2011 Canada Games — Aiming High

From Abbotsford, B.C., to Bonavista, N.L., get ready for a new burst of red-and-white spirit: The countdown to the Halifax 2011 Canada Games is on. Come Feb. 11 to 27, 2,700 of the country’s best and brightest will gather in Nova Scotia’s capital to represent their home provinces in over 20 winter sports. First held in 1967 in Quebec City, under the motto “Unity through Sport,” the Games are now Canada’s largest multi-sport competition for young athletes and are a key stepping stone for the country’s next generation of sports stars. In the lead-up to the festivities, Lifestyle catches up with six Canada Games athletes, both past and present.
 

The Alumni

Jennifer Heil
Olympic gold/silver medalist — Five-time World Cup champion — 52 World Cup medals
» Sport: Mogul skiing » Age: 27 » Hometown: Spruce Grove, Alta. » Years competing: 10th year on Canadian National Ski Team » Number of Canada Games: 1 (Corner Brook, 1999)

Describe your earliest memory of your sport.
At nine years old I started freestyle mogul skiing at the Edmonton Ski Club. I still had everything to learn including how to jump, do tricks and that mogul skiers don’t wear tight ski pants or rear entry boots! I started this sport because I loved to ski and be outdoors and I thought it would be fun. I also dreamt of being an Olympian and was inspired by my idol Jean-Luc Brassard who won a gold medal in the 1994 Olympic Games.

What do you love most about your sport?
I love the challenge of trying to be better each day. I love to fly down the course and to feel the speed.

What is your proudest achievement as an athlete so far?
My proudest achievement is standing at the top of the mountain just before I pushed out of the start gate at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics and knowing that I could not have worked any harder or have been better prepared with no regrets.

Describe your training regiment.
At my first Olympic Games I finished 4th by 1/100th of a point. I knew that I had to not just train harder but also smarter if I wanted to accomplish my dream of winning an Olympic medal for Canada. So I went about preparing without compromise and working with some of the best sporting professionals in Canada. To get ready for my season I train in the gym, on water ramps (jump into a pool to practice our jumps), do trampoline, yoga, Pilates, sprint up stairs, and we travel to Australia (where it is winter during our summer) to train on snow in August.

What was your favourite part about participating in the Canada Games?
My favourite part of participating in the Canada Games was proudly wearing my team uniform, meeting the other athletes, and high-fiving our former prime minister Jean Chrétien.


Nathalie Lambert
Olympic gold/silver medallist — Three-time overall world champion — Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame 2002 Inductee
» Sport: Short track speed skating » Age: 47 » Hometown: Montreal, Que. » Years competing: 22 » Number of Canada Games: 1 (Brandon, 1979)

Describe your earliest memory of your sport.
Participating in the Quebec Games in 1976, I finished dead last, but had a wonderful time with the team, the opening ceremonies and the feeling of being a part of something big.

What do you love most about your sport?
The fun I had with my teammates, the travelling, the rush of adrenaline and nervousness and excitement that came with big competitions.

What is your proudest achievement as an athlete so far?
Winning the first-ever gold medal for Canada in short track in 1992.

Describe your training regiment in the months and years leading up to the Games.
I think way back then I was training with the Quebec team approximately 12 to 15 hours per week.

What was your favourite part about participating in the Canada Games?
The impression of participating in something important. The pride of making the team, the chance to meet athletes from other sports.


The Rising Stars

Carlea Wilkie-Ellis
» Sport: Figure skating » Age: 18 » Hometown: Orillia, Ont. » Years competing: 14 » Number of Canada Games: 2 (including Halifax)

Describe your earliest memory of your sport.
When I was a doggie in the Orillia Figure Skating Carnival when I was four years old. I skated to “Who Let the Dogs Out.”

What do you love most about your sport?
I love to spin and jump, but most of all compete.

What is your proudest achievement as an athlete so far?
I think being chosen to go to the Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse where I won a bronze medal for Ontario, and being selected for a second time to go to Halifax.

How have you been preparing for the Halifax 2011 Canada Games?
I have been training in Orillia with my coaches Brett Dunlop and Tracey Zwiers and also going over to Collingwood to train with Special Olympic coach Janet Collins to get ready for the provincial games in Thunder Bay. I will have one big competition before going to Halifax.

What are you most looking forward to about the Canada Games?
Meeting new friends and competing.


Scott Gow
» Sport: Biathlon » Age: 20 » Hometown: Calgary, Alta. » Years competing: 9 » Number of Canada Games: First time

Describe your earliest memory of your sport.
My earliest memory of biathlon was starting at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in the “Biathlon Bears” program. I recall skiing around and my first shot at toy targets with an air gun and I was hooked!

