Barbara Brinkmann

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Barbara (Barb) Brinkmann
Builder

Induction Award:

  Barbara Brinkmann is a well-known name in Elmvale and the surrounding area. Having taught Physical Education and coached at Elmvale District High School for 32 years, many people in the community have either been taught or coached by her. She is known for her generosity and instilling the value of sportsmanship above winning in her students. Barbara has created many champions, and spent countless hours and plenty of her own money doing so. She has never let young people down in the community she has adopted. She has always given them a chance to be in love with a sport

Member Details:

Category: Builder
Year of Induction: 2024
Sport: Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer, Curling, Track and Field, Badminton, and Tennis
Nominator: Angela Mae Kirton
Date/ Place of Birth: February 11th, 1949, Bremen Germany.
Resides: Elmvale, On.

Highlights:

5. 1973: Became chair of Phys. Ed. At E.D.H.S.
5. 1977: Coached ‘AA’ Junior Girls GBSSA Basketball Champions ...more highlights

 

Narrative:

          While Barbara Brinkmann was not born and raised in Springwater, she certainly established herself as a citizen of the township with her commitment to local sports. Barbara’s teaching career with Simcoe County began in 1972 at Elmvale District High School. While she was originally hired to teach English and Business, Barbara took summer courses to add Physical Education to her roster. She took the position of Chair of Phys. Ed. and kept it until the mid-1980s’. At that point, she became Chair of Co-curricular. Barbara’s teaching career spanned more than three decades in which she changed the way the sports program was run completely. While in other schools, students paid athletic fees in order to play sports, Barbara would have none of that. Instead, Barbara mandated that all students at Elmvale could play for free. She accomplished this with a combination of budgeting, and fundraising. Her students had booths at the Elmvale Maple Syrup Festival and Elmvale Fall Fair every year where they would volunteer their time selling goods in order to fund their school sports. There were also multiple other fundraising campaigns throughout the year that her students participated in.

           Barbara volunteered her lunch breaks at E.D.H.S. in order to oversee the intermural sports program. She grasped that many students could not attend the sports that predominantly ran after school, and saw to it that there was still an opportunity for them. In addition to this, Barbara coached basketball, volleyball, soccer, curling, track and field, badminton, and tennis, at three different levels, often all levels at once. She drove her dress code attired athletes to events, and several times paid the event fees out of her own pocket. Barbara was well known for this kind of generosity; she also often covered expenses for students that could not afford to compete at OFSAA. She pushed her students to value physical activity, sportsmanship, and comradery over winning. In doing this, she created champions.

Quotes:  

• That which I am most proud of is that no student has ever had to ‘pay to play’ sports at EDHS!”
• “It is my fervent belief that participation in any and all school activities should NOT be dedicated by family income!”

 

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Acknowledgement: