Heroes in Our Midst

After over 15 years at the sport of cycling and ten years racing professionally, Leah is still very much in love with the sport saying, “I love that the freedom you get from riding a bicycle.  I'm free to go explore anywhere in the world, anywhere there’s a road.  I can go to the mountains.  I can go find beautiful places.  I can go fast and push myself.  I really just love cycling for that.”   For those of you not familiar with cycling training and racing, this is saying a lot.  Success in the sport requires punishing training and a sometimes-unforgiving demand on the body.

An alternate on the 2012 Olympic team, Leah dug deep and committed to earning a spot on the 2016 team, focusing on closing the gaps in any weak areas.  She narrowed in on nutrition, sport psychology, and physiology and took every opportunity to be on her time trial bike (this involves painful training efforts) and to work on climbing.  Six-months out from the 2016 games, she took a risk.  She moved to a new country and changed up her coach and her team to race against the best every day.  The risk paid off; she made the team and had a great Olympic experience in 2016.

Leah’s favorite quote is from Viktor Frankl, “everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of the human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances to choose one's own way.”  To learn how Leah is the living embodiment of this quote, please join us for our conversation with Leah Kirchmann, trailblazer, Olympian, professional athlete, and hero.

Hector has been offered positions all over the world, Miami, Costa Rica, and Mexico to name a few. He remains in Winnipeg as his kids won’t even move to a bigger home in another part of Winnipeg, let alone leave home for another part of the world. Part of what makes Hector so successful is the way he blends his life as an international soccer official with his family and his career in sport administration.

Hector Vergara’s journey speaks to the dedication one must have and the challenges one must overcome in their quest for excellence. To learn more about Hector and his incredible story, please join us for this episode of Heroes in our Midst.

Every hero has a support crew behind them, an often-invisible team that enables them to be great. Dave Blatz is no exception. Dave is an athletic therapist. In 2018 he was working with Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes (Beach Volleyball) when they won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. After winning they grabbed a cell phone and they called Dave’s family, saying, “Hi Bodie, hi, Campbell, hi Ellie Mae [Dave’s kids], this gold medal is for you. We want to say thank you for sharing your Dad with us. Hi also to Amy [Dave’s wife] thanks a lot [for sharing your husband.]” Part of the reason he can support some of the world’s best athletes is because his children and his wife are so willing to share him with Team Canada. Dave is the Director of Medical and Rehabilitation Services with Team Canada Men’s Soccer and the Head Therapist with Team Canada Baseball. He has also worked with the national teams for boxing and rowing and several other sports in multisport games settings (i.e., Pan Am Games and Commonwealth Games). In 2008 he attended his first Olympics with Baseball.

Dave’s journey to the pinnacle of sport involves working as a golf pro, opening his own clinic, navigating relationships with challenging coaches, taking risks, leaning into opportunity, and embracing the chances he had to learn from everyone around him.  A proud rural Manitoban (Steinbach) Dave’s story speaks to the dividends of both aiming high and honoring your roots.

Please enjoy our conversation with Dave Blatz.

Derek Ingram never dreamed he would be a coach, but when he found himself coaching the people he was competing against he realized that perhaps coaching people in golf was best done when he was not also playing against them.

The Head Coach of Golf Canada’s Men’s Team, Derek believes that a trusting relationship between the player and the coach is key. Without that connection it is impossible to make the technical changes required to get better. He loves people and has a unique way of dealing with them, he spends time getting to know his players and the players know that he genuinely cares about them. When asked to share advice with us he noted, “less social media and more time with people”, a testament to his approach, he walks the walk and talks the talk when it comes to building relationships first.

Derek’s journey to a national team head coach position involves junior golf at Sandy Hook, Manitoba, a science degree in chemistry and walk on try outs at ten different schools in the US (spoiler alert he got five offers). We hope you enjoy our conversation with the intriguing and engaging Derek Ingram.

Alex Gardiner never planned to coach. His career started in a Winnipeg middle school hallway when a group of students approached him and said, “Mr. Gardiner, can you coach our track and field team?” Alex’s response was, “What do I need to do?” He was told that they (the athletes) had it under control and that he just needed to be present as the required adult supervisor. So, Alex attended practice and, because he was an English teacher, he sat on the floor and read a book. That is until he started watching what the athletes were doing. It was at this point that he became fascinated by the sport and made his foray into coaching, his life forever changed.

