Press Release
Breakthrough on short track; Western Canadian athletes are slowly making it onto national skating team
timescolonist.com
Sat 25 Oct 2008
Section: Sports
Byline: Gary Kingston
Source: Canwest News Service
VANCOUVER - For hard core short track speedskating fans in Canada, the names we're about to rattle off are synonymous with international success. Even for Canadians who only care at Olympic time, they can bring a knowing nod.
Names like Sylvie Daigle, Nathalie Lambert, Eric Bedard, Mathieu Turcotte, Jonathan Guilmette, Marc Gagnon and Francois-Louis Tremblay.
Now, you might notice a theme there. That's right, they're all Quebecers. In fact, in the 24 years since Speed Skating Canada began naming male and female short track skaters of the year - that's 48 honorees - only three have been anglophones.
"The sport of short track, I don't know if it was necessarily born in Quebec, but it was definitely one of the beginning hot spots where it was developed," says Michael Gilday.
Gilday, in his second year on the national team, was born in Iqaluit, Nunavut, grew up in Yellowknife, and currently trains in Calgary. So he's about as far from a Quebecer as you can get, even if he is bilingual thanks to years in French immersion.
He's also part of a significant breakthrough. Gilday is one of four Calgary- based skaters to be named to the national team World Cup squad for the 2008-09 season, three of whom are competing at the Pacific Coliseum this weekend. Jessica Gregg of Edmonton is in her second season, while Jessica Hewitt of Kamloops is a World Cup rookie.
Richard Shoebridge, who was born in Johannesburg and grew up in Cambridge, Ont., will skate World Cups in Asia next month.
Speedskaters past and present are optimistic the greater focus on their sport - during events like this week's World Cup and the Olympics in 2010 - will encourage more young westerners to give short track a try, increasing the national team pool.
Jonathon Cavar, who coaches short trackers at the Calgary Oval, says it's been a tough grind for his athletes.
"They're battling not only to get onto the circuit, but to get out of that sort of feeling that the sport's dominated by athletes from the East," said Cavar. "It's a sheer numbers game. There are a few athletes up against many. But they feel like we are capable, we can do anything that we have to out in the West in order to be on the top of the podium and make the team at the Olympics.' "
Quebec's domination of the national team is no surprise. The sport's infrastructure - from subsidized ice time to extensive coaching programs - is deeper than any other province given the Quebec government's significant largesse. And then there are the role models.
"I grew up watching [long track star] Gaetan Boucher and Marc Gagnon, Frederick Blackburn," says national team veteran Olivier Jean of Montreal. "There was a feeling, we can do it. I can be world champion.'
"And there are so many people involved. We have good coaches, lots of clubs, many kids going into the sport."
Cavar says the Calgary-based skaters aren't without their own advantages, however.
"We're a smaller team, so it allows for a little more one-on-one attention. It allows us to be a little more creative. We also share the venue with the whole long track team. And the cycling program is there. So there's a lot of energy, a lot of spirit . . . a lot of life in the building. That brings something to the team."
His athletes have also benefitted from the fact skaters from Latvia, Belgium and Austria, all guided by a top Dutch coach, have spent several months training in Calgary.
While Hewitt, 22, is the lone B.C. representative on the national team, two other women were the real trailblazers for skaters from the West Coast.
Eden Donatelli of Mission, won world championship gold in the 500 metres at age 16 and won silver and bronze in 1988 when short track was a demonstration sport at the Calgary Olympics. Alanna Kraus of Abbotsford, retired last spring after 10 years on the national team. She won Olympic relay medals in 2002 and 2006.
Donatelli, initially coached by her dad in Mission, was forced to relocate to Quebec at age 17 to live and train with the national team. With little French and living alone in a new province, the adjustment was difficult.
Cavar now is travelling to World Cups given that four of his skaters made the national team, but Donatelli and Kraus had to leave their personal coaches behind when they travelled and hook up with Quebec-based coaches.
"The fact I couldn't speak French did make things difficult," Kraus said Friday. "I actually had to sort of demand the attention and then I got it.
"You sort of get forgotten. You don't understand what's happening, don't know when meeting times are and things like that," added Kraus, who trained mostly out of Calgary but relocated to Montreal for the 2006 pre-Olympic season.
"I had to talk to the coaches and say What's going on? I don't understand and I need to know. The problem for me was the meetings would be 45 minutes and I'd get the breakdown in five. So I knew I was missing something," she said. "At least now, there's a bigger group (of westerners) and it's different."
Gilday and Hewitt say there is a good, open dialogue with the Quebec-based skaters, coaches, team directors and support staff. Gilday says it's important for the group to be united.
"Obviously, we're proud of Western Canada to put as many on the team as we can, but ultimately we are Team Canada, not Team West vs. Team East. We're working together to get to the goals we want to achieve."
Cavar says Kraus was a terrific role model in showing young skaters in Calgary that it was possible to make the national team.
"She was a very gutsy, determined athlete. She showed our group in Calgary that it is possible. She paved the way in helping create that belief. And other athletes have really followed suit with their own determination."
Kraus hopes that having the national team trials at the Coliseum a few weeks ago, the World Cup and then the Olympics in 2010 will lead more B.C. athletes to try short track.
"It's going to bring interest, probably bring more money into the sport. And it should help out all the clubs."
It would also be a huge plus, she said, if Hewitt qualifies for the Olympic team.
