Wednesday September 11th, 2024

Now that the excitement from the Olympics has quieted down and we are on the cusp of a new season as the World Championships and University seasons are about to start, I’ve been able to reflect on my first experience at the Cadet Pan American Championships. To say that it was interesting would be an understatement. Many things came into place before I was even able to leave for the tournament itself. We would start at the beginning as my request for a coaching position was approved by Wrestling Canada Lutte, shortly after the Cadet Qualifiers in Ottawa. The location of the tournament this year would be in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The tournament represented a long journey that I began with my athlete over a year ago, after just coming up short in last year’s Cadet Trials.

Photo property of Walter Howor Photo

This competition would be a series of first for me as it represented my first excursion with the National Team and one in which I wasn’t travelling with my own club. To be clear, I’m not new to coaching at the International level as I’ve coached at several international tournaments in my life. The caveat is that it was always with athletes from the Montreal Wrestling Club NTC and organized by my own club. For other coaches at the National Training Centre, they’ve already been to a few of these Continental and World Championships. As I’m the last one to break in, this allowed me to tap into the experience of my fellow coaches. I looked for advice from the application process to what I would do when I got there. I guess when we’re in the presence of familiar people, we act a certain way and when we go into a different environment, things change.

Officially geared up

Some of the places that I’ve coached at international tournaments in Puerto Rico, England, Spain, Italy, Israel, the United States and Moldova. A nice list to be sure, but one that I’ve often hoped to add on to. Wrestling has afforded me many opportunities to travel, both as an athlete and a coach and I wouldn’t trade it for the world as travel tends to be one of things I enjoy the most. The ability to immerse myself into another culture and experience all it has to offer is one of my favourite activities. Add to that, the opportunity to coach and you have a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, working primarily with the younger athletes tends to limit those opportunities to attend these competitions as it sometimes takes years to develop an athlete to compete at the international level. In addition to that, my work schedule is often in conflict at the times these tournaments are happening, making it harder to be present as coaching amateur sports in Canada tends to be an exercise in losing money rather than making it.

And we’re off!

In preparation before we left, we needed to fill out several things and check a few boxes. First, was giving in our sizes for our Team Canada gear. I’m always wary of this as things never seem to fit me well for a multitude of reasons. We also had to sign new waiver forms as well as take a vaccine for e-coli that we may be at risk for when we get there. Finally, two team meetings via Zoom were scheduled in order to insure that we were all on the same page. Needless to say, this was a bit of whirlwind, not to mention the fact that I had to efficiently pack my bags for the trip as I only wanted to go with carry-on. This also doesn’t even include the endless hours of preparation both on and off the mat.

Touch down in Santo Domingo along with Team Peru

We began our journey at Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport in Montreal. Our next destination JFK International Airport in New York to catch our connecting flight to Santo Domingo. There’s always that excitement when leaving Canada as you’re off to somewhere new. Some people are perfectly content to stay within their own borders, not even getting a passport as the thought of travel appalls them. They thrive on familiarity and routine and anything that breaks them from that cycle can be somewhat jarring.

The view from the hotel room

In recent years, ever since pandemic ended, I haven’t been to many places for a vacation. The rising cost of travel has definitely factored into this, along with busier schedule for work, coaching and my obligations with the FLOQ. A teacher’s strike brought on by the fact that our salaries have not caught up with the cost of living hasn’t helped either. Travelling is still something that I would like to do. However, the motivation has become slightly diminished due to all the factors mentioned before.

Warming up

We touched down in Santo Domingo a bit ahead of schedule and proceeded to the hotel via our UWW organized transport. After leaving Montreal which was going through extreme heat warnings to arrive into another environment that was just as hot and humid lended itself to some symmetry as we headed out to our first practice with the National Team the following day. Practice was a sweaty affair to be certain, but if I’m certain of anything, that the preparation was the best we could have possibly done, and if that’s the case than the results will be equal to the effort put in.

Practicing hard before the competition

Fast forward to our departure and I’ve had some time to think about what went on. While the results weren’t what I wanted, it happens when you’re working with younger athletes. Even with the older, you don’t always get what you want or expect. You go in there with expectations but from time to time, those expectations are dashed and we have to pick up the pieces and start up again. While I would have liked to watch the Boys competition, the rest of the tournament was spent supervising athletes who weren’t competing as Greco-Roman, girls and boys were separated in different days. Canada as a whole did quite well as the Girls took 3rd place as a team and the Boys were 2nd. This bodes well for our future as youth development has to be a priority if we’re to improve our results at the international level.