It has been 45 years since the simple meeting in the hallway and, in his words he’s “just getting started, he’s just learning things.” A lifelong learner, Alex’s career took him from humble beginnings in a middle school hallway to being the leadership behind Olympic gold medals. In addition to several leadership roles at Athletics Canada and work with the Canadian Olympic Committee, Alex was also the first General Manager of the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba.

Always working from a position of caring and support, Alex’s collaborative leadership style was well ahead of his time. He believes that within organizations it is imperative that a culture exists where genuine and candid conversations can occur. He also trusts coaches and athletes implicitly, noting that no one knows better about the work to be done than the athlete and the coach. His advice to everyone is to see the good side of yourself and of other people. Be patient. Talk to people that need help having their voice heard. Take the extra step.

To learn more about Alex, his caring leadership style, and his extraordinary career in sport, please join us for his conversation with Heroes in Our Midst.

Adrienne knows that life is the one true sport that calls on all that we have and all that we are. When she works with someone, she sees it as her job to help them be whole and healthy and to love every step in their journey, both the good and the bad.

Adrienne’s journey from high school athlete to university starter to Olympic/Paralympic advisor was turbulent at times. The circumstances she found herself in often required her to figure out how to make things work on her own. She did not have a back up plan. If she did not make it work, no one was going to make it work for her. Along the way the community of sport (coaches, teammates, and parents of teammates) showed up to help her. Without sport, and specifically basketball, she would not have gone to university and without an injury at the end of her fourth year, she may not have pursued grad school. Through her journey she learned to see value in all people. She has watched those close to her struggle with mental illness and learned to never judge a person by just one part of who they are. She often reminds us that you never know what people have going on at home. You never know what a person’s story is until you ask them.

Now, a key advisor with many national team programs Adrienne brings her whole self to everything she does noting that, “If you want sustainable high performance, you have to create the space for people to be themselves and be able to bring their whole selves; to have the courage to invest their full selves.”

Please joins us for our inspiriting conversation with Heroes In Our Midst Co-founder, Dr. Adrienne Leslie-Toogood.

Inspired by the 1984 Olympics, Rhiannon started swimming at a club in Saskatoon at age seven. Her career would go on to span 27 years and include two Olympic Games and several national team appearances. But it almost did not happen. There were two occasions when Rhiannon wanted to leave swimming, and both turned out to be huge turning points.

The first, when she was 12, she stepped away and tried different sports and did different things, but she realized she missed swimming. This was a turning point because it was then that she realized that she was not swimming because of any outside influences; she was swimming because she wanted to be there. Her performance improved from then on, she qualified for nationals and she went to the University of Miami on a swimming scholarship. The second was not about quitting, but retirement. In 1999 her NCAA career was ending. Her coach from Winnipeg suggested that she could make the 2000 Olympic team if she dedicated herself to the year of preparation. Prior to that she says she never really believed she was good enough to make the national team – her best national ranking was fourth and to make the Olympic team you had to be top two with a qualifying time (she was almost 2 seconds off). Of this discussion she says, “ I think it was one of those things where, inside of me, it was always where I  wanted to end up but I never really had anybody that said, “I believe you can.”  And it was that little nudge, and it wasn't a hard for him to nudge me because it was something I'd always really wanted. Really, in the end, it is just that belief that already the talent was there. I just needed someone to find it and fine tune it.”

Rhiannon’s success came through hours of hard work, a focus on the process, not the outcome and battles with vulnerability and emotional exhaustion. Now retired, she gives back by supporting current athletes as they navigate the emotional and physical loads that elite sport places on them. She recommends that whatever the options are in front of you to just go for it and give it a chance, but go all in – don’t do anything half assed.

Please enjoy our Heroes conversation with Rhiannon Leier Blacher.

Many of us are aware of what the term transgender means, but we really don’t understand it. Elliot Gray gets that, he notes, “I totally understand people who don't understand how being transgender could work or how your mind could think that way. But you’re never going to understand. Just like I will never understand the lived experience of a person of color. I will never live that life. But I accept it, I celebrate what it is. You have your own unique experience that makes you, you.” He goes on to tell us, “I'll never understand an extrovert. I don't get how you're energized by being at a party with 50 people. But I accept that you do, so you go and you, do you, I’m just going read on my couch. This is very simplified but being transgender is the exact same thing. I'm not going to shun that person for wanting to go to a party.”

