By Lucas Uggenti
Challenge. That’s just another word in the dictionary for McMaster men’s soccer team’s Carlo DiFeo, as he has proven on numerous occasions throughout his soccer career that overcoming challenges is exactly what it takes to achieve greatness.
Although most things come naturally for DiFeo on the pitch, he has never been one to shy away from competition and continues to train every day to make his dream of becoming a professional soccer player a reality.
“Saltfleet’s in my blood,” said DiFeo when asked about his younger playing days.
[spacer height="20px"]DiFeo started his soccer career playing for his hometown team, the Saltfleet Strikers, where his father managed and coached him until he was 14 years old. Aldo DiFeo played an important role in his son’s development, always striving to teach Carlo that soccer is more than just a game and that the little things are what make playing worth it.
Aldo used his ability to communicate and his high soccer IQ to help shape Carlo into the player and man he is today, on and off the field.
“My dad is the realest man ever,” DiFeo said. “He taught me how to have the right mentality when dealing with any type of adversity, whether that be not starting in a match or dealing with an injury.”
Aldo had to sacrifice his own personal time to help Carlo continue down a successful path, never once complaining about the hours spent developing game plans and training techniques to help both his son and every player he coached. Not to mention the countless hours spent behind the wheel, all of this did not go unnoticed by the young McMaster star.
“I wouldn’t be who I am on the pitch without him,” Difeo said. “He made me fall in love with the game.”
DiFeo’s resilience is what separates him from his peers and what gives him the edge in competitions. He will never be the strongest guy on the pitch or the tallest, but DiFeo has an incredible skill set and an understanding of the game which is unlike no other.
This put him on McMaster’s radar at an early age, where DiFeo was looked at as a potential good fit for the program. Unfortunately for Mac, he decided to stay back for a fifth year of high school where he continued to train with the Ontario provincial team.
DiFeo has had the opportunity to travel the world and play in different countries throughout Europe with the team, giving him a better look at what international soccer was going to be like.
DiFeo has a knack for finishing what he starts, and his loyalty to the game and his team is a big part of what makes him so successful today. His decision to stay back another year to develop ultimately benefited him and McMaster by the time DiFeo chose to join the team.
“I wanted to play for Mac,” said DiFeo. “I’ve always heard good things about the soccer program and coach Dino [Perri]. It was a team I wanted to be a part of.”
Using his skillset to his advantage, DiFeo always could escape danger by not putting himself in it, which is a lot easier said than done. He is not shy to admit he’s been battling such adversities since he first put on the boots.
“It’s a challenge, especially being a 5’8” midfielder,” DiFeo said. “I played with a group of guys who were taller and stronger. It opened my eyes to the notion that a position is never given, you have to earn your spot. If you’re not playing good that week then you’ll lose your spot and start on the bench. It really opened my eyes to competitive football.”
[spacer height="20px"]DiFeo’s most recent challenge came in the form of a position change. He has played most of his life in the number 10 role, an attacking midfielder, and most recently changed to a right fullback.
DiFeo was given a responsibility on the pitch that differed greatly from his usual spot as coach Perri decided to move DiFeo to the fullback role. The move came as a pleasant surprise for both DiFeo and the McMaster soccer team as he continued to be the most effective player on the pitch.
This opened new avenues for DiFeo outside of McMaster, as he now has found himself a starting role on the Oakville Blue Devils, a successful team in League 1 Ontario. The position change has allowed DiFeo to become more versatile in attack, giving his coaches a different weapon to use. This has helped him become a regular starter for Oakville which included starting in important matches such as the Canadian Championship final and a match against Frosinone, a top team in Italy.
DiFeo consistently deals with any piece of adversity thrown his way and will continue to strive in the right direction to get to his final goal. With an excellent support system behind him, and a strong soccer program at McMaster, DiFeo is well on his way to a long and successful soccer career.
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By Drew Simpson
Supercrawl is Hamilton’s annual art crawl showcasing various talents thriving within the city; from art, music, food to fashion. Stages are set, sets are rehearsed, art installations are built and the food trucks line up all the way down James Street North, closing it from King Street to Cannon Street to allow for this rich presentation of culture.
