Barney Williams doesn’t hesitate when asked where the inspiration came from for Podium Search, which is the hunt for potential future Canadian Olympians in peculiar places.
“American Idol,” says the talent development coach for Canadian Sports Centre-Pacific.
The third annual Podium Search is Sunday from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence gym on the Camosun College Interurban campus for anyone 15 to 22 years old.
“We’ve removed all barriers. It’s free and open to anybody. There is no reason not to try,” said Williams, a 2004 Athens Olympic silver-medallist rower.
“It’s for athletes who have been spit out of sports such as hockey, lacrosse, soccer, baseball at some cut level, but who are looking for more out of themselves.”
That more could be in rowing, cycling, swimming, track-and-field throwing sports or luge. Those sports want you, if you fit the metrics. Thirteen athletes have already been identified out of the first two years of Podium Search and been put on national development streams.
“It would be a lucky hit to get [a Podium Search] find on the team for Rio 2016, but Tokyo 2020 is realistic and definitely in the cards,” said Kurt Innes, former national team cycling coach and now director of talent development for Canadian Sports Centre-Pacific.
The six-foot-nine, 230-pound Kale Van Bruggen is maybe the poster child for Podium Search. The Victorian has done a lot of living in just 21 years. He joined the Canadian Scottish Regiment at 16, specializing in infantry and arctic warfare, before working as a cowboy and farmer at Douglas Lake Ranch and later as a driller for natural gas near Fort St. John.
Although coming from a strong sporting family, Van Bruggen did his own thing and was an admitted non-athlete despite his strapping body.
Gabe Bergen, an Olympic silver-medallist rower from London 2012, spotted Van Bruggen one day at Saanich Commonwealth Place and pointed him toward Williams and Podium Search.
A budding rowing career was born.
This is a guy who has already done a lot and knows what he wants.
“I am ready for it [sports career] now. I want to take it as far as I can . . . a medal in the Olympics,” said Van Bruggen. “And after that, get into agricultural sciences, buy some land, and start farming.”
Podium Search mainly targets athletes who feel they have reached their max in traditional North American team sports. Spectrum-student Katie Griffin fits the profile. The 17-year-old gold-level soccer player was identified in a previous Podium Search as having the right metrics for rowing. She is now a trialist for the junior national team in single sculls.
Yet, the process also helped former UVic Vikes splasher Olivia King transition from swimming to rowing.
“I had levelled off [in swimming]. The [Podium Search] testing showed I had the physique and the cardiovascular for rowing. My long-term ambition is to make the national team and be there at the Olympics,” said the 21-year-old King.
Keynote speaker Sunday at Podium Search will be 2012 London Olympics bronze-medallist weightlifter Christine Girard. Aspirants can register in-person in the PISE gym at 12:30 p.m. but are encouraged to do it online at regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1509876.
The Lower Mainland portion of Podium Search will be held May 31 at Richmond Olympic Oval.
Rowing Canada and Rugby Canada have launched parallel programs similar to Podium Search as Canadian sport looks into every corner to find its Next Ones.
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