What do you love most about your sport?
I love skiing — I find it fun, easy and relaxing. And it doesn’t get much better than being outdoors and training at the base of the mountains in Canmore.

What is your proudest achievement as an athlete so far?
My proudest achievement so far was my first junior world competition in Italy. I was 16 at the time, racing up an age class against 17- and 18-year-olds and I finished ninth — my highest finish at a junior world competition in an individual race.

How have you been preparing for the Halifax 2011 Canada Games?
I’ve been training hard for junior worlds (which runs Jan. 27 to Feb. 5) so the preparation for competition has gone hand in hand with representing Team Alberta in Halifax.

What are you most looking forward to about the Canada Games?
I’m most looking forward to the experience. I look forward to watching some other sports, cheering on my teammates and getting to know different athletes from other provinces. It’s going to be a great time.


Keltie Saulnier
» Sport: Para-alpine skiing » Age: 21 » Hometown: Dartmouth, N.S. » Years competing: 1 » Number of Canada Games: First time

Describe your earliest memory of your sport.
The earliest memory I have of skiing is when my dad first took me to the hill and taught me how to snow-plow.

What do you love most about your sport?
I love being outside gliding over the snow, carving my turns.  I also love the challenge of racing.

What is your proudest achievement as an athlete so far?
Making the team for the Canada Winter Games.

How have you been preparing for the Halifax 2011 Canada Games?
I have been practicing in courses as well as skiing four to five times a week at both Martock and Wentworth.

What are you most looking forward to about the Canada Games?
I’m most excited about meeting the other athletes as well as competing in the Games.


Lynita White
» Sport: Ringette » Age: 19 » Hometown: North Vancouver (currently living in Kingston to attend Queen’s University) » Years competing: 14 » Number of Canada Games: First time

Describe your earliest memory of your sport.
I only started playing when I was five because my best friend in kindergarten signed up. I soon discovered that I was absolutely terrible at every aspect of the sport. [With] the combination of my complaints and extreme below-average skill level, the coach put me in net. I vividly remember spending the whole game lying sideways across the goal line, behind a makeshift “barrier” of snow, hoping no one on the opposing team could get the ring by me. The result was a horizontal goalie throwing a fit through icy tears after going into the second period trailing 11-3. I continued to be terrible for the following few years, and of course I realized that goalie was not the position for me.

What do you love most about your sport?
I could name any number of the physical aspects of the sport: The speed, the intensity, competitiveness or team strategies, but those are not ultimately why I show up every day.

It may be expected or cliché to say it, but I love the sport because of the people. My teammates, no matter who they play for, have always been an incredible support system on and off the ice, and their dedication to training, supporting and developing the sport is inspirational. They are some of my best friends, and are not only paramount to my “real life” outside the sport, but in my training as well because they know what it’s like to balance that “real life” with training at such a high level.

What is your proudest achievement as an athlete so far?
I’m proud of my versatility and experience. A textbook “suitcase player,” I’ve been on six different teams in the past four years, with teammates ranging from four years my junior to more than 10 my senior.

All of this has exposed me to an array of tactics and strategies, allowing me to be more open to change and versatile in my play. I’m proud that I’ve always been able to hold my own, from being captain and starting centre on a B.C. club team, to rookie defence on team USA, competing against the best players in the world. I’ve led the team huddle in provincials and I’ve sung the national anthem at worlds, but no single experience could be defined as my proudest — it’s the culmination of them all that has shaped me into the athlete I’m proud to be today. I’m proud to be captain of this team, and I can only hope that everything I’ve played through thus far will help the team reach our ultimate goals.

How have you been preparing for the Halifax 2011 Canada Games?
I currently play for the Gloucester Devils, a National Ringette League team in the Ottawa area. It’s a two-hour drive from my house in Kingston, so I only attend weekend games and I train on my own at the school gym during the week.

Some would expect me to coast and just expect a spot on the team because of my age, my experience, and obvious affiliation with the coaching staff (my dad’s the coach). Those people are wrong; I work incredibly hard to keep in shape, avoid injuries ( I’m currently playing with a torn ACL), and be as good as or better than not only the other girls trying out for Team B.C., but AAA players all across the country.

What are you most looking forward to about the Canada Games?
As a past alternate on this team and as an athlete who has come home from nationals with a number of unsatisfying outcomes, I can’t wait to prove myself as a B.C. athlete. Very few people expect B.C. to be a major contender at the games, and having the chance to prove them wrong has been ( and hopefully will be) incredibly rewarding. A lot of “superstar” players have quit the team, and the current roster has a lot of young girls and a lot of girls with minimal experience competing at the national level… All of us have had the incredible opportunity to exceed everyone’s expectations by winning games and performing well in the tournaments leading up to the Canada Games — I can’t wait to try and continue that streak once we finally get there. •