Elliot Gray grew up playing sports and idolizing his big brother. As a young adult Elliot was known as Emma. Elliot competed on female teams and grew up as a girl, but something always felt off and not quite right. A talented rower, Elliot was a member of the national junior team and was the flag bearer for Team Manitoba at the Canada Summer Games in 2017. He went on to row for the University of Victoria and it was there that he started to confront the incongruence he always felt. Elliot recounted that experience telling us, “that's kind of the point where I was like, Whoa, this is not right. I just remember every night; I was just so upset and every time I was in a [women’s] boat I just felt like a shell of a human being. It was just not what I wanted it to be anymore because I still loved the sport [but it just wasn’t me].” After the school year ended Elliot stepped away from rowing and took time to understand who he was.  He returned to school the following year ready to live as his authentic self.

The journey from Emma to Elliot has been a lifelong process. Elliot has learned to love the man that he is and to feel love for role Emma played in his life. When asked if he would change his journey Elliot had this to say, “As hard as it is sometimes, I wouldn't change it. Because people who go through whatever their unique hardship or challenges in their life constructively are some of the most amazing people . . . If I can be a positive influence in the lives of people close to me, the people I know who have experienced hardship and been a positive influence on my life that, to me, is the most beautiful thing. I don't think I would trade that for having a slightly easier, or a lot easier time emotionally because I wouldn't have the emotional depth that I do.”

To learn more about listening to yourself, fighting for your identity and accepting yourself fully, please listen to our open, honest, and brave conversation with Elliot Gray.

When asked what advice he would provide to the world, Chris says, “Be yourself and be genuine. If you're pretending to be someone, you're not, it’s going to impact you. And it's going to make things not as enjoyable. Also, then when people start to appreciate you for those things, it won't feel as authentic because it's not your real self. So, if you can, just be your genuine self and let things happen organically.”

Chris Voth is a talented athlete. Growing up he played lots of sports, but it was volleyball where he really excelled, and at every level. Chris has been a provincial champion in high school, a national medalist in university, a national team member and a professional player in the Champions League. The Champions League is a professional volleyball league where all the winners from the previous year go to play, for Chris it was the pinnacle of his career.

While playing volleyball professionally, Chris made the decision to come out as gay. He was the first professional male volleyball player to do so and he took this action because there were no athletes who were still playing and demonstrating that you could both come out and continue to play professionally. At the time, coming out was something people did once they retired, not something they did while they were still playing. Chris wanted to be a positive role model for others in the sport of volleyball. He told us that if he just helped one person, that would be enough. He also wanted to be able to let go of the fear of being outed and just show everyone who he was. The reaction to his story was humbling; it could not have gone better.

Chris’ advice comes from heartfelt, lived experience, “Be yourself and be genuine.” Coming out did have an impact on his playing career, but if given the chance to go back in time and not come out when he did, he says, “I would do it over 1000 times.”

Please join us for our engaging conversation with our courageous friend Chris Voth.

Emily Potter has always been very competitive, some might say ultra-competitive. Whether we are talking about basketball, sack racing (an event at summer family fun days growing up) or ringette net minding (in her early years), Emily loves to compete and hates to lose. She is so competitive that, growing up, no one could talk to her after a loss, her parents had to just leave her alone. Fast forward a few years and Emily’s drive to succeed would land her spots on Canada’s national basketball team (her first national team was at U17) and with a NCAA team (University of Utah).

Emily’s family is tall, her mom is six feet, she and her Dad are 6’5”. She’s been playing basketball since grade seven, now 24 Emily says, “I love how different and multifaceted the game can be. There's so many different ways to play basketball and different styles that I just haven't gotten bored of it yet. There's always more things and more skills to learn in the sport because there's so many elements to it - this keeps me interested and engaged and excited to keep playing.” Her dedication to the game has been tested - she has been sidelined twice by ACL injuries and she has had to learn how to train in a way that works for her and to trust that her way will bring her success.

She tells us that, “greatness is not what you have, it’s what you give.” An important quote to remember in trying times and in good times. She reminds us that the accomplishments and material things we have are not as important as the people in our lives and our willingness to give back to others.

Please enjoy our discussion with Emily Potter.