid. He'd practice in our room and I'd listen while doing homework. Drove me crazy at first. Then I got used to it. Then I kind of missed it when he stopped.

The tennis stuff took up most of my time. But I also did some coaching outside school. That wasn't an official club, just something I did. The school has plenty of clubs though. Debate, robotics, outdoor club. Whatever you're into. My friend started a sports business club in grade eleven. Just a few guys talking about sponsorships, gear, that kind of thing. Nothing formal. But the school let him use a classroom after hours. That was cool. You could build something if you wanted to. Nobody stopped you.

I was a day student, so I didn't board. But I spent plenty of time at Harker Hall. Friends lived there. I'd stay over on weekends, hang in the common room, grab food from the dining hall. The vibe was pretty relaxed. Guys doing homework, playing video games, just talking. The boarding parents were around but not hovering. My friends who boarded said the best part was the randomness. Someone was always around. You'd be up late studying and someone would walk in and you'd end up talking for an hour. That's the thing about boarding. You lose privacy but you gain people.

The dining hall is on the Junior School campus. Boarders eat there mostly. Day students can too if they want. I ate there sometimes after practice. Food was fine. Nothing amazing, nothing terrible. The Sunday brunch was the best. Pancakes, eggs, bacon. Everyone came down in sweatpants, no rush. The cookies were popular. I don't know what they did to them but they'd disappear in like 10 minutes. The best part was just sitting with your guys after a long day. That mattered more than the food.

Vancouver is a real city. That's the difference from a lot of boarding schools. You're not stuck on a hill somewhere. Dunbar Village is right there. Coffee shops, sushi places, a grocery store. We'd walk there after school sometimes. Downtown is a short bus ride. I spent a lot of weekends in Kitsilano. Jericho Beach, the tennis club, that whole area. Being in a city meant I could do my own thing. Ski instructing in Whistler on weekends was part of that. Two hours north, whole different world. The school didn't treat it like a problem. They just said go do your thing.

The school is about 1100 kids total. Senior school is maybe seven hundred. Big enough that you find your people, small enough that you know everyone by name. The tennis guys were my core group. But I had friends outside that too. Day students mixed with boarders fine. Nobody was weird about cliques. The social scene was pretty laid back. Weekends were whatever you made them. Hanging at someone's house, going downtown, playing pickup sports. There wasn't pressure to do anything specific. You could just be.