Many believe a person's destiny is laid out for them and Michael Linklater, a tremendous aboriginal athlete, did everything he could to change his destiny. Now he is sharing his story across Saskatchewan.
"I was destined to fail," said Linklater, as he talked in front of a crowd of students at Sakewew High School last week.
Linklater was born to an alcoholic mother, had an alcoholic grandmother and never knew his father. He has seen his birth mother just a few dozen times his entire life and was raised by his grandmother's sister and her family.
Linklater also had trouble in school beginning at the elementary level and needed an extra year to pass high school. He was a teenage father and had his best friend killed in a fight at a party by a guy he was also buddies with.
The path was not one anyone would choose for themselves, but Linklater refused to let the bad moments of his life define who he was. Through hard work, dedication and determination the 5´10? athlete became the first ever to captain the University of Saskatchewan Huskies basketball team to a national championship and defy all odds. Linklater made a choice in his life never to drink alcohol, after seeing what it did to family members he'd hardly knew. Also his only cigarette was in Grade 3 when his mother's daughter forced him to inhale an entire cigarette and he was instantly sick.
"I know that bad road wouldn't get me to where I wanted to go," said Linklater during his presentation.
Linklater participated in cross-country, track, volleyball and basketball throughout high school and excelled in all four. He placed forth in a provincial cross-country run, medaled in provincial track and participated in the indigenous games in Grade 7 and the Saskatchewan First Nations Winter Games.
After playing in his first year of indigenous games and getting soundly beat, Linklater remembers encouraging and pushing himself. "I'm gonna be the best offensive player who no one can stop and the best defensive player who could stop any team's stud. I pushed myself harder," he said.
He training in high school and pushed himself mentally while in the gym visualizing someone else doing the same training and Linklater wouldn't let them beat him.
Linklater recalls running from Mount Royal High School two blocks to his house every day, he was determine to train and it was a way for him to get away from the troubles of school or life. He joked that if he'd had a nickel for every time someone drove by and said "Run, forest, run!" he'd have a lot of money.
I was like the Indian Forest Gump, but I knew when to stop," joked Linklater, who was the athlete of the year in high school.
Despite all his training he was cut from the provincial basketball team three out of four years, but still refused to quit, referring to himself as a modern day warrior.
After high school Linklater attended junior college and also made stops at the U of S, SAIT and Lakeland College before returning to the U of S for his final year of eligibility.
Last year, Linklater was voted team captain by his peers and didn't disappoint. After a great season by the Huskies, he scored 25 points in the national championship game and was named the player of the game. Not bad for a guy who some often thought was the water boy for the basketball team and thought of as somewhat crazy for his dedication to running.
"He taught teammates mental toughness," said Eugene Arcand, chair of the 2012 Saskatchewan First Nations Winter Games. "He showed them how running was not punishment it was training."
Which Arcand said paid off due to all the late, come-from-behind victories the Huskies had last season.
Linklater is now touring to schools telling his story and helping Arcand promote the games, which will take place in North Battleford.
Linklater said it is important for aboriginal people to have their own games adding, "Giving up is an easy way out. There is no such thing as trying in my book. Either you are doing it or your not," said Linklater.
"For you to go and think you aren't going to make it you're probably right, but if you think you're going to go there and give it the best you got that is more of a positive way of thinking. For these youth to go and try out and do their best that is a big step. If they are successful in making that team it will catapult them to try hard in life and sports and possibly make the North American Indigenous Games team and make mainstream teams, provincial teams, national teams, wherever - it starts at the grassroots."
Linklater's refusal to quit has helped him change his destiny and now, after taking a year off from university, he plans to teach at basketball camps and speak to anyone interested in listening to his story.
"I want to help motivate the youth to be the best they can. Everyone has someone they can look up to in life, but if they don't have anyone they can look up to, I hope my story can inspire them to be able to relate to. Coming from maybe the same neighbourhood they grew up in, or going through some of the same troubles they are in life and to see someone who struggled in life and come out on top is really inspiring for anybody. It is really important that the kids hear this message that I have to offer. Some of them aren't ready to hear it right now, and that's fine, but if someone hears it and gets something out of it, that's the important thing."