"To be able to have the hometown kid, to have something in common with someone, you feel like you know that person. It'll be easier for Jess to be some little kid's hero because Oh, she's from B.C.' "
Breakthrough on short track; Western Canadian athletes are slowly making it onto national skating team
timescolonist.com
Sat 25 Oct 2008
Section: Sports
Byline: Gary Kingston
Source: Canwest News Service
VANCOUVER - For hard core short track speedskating fans in Canada, the names we're about to rattle off are synonymous with international success. Even for Canadians who only care at Olympic time, they can bring a knowing nod.
Names like Sylvie Daigle, Nathalie Lambert, Eric Bedard, Mathieu Turcotte, Jonathan Guilmette, Marc Gagnon and Francois-Louis Tremblay.
Now, you might notice a theme there. That's right, they're all Quebecers. In fact, in the 24 years since Speed Skating Canada began naming male and female short track skaters of the year - that's 48 honorees - only three have been anglophones.
"The sport of short track, I don't know if it was necessarily born in Quebec, but it was definitely one of the beginning hot spots where it was developed," says Michael Gilday.
Gilday, in his second year on the national team, was born in Iqaluit, Nunavut, grew up in Yellowknife, and currently trains in Calgary. So he's about as far from a Quebecer as you can get, even if he is bilingual thanks to years in French immersion.
He's also part of a significant breakthrough. Gilday is one of four Calgary- based skaters to be named to the national team World Cup squad for the 2008-09 season, three of whom are competing at the Pacific Coliseum this weekend. Jessica Gregg of Edmonton is in her second season, while Jessica Hewitt of Kamloops is a World Cup rookie.
Richard Shoebridge, who was born in Johannesburg and grew up in Cambridge, Ont., will skate World Cups in Asia next month.
Speedskaters past and present are optimistic the greater focus on their sport - during events like this week's World Cup and the Olympics in 2010 - will encourage more young westerners to give short track a try, increasing the national team pool.
Jonathon Cavar, who coaches short trackers at the Calgary Oval, says it's been a tough grind for his athletes.
"They're battling not only to get onto the circuit, but to get out of that sort of feeling that the sport's dominated by athletes from the East," said Cavar. "It's a sheer numbers game. There are a few athletes up against many. But they feel like we are capable, we can do anything that we have to out in the West in order to be on the top of the podium and make the team at the Olympics.' "
Quebec's domination of the national team is no surprise. The sport's infrastructure - from subsidized ice time to extensive coaching programs - is deeper than any other province given the Quebec government's significant largesse. And then there are the role models.
"I grew up watching [long track star] Gaetan Boucher and Marc Gagnon, Frederick Blackburn," says national team veteran Olivier Jean of Montreal. "There was a feeling, we can do it. I can be world champion.'
"And there are so many people involved. We have good coaches, lots of clubs, many kids going into the sport."
Cavar says the Calgary-based skaters aren't without their own advantages, however.
"We're a smaller team, so it allows for a little more one-on-one attention. It allows us to be a little more creative. We also share the venue with the whole long track team. And the cycling program is there. So there's a lot of energy, a lot of spirit . . . a lot of life in the building. That brings something to the team."
His athletes have also benefitted from the fact skaters from Latvia, Belgium and Austria, all guided by a top Dutch coach, have spent several months training in Calgary.
While Hewitt, 22, is the lone B.C. representative on the national team, two other women were the real trailblazers for skaters from the West Coast.
Eden Donatelli of Mission, won world championship gold in the 500 metres at age 16 and won silver and bronze in 1988 when short track was a demonstration sport at the Calgary Olympics. Alanna Kraus of Abbotsford, retired last spring after 10 years on the national team. She won Olympic relay medals in 2002 and 2006.
Donatelli, initially coached by her dad in Mission, was forced to relocate to Quebec at age 17 to live and train with the national team. With little French and living alone in a new province, the adjustment was difficult.
Cavar now is travelling to World Cups given that four of his skaters made the national team, but Donatelli and Kraus had to leave their personal coaches behind when they travelled and hook up with Quebec-based coaches.
"The fact I couldn't speak French did make things difficult," Kraus said Friday. "I actually had to sort of demand the attention and then I got it.
"You sort of get forgotten. You don't understand what's happening, don't know when meeting times are and things like that," added Kraus, who trained mostly out of Calgary but relocated to Montreal for the 2006 pre-Olympic season.
"I had to talk to the coaches and say What's going on? I don't understand and I need to know. The problem for me was the meetings would be 45 minutes and I'd get the breakdown in five. So I knew I was missing something," she said. "At least now, there's a bigger group (of westerners) and it's different."
Gilday and Hewitt say there is a good, open dialogue with the Quebec-based skaters, coaches, team directors and support staff. Gilday says it's important for the group to be united.
"Obviously, we're proud of Western Canada to put as many on the team as we can, but ultimately we are Team Canada, not Team West vs. Team East. We're working together to get to the goals we want to achieve."
Cavar says Kraus was a terrific role model in showing young skaters in Calgary that it was possible to make the national team.
"She was a very gutsy, determined athlete. She showed our group in Calgary that it is possible. She paved the way in helping create that belief. And other athletes have really followed suit with their own determination."
Kraus hopes that having the national team trials at the Coliseum a few weeks ago, the World Cup and then the Olympics in 2010 will lead more B.C. athletes to try short track.
"It's going to bring interest, probably bring more money into the sport. And it should help out all the clubs."
It would also be a huge plus, she said, if Hewitt qualifies for the Olympic team.
"To be able to have the hometown kid, to have something in common with someone, you feel like you know that person. It'll be easier for Jess to be some little kid's hero because Oh, she's from B.C.' "