Walking up James Street North from King Street West, a side road called King William hosts a competition. Competitions aren’t a common theme of Supercrawl, however FEED the Social and NOSH, the organizers of the King William Cook-Off, saw it fit to host a one-round, thirty-minute competition between two teams of well-known chefs.
FEED the Social is a social media company based in Hamilton. They specialize in representing for Hamilton’s culinary works. While NOSH stands for north Hamilton, the outlining communities surrounding and south Hamilton.
Under the tent by Hamburgr, two teams of chefs competed. There were barely any rules. No mystery boxes. No mystery ingredients. The instructions were simple, cook the best entrée within the time limit.
Through comradery, both teams knew each other’s chefs, their strengths and perhaps their weaknesses. They planned carefully for this event. Michael Marini, the coordinator of marketing for the city of Hamilton’s economic development office, explains competition can bring out chefs’ creativity.
One time consisted of Chef Harrison Hennick of Nique, Martello and the General paired with Chef Michael Vogt of Frat’s Cucina. They battled Chef Michael Cipollo of Hambrgr, Fsh & Chp and Lost + Found whose partner was Chef Patrick Weise of Twisted Kitchen Catering and Matthew’s Friends Canada.
These talented chefs are both Canadian and world-renowned. Past winner and judge of Chef Wars, Patrick Weise was once Oprah’s personal chef. The chefs chosen to partake in this cook-off give a taste of the culinary talent evident in Hamilton.
King William Cook-Off is a preliminary event of the annual Chef Wars hosted by NOSH, these competitors have been judges, participants and winners of Chef Wars. Originally ran by NOSH, FEED the Social is now in charge of both Chef Wars and King William Cook-Off. While the chefs for King William Cook-Off were hand-selected, Chef Wars is a better representation of using a competition format to showcase all the best in Hamilton.
“I think it brings out the competitive spirit. At the same time, the difference with what we’re seeing in Hamilton and what we’ve been told by chefs coming from Toronto is the collaboration that happens in Hamilton,” explained Marini.
“Even though they’re competitive, they’re not out to destroy each other’s businesses. So they want to work together. They’re going to have a little challenge against each other, but at the end of the day they’re all friends.”
Often competition is used to validate talent. While the president of FEED the Social, Romeo Crugnale, agrees that art encompasses food, he also believes competitions like the King William Cook-Off and Chef Wars can validate Hamilton’s culinary talent.
“With these events…I want to be able to really elevate it to another level. Everybody knows Hamilton is starting to have a really great food scene. Everybody knows that restaurants are coming in and chefs are coming over from Toronto to open up here for various reasons,” explained Crugnale.
“What is the way to showcase that? What better platform than Supercrawl? What better platform that doing a free event…in the spirit of Supercrawl.”
Watching competitions is entertaining, but it also has a deeper purpose. When trying to prove worth, comparisons are made. Often competition is used to decide how great someone or something is. Therefore, competition is a natural way of crowning the worthiest.
There is a fine line to walk between validating the city’s culinary scene and showcasing the intense creativity of competitors through competition. Some may argue that Supercrawl is meant to celebrate Hamilton’s unique culture, not try to equate it to larger cities.
However, it’s undeniable that Hamilton’s food scene is thriving and using competition can go a long way to bring chefs and their talents to the forefront of the conversation around what makes Hamilton great. Everyone has a competitive nature and it can bring out the best out of Hamiltonians and their culinary dishes.
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Experience in any form, whether voluntary, competitive or direct employment, is important for students who are looking to build their resumes and develop their careers. By participating in competitive volunteer opportunities on campus, students can gain experience that can help improve their chances for job opportunities.
McMaster should consider making them known to students from all faculties, in addition to ensuring that these opportunities are as all-inclusive as possible in terms of faculty representation. Experiential opportunities McMaster should be open to students from all faculties and should aspire to create opportunities that help students from all educational backgrounds participate in experiences that could help their future.
