User:JamesGillis/sandbox

Michael Nepinak (born March 4, 1953) was a Canadian track and field athlete (triple jump) and is a member of the Pine Creek First Nation. He excelled in his sport while attending the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1978 he set a new Canadian record in triple jump at the Commonwealth Games with a jump of 16.24 metres - this record stood for eight years until it was broken by George Wright in 1987. In 1980, he was named to the Canadian Olympic Team for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia

Career

University of Pennsylvania

Michael Nepinak became a star track and field athlete while attending the University of Pennsylvania in 1977. As a third year student, Michael set an Ivy League outdoor track and field record in the triple jump, with a jump of 16.02 metres. During the next indoor season he continued his dominance, breaking the indoor record with a jump of 15.85 metres. One of Michael's biggest honours was when he was named to All-American status as he was voted the Outstanding Performer of the Heptagonal Indoor meet in 1978.

Commonwealth Games

After his record breaking season at the University of Pennsylvania, he competed for Team Canada at the Commonwealth Games in 1978. At the games, he managed to jump 16.24m which set a Canadian national record that stood for 8 years, only to be broken by George Wright in 1987. This performance was the best of Michael's career, and ranks him 6th all-time for outdoor triple jump in Canada This performance also stood for twenty-four years as the University of Pennsylvania's outdoor triple jump record before being passed by Tuan Wreh in 2002. This performance still stands 2nd overall at the University of Pennsylvania.

1980 Summer Olympics

In 1980, Michael became a member of Canada’s Olympic Team. Unfortunately, Michael was never able to compete in the Olympics due to the boycott over the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Results

Year	Competition	Location	Result
1976	Canadian Track and Field Championships	Regina	15.05m
1977	Canadian Track and Field Championships	Sudbury	15.62m
1977	USA–USSR Track and Field Dual Meet Series	Toronto	15.70m
1978	Canadian Track and Field Championships	Montreal	15.28m
1978	Commonwealth Games	Edmonton	16.24m
1979	Canadian Track and Field Championships	Sherbrooke	15.26m
1980	Canadian Track and Field Championships	Sherbrooke	16.39m

Personal Life

Michael Nepinak is a member of the Pine Creek First Nation and spent the first 21 years of his life as a ward of the Children’s Aid Society After the Commonwealth Games, Michael had to find a job to in order to pay the bills. He worked as a management trainee at the Hudson Bay Company, but ended up losing the job. Michael later attempted to utilise his athletic talents to find a paying job. He was invited to a tryout with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League in 1979 despite not playing a game of organised football in four years. However, he did play on the junior varsity team at the University of Illinois prior to transferring to the University of Pennsylvania.

Awards and Achievements

In 2002, Michael was a National Aboriginal Achievement Award recipient. Now called Indspire Awards, they are given out to individuals who encourage excellence in the Aboriginal community. One year later in 2003, Michael was given an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Windsor.

JamesGillis (talk) 05:09, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Edits- James Gillis

James,

Your article was well written and it provided some great information about Michael Nepinak. The idea of providing hyper links is a very good idea as it allows readers to gain insights on other pieces of information. Your results section is very well done - I like the idea of creating a table which illustrates all of his triple-jump measurements.

Here are some suggestions:

- In your lead paragraph - for the first sentence add "is a" before the word 'member' - since Michael is currently still a member of Pine Creek First Nation.

- In the section "University of Pennsylvania" - for the last sentence add "as he was" before the word 'voted'

- In the section "Commonwealth Games" - for the second sentence remove the word 'here' and insert "At these games" before the word 'managed'

- For any numbers less than 10 you should write them out

- Hyperlink 'Tuan Wreh'

- Is it possible for you to combine "Commonwealth Games" and "1980 Summer Olympics" Section into a single section titled "Professional Career"

Overall, it was a job well done. I am looking forward to reading your final draft.

Louiepolyzois (talk) 02:19, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

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Thanks Louie, changes have been made. However, I could not hyperlink Tuan Wreh since he does not have a Wikipedia page. Let me know if you have any other suggestions!

Possible Additions

A notable absence from this article is the inclusion of Aboriginal sport history which is often underrepresented. In regards to section 4, Culture, a possible addition of "Sport" may be beneficial to round out this section. This subsection could highlight the success of Canadian Aboriginal athletes, the vast history of aboriginal sports in Canada, as well as notable Aboriginal sporting competitions such as the North American Indigenous Games and the Arctic Winter Games.