As an active participant in the sport of wrestling for the last twenty-five years as an athlete and a coach here in Quebec, I think it’s fair to say that I have seen my fair share of things.
I have witnessed the sport go through peaks and valleys in which a school strike and the lack of youth involvement have threatened to cripple the sport I love. As always, wrestling survives.
As a member of the 1993 Quebec Canada Games Team that went to Kamloops British Columbia, I have been a witness to four Canada Games since then and there has always been a reoccurring theme. Due to a lack of depth, it has always been a given that the roster for the Quebec teams have been almost predetermined in advance. There has always been a clear-cut favourite at every weight and as such, there was no need to have any form of wrestle-off or formalized trials. Saturday’s trials gave me lots of encouragement for the future.
With KSS and Peter Montour as our gracious hosts, the 2013 Canada Games Trials saw competitors compete from the almost all of the major clubs here in Quebec. Montreal YMHA, QWA, KSS, CLIC, The Club de Luttes des Patriotes of St-Cesaire, The Crazy Dogs of Hudson, The Chelsea Spartans as well as some of the local High Schools and an American High School, sent athletes to compete for a chance to represent Quebec at this year’s Canada Games.
The trials were competitive with athletes sometimes going to a third match in their best of three trials. In the end, I think that this is the most balanced and represented team with the most depth that we have had in years, with athletes coming from almost all the clubs.
Some other things that also stood out in my mind about these trials are the following:
- With the selections for Canada Games hopefully becoming a larger event for the future. We could rotate the location from club to club to increase exposure for the sport. Some form of media coverage wouldn't’t be bad either.
- During the protest meetings, only registered coaches who have paid their fees to the FLOQ should be allowed to enter and voice their opinion. Parents and representatives should not be allowed in the meetings. A coach is there to represent your club and that should be more than adequate to plead your case. This would also increase the legitimacy of the process. Otherwise, why even bother to go through the process of becoming an NCCP certified coach in the first place.
- For a first time event, the trials ran quite smoothly. The use of video for match time protest was fantastic as it also brought another level of professionalism to the event.
- Last, but certainly not in the least, as the person responsible for the FLOQ website, I will be posting the results as well as some pictures from the event shortly.
It is my hope that the trials for the Canada Games continues to grow and that we have many such events in the future. It is important to showcase such events from the grassroots level and to show the growth in our sport to both the world and the IOC, who think that the sport has nothing left to offer. Some have said that the sport is dying here in the province of Quebec. I would like to disagree with that statement as Saturday’s event clearly shows that the sport is not dying. We are hopefully witnessing a rebirth here in our province that will continue to grow with the involvement of coaches and volunteers for many years to come. Thank you.
Jason Chen
Assistant Coach
Quebec Canada Games Team
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