Post-secondary education is meant to prepare students for the real world and give students what they need to succeed outside of school as well. Nowadays, career-related education is not as easily accessible as it should be for young adults. It is difficult enough for students to understand the basics of job-search, which in turn makes finding a experience that can helps students build a career an even greater challenge.
In creating student-oriented opportunities that will help students build their skillsets and add experiences to their resumes that are not paid and are volunteer based, McMaster would be helping students prepare for the real world and fulfill what university is meant to do for students.
By participating in competitive volunteer opportunities on campus, students can gain experience that can help improve their chances for job opportunities.
A perfect example of a student-competitive volunteer opportunity is McMaster’s annual student hackathon for change, DeltaHacks. With over 500 participants last year from universities across the nation, the competition encourages students to participate in an event that creates positive change in participating in solving real world problems using design thinking strategies.
The competition offers several positions and opportunities for students, from being a coordinator or a mentor to participating in marketing strategy. It offers many opportunities for students to work on real-world skills that help students build a resume skillset.
Opportunities like this are unique for students, because they encourage students from all fields and educational backgrounds to participate in build real-world applications together in hopes of creating solutions that create positive change globally.
Though this opportunity sounds like it would be directly relevant to engineering and computer science students from the title, students from all backgrounds and talents can play a role in the competition.
In addition, given the variety of participants, the competition can also be an opportunity for networking and building relations with individuals from diverse skill sets and experiential backgrounds. This allows for a less-stressful, more beneficial opportunity for students to network with other students who may be pursuing a similar career, or who might know others that can give better insight in the field you are pursuing.
DeltaHacks is an example of an opportunity that allows students from all faculties at McMaster to come together in a volunteer-run event and create positive change. The opportunity opens doors for students to develop new skills, make new connections and add experience to their resumes.
McMaster should make a greater effort in promoting opportunities that will help students build their career portfolios and ensure that students of all faculties are able to participate in these opportunities.
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By: Saad Ejaz
The second annual Great Canadian Sales Competition is underway this year. With 60 participating schools, the competition is beginning to gain momentum. This is partially due to its major sponsors, which include Google, Air Canada, Xerox and Purolator.
The GCSC is one of Canada’s biggest national student competitions, and invites universities and colleges across the country to take part this year.
The aim of the competition is to make students more aware of the sales industry. Sonya Meloff, the cofounder of the Sales Talent Agency and Great Canadian Sales Competition believes this will help a new generation become interested in sales.
“There is so much misconception of sales as a profession. There is a real lack of knowledge, and sales just isn’t highlighted as an area of study . . . Our intention with the competition was really to highlight sales as a profession, celebrate sales as a profession and promote the profession. And we hope to be a conduit to getting students in front of amazing employers and hopefully getting as many as possible into amazing job opportunities,” said Meloff.
The competition consists of three rounds, and participants are required to use their sales skills to advance through them. To enter the competition, students are required to submit a video pitch about a product or service of their interest. After making it to the second round, participants work with one of the competition’s big-name sponsors to create a pitch for a novel product or service in line with the company’s interest.
Michael Coté, the Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Purolator showed his enthusiasm for upcoming GCSC. “It is pretty rewarding internally for the sales leaders at Purolator to help and work with our sponsored competitor and help them succeed . . . We help prepare our finalists, and where I feel that most of the fun for us next is to see them presenting in the final round and cheering them on,” he said.
The final round consists of finalists presenting their pitch to a panel of judges made up of executives from Canada’s leading companies. Coté is one of the judges this year in the final round.
All the finalists of the competition win a trip to Toronto, up to $7,500 and a chance to meet the executives from Canada’s leading companies.
Finalist from last year’s GCSC, Rachele Benjamin, stated that although she did not pursue a career in sales, she was able to learn valuable skills and lessons from the competition. “It's important that if you're looking for a career, you approach every opportunity with an open mind. Guaranteed, if nothing else, you will learn a lot from entering and giving it your best shot,” she explained.
The ability to network, construct and present ideas are skills that are pivotal to many jobs in the workforce today. The ability to build on these skills is a fundamental aspect to learn before entering a professional setting and the GCSC hopes to continue helping students find their niche in the field.
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