Off To Worlds In Cali, CAN Fund & Patrons Of Sport

Off To Worlds In Cali: In a few hours (at 3:40am), Eric Gee will come to my house to drive Morgane Echardour and I to the airport. We are leaving for Cali, Colombia, to represent Canada at the world championships.

After the Toronto Inline Skating Club practice on Tuesday, I spent a few hours packing the suitcase. I planned on putting up a lot more updates on SSW, but time ran short. Seeing that we have an 11-hour lay-over in Miami, I may update SSW from the airport. If not from there, then perhaps from our Hotel..er, Hostel Santa Rita in Cali. Check it out.


This is where the Canadian team will be based- I will be there from August 10th to the 28th
I called the hostel earlier today to get some information on how to get there from the airport. Their website claims that they speak Spanish, English, and French, but the lady on the phone only spoke Spanish. I had to use Babel Fish Translation to communicate with her. It worked really well, or at least I think it worked well!

You might be wondering if I am going to make or build a world championships update page, seeing that I've built or maintained one each year since 2002. I don't think I will. Our hostel is supposed to have internet connections, so what I think I'll do is that I'll probably put some news and a few goodies up here directly.

Until next time, have a good one!

CAN Fund & Patrons Of Sport: Yesterday (Monday), CAN Fund launched a new campaign yesterday at Toronto's world famous Royal York hotel. The campaign is called Patrons Of Sport.


Eugene Melynk (center)- the owner of the Ottawa Senators (NHL hockey team) donated $1 million to the fund- you can see a part of my head right behind Eugene Melynk
I attended the press conference for the new campaign at Royal York hotel on Monday morning and it was a really nice experience. I got to meet up with many of the athletes who were at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, including Crispin Duenas- archery.


Crispin Duenas- a very nice person to talk to- and when he threatens you (jokingly of course), take him seriously- he's got really really good aim with those arrows!
CAN Fund is an important fund that Canadian athletes can apply for- it was founded by Jane Roos- it aims at raising funds to help athletes use the funding for better nutrition, coaching, training camps, international competitions and basic living expenses. The fund has helped many Olympic athletes

After speaking with the almost 40 athletes who were at the press conference, I confimed that my struggles as an athlete are shared by many amateur athletes throughout Canada.

On Monday evening, CAN Fund had its 10 year anniversary celebration 'Claim the World'. It was a speical night that marked the 10 year anniversary of the fund, the launch of the Patrons Of Sport campaign, and 1 year to go to the opening of the Beijing Olympic summer games.

The celebration was attended by about 1000 people and featured live music, comedy acts, free cocktails and champaign, lots of athletes and supporters, speeches, huge chocolate fountains, silent auctions for items ranging $40 to $15000, and more.

During the gala, I had many opportunities to speak with athletes from Boxing and Ski Jumping. I always feel more educated when I speak with athletes from other sports. I always try to find out why they do what they do, how they train, what supports they have, and what struggles they face.

In one of the many inspirational speeches that I heard yesterday, one member of Canada's Olympic women's hockey team said something to the effect that 'it is one thing for our country to wish us well, and it is another thing for our country to stand behind us and support us in doing well'.