Written by Rory McGarvey

Thumbnail & Banner Photo by SMU Huskies

At Saint Mary’s University, the athletics programs stand as beacons for talented athletes from diverse backgrounds. Among these athletes, Dante Isadore stands out not only for his significant athletic achievements in track and field but also for his rich cultural experience and connection to the community that he holds.

Dante Isadore is a 4th-year track and field athlete at SMU, specializing in jumps. His proud status as a member of the First Nations Mi'kmaq peoples, combined with his Black heritage, brings a unique and rich cultural background to the SMU Track and Field team. His hometown is that of Wagmatcook, Nova Scotia, a small community in Cape Breton with a population of approximately 1000, and as Dante describes it himself, “It's small enough I can ride a bike from end to end in ten minutes.” However, coming from this small-town background with less-than-ideal training facilities hasn’t stopped Dante from racking up quite the list of impressive feats and accomplishments, some of which I’ll highlight later in this article.

As his teammate, housemate, and friend, I've gained unique personal insights into Dante and his character over the four years I've known him. Calling Dante humble is an understatement. Despite a long list of impressive athletic achievements and records, his humility is unparalleled. Staying so grounded and modest, even with all his success, tells you a lot about Dante’s character and represents precisely the qualities found in a great Huskie athlete.

As mentioned earlier, Dante has amassed quite the list of accomplishments throughout his athletic career, so much so that it'd be difficult to list them all in a single article. I've reviewed only a few of these accomplishments to keep this article at a respectable length.

2022-2023 SMU Track and Field Season

Up first, Dante had an impressive season last year, including winning a gold AUS medal in the long jump and a Silver AUS medal in the triple jump, improving on his silver and bronze showing in his first-ever AUS championship in the previous 2021-2022 season.

On top of this, earlier in the season, Dante jumped a new personal best in the long jump pit, an astonishing 7.01 meters. To help visualize just how insane a distance this is, picture this: According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the current tallest giraffe in the world (named Forrest) has a height of 5.7 meters. Now picture Forrest lying horizontally on the ground; Dante would not only clear the world's tallest giraffe in this scenario but would do it with over a meter to spare. This impressive jump shattered the previous SMU long jump record and placed Dante firmly as the new SMU long jump record holder.

His impressive season culminated with Dante qualifying for the National USPORTS Track and Field Championships, where he flew out to compete in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The USPORTS championships are a highly prestigious and competitive competition where only the best of Canada’s university athletes are honored to face each other in a showdown of top-tier athletic prowess.

North American Indigenous Games

However, USPORTS was not the first time Dante competed on the national (or even international) stage, and back in 2017, he travelled to Toronto to compete in the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG). The NAIG occurs every four years and aims to bring together different indigenous cultures and nations to reconnect and compete. At these games, Dante secured an impressive four medals, achieving 1st place in both long jump and triple jump, silver in the 200m and bronze in the 100m. These remarkable results solidified his standing as a top-level athlete in the Indigenous sports community.

Dante revisited the NAIG in the summer of 2023, not as an athlete this time but as a coach and mentor. In this role, Dante could impart his technical knowledge of the sport to the upcoming athletes of today and stand as an exemplary role model for young Indigenous athletes who looked up to him.

RBC Training Grounds

When I asked Dante which of his many accomplishments stood out most, it took him a while to respond. However, after this pause, he answered, "Probably the RBC training grounds, as only 100 athletes in the country make it to the final stage.” RBC Training Ground is a program to identify young athletes from all walks of life in Canada with Olympic potential. The program operates across Canada and involves athletes being tested in various categories to determine their potential to excel in their sport. Of these thousands of athletes who complete these tests, only the 100 top athletes are chosen to advance to the final stage of the program, where they receive specialized training and support. In 2019, Dante was selected as one of these exceptional few to advance to the final stage, where he traveled to Calgary to participate in this elite training program. This stands as a testament to his skills and dedication, and if you want to learn more about Dante's journey, check out this CBC article on him!

And if the RBC Training Ground sounds like something that interests you, I encourage you to learn more here. Any athletes ages 14-25 can sign up and test their capabilities; for more info, check out this link. Who knows, maybe you could be the next future Olympian!

Overcoming Challenges

During our interview, I asked Dante if he encountered any challenges throughout his athletic journey. One of the major struggles he highlighted was that due to his hometown community's small size, there were very few athletic facilities and training clubs for him to use and be a part of; “There weren’t any real training spots near me, and I didn’t have a real coach.” This meant that many of Dante's competitors came from better training facilities and larger clubs with more coaching and athletes, placing a significant disadvantage on him. However, this didn’t stop Dante from breaking two regional records that had stood since the 1980s and being the first one from his high school to win provincials, highlighting his drive and resilience.

Diversity in University Sport

I also asked Dante about his thoughts on diversity and inclusion in university sports and what it meant to him. In his response, he discussed how important it is and how he believes university sports are improving in addressing underrepresentation and other diversity issues. He highlighted an important example concerning the use of Mi'kmaq land acknowledgments before games at SMU and how it fosters a sense of respect and recognition for Indigenous peoples and cultures. He was also surprised and pleased to hear an African Ancestral acknowledgment at one of the games he attended, stating, “It was nice to hear; it was something that I had never heard at a game before and is a step in the right direction." Dante's recognition and appreciation of these acknowledgments highlight the vital role sports can play in enhancing cultural respect and diversity and is something we should continue to embrace as a community.

Looking to the future

As the 2023-2024 track and field season gets underway, Dante Isadore sets his sights high (or perhaps I should say long), training diligently to break more records and secure another AUS gold in the long jump. His journey, marked by remarkable feats, cultural pride, and unwavering dedication, stands as a beacon of inspiration to his peers—including myself—at Saint Mary's University and aspiring athletes across the country.

This article has highlighted Dante's dynamic character—a testament to his athletic prowess, cultural heritage, and resilience from his small-town roots. As his teammate and friend, I've witnessed his growth and success firsthand, seeing his impact on and off the track and the field. Dante embodies the spirit of a true Huskie athlete—dedicated, humble, and striving for excellence—and should be a role model for us all.

Dante Isadore: A Journey of Athletic Excellence and Cultural Pride at Saint Mary's University