The Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-03-16, Page 1The
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Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Hamish Black 'all in'
on Olympic journey
Darryl Coote
Reporter
A speed skating career
wasn't an easy decision for
Hamish Black to make.
"I kind of had to give up
my career and put getting
those final credits on hold to
come out here because it
was kind of an all or nothing
sort of shot at this," he said
over Skype.
Back in the summer of
2014, Black was just two
credits shy of graduating
from the University of Victo-
ria with a degree in biology
and a minor in business,
and he was well into his
young career in education
running programs for peo-
ple with disabilities when
he decided to put it all on
hold and move to Calgary.
At 26, the Lucknow native
decided to pursue a dream
most others his age had
long given up the ghost of --
Black decided to become an
Olympian.
Specifically, he decided to
compete for a spot on Team
Canada as a long -track
speed skater for the Pyeo-
ngChang 2018 Winter Olym-
pics in South Korea.
"To me, it's worth post-
poning to get my piece of
paper," he said from the
Olympic Oval in Calgary
where he trains and where
he works the front desk
when he isn't training.
Black is currently part of
Skate Canada's Long -Term
Elite Athletic Pathway at its
training centre in Calgary.
There are five stages to
this pathway, and Black is
currently at Stage Four,
Learn to Win. Stage Five
consists of national team
members.
Many who travel the path-
way start when they are little
over 15 years of age, and
they train through the pro-
gram for several years
before entering Stage Four.
Based on Skate Canada lit-
erature, the minimum age
for Stage Four is 19.
When Black joined the
pathway he was 26, much
older than those around him.
"I did not come into this
sport in the regular sense,"
he said. "I haven't been
speed skating my whole life.
I've only been speed skating
for a season and a half now."
Growing up in Lucknow,
Black said he had always
dreamed of being an Olym-
pian. He was an active kid,
he said, playing hockey and
other sports, but he figure
skated and nordic skied at a
competitive level.
But then he stopped.
"It's one of those things
you think maybe I can pur-
sue, but small town high
school, if you're not playing
hockey, sport isn't really
something that is seen as a
career. So after high school
you have to kind of give up
that dream and think, 'well,
okay, I need to make good
life choices, I need to get a
degree, I need to go to
school, get a job, be
realistic."'
And that's what he did.
After graduating from
Lucknow Central Public
School he moved to British
Columbia for university. In
the process he got that job
in education.
"And then I was kind of
like, this is a little mundane
now. Like, I'm working. So I
wanted to get back into
sport and I wanted to do
something I hadn't done
because I thought if I'm
going to do something I
wanted to learn something
new," he said.
This dilemma hit Black
right around the time Van-
couver was hosting the 2010
Winter Olympics.
For the opening ceremo-
nies, he and his buddies
went to Vancouver to see
the torch lighting ceremony,
and for the rest of the Olym-
pics he spent most of the
two weeks in Vancouver,
getting caught up in the
atmosphere.
"It was very just an amaz-
ing life experience to kind of
get caught up in that," he
said.
Having been from Luc -
know, where the town is
very much centred around
its rink, he naturally missed
skating.
And something in his
"gut," he said, told him to
lookup speed skating.
"I literally just googled
'speed skating Victoria,'
found they had a rec club
and joined. The first day I
got on the ice I loved it.
Being on the ice brought
back so many good memo-
ries, learning a new sport
was challenging and I really
enjoyed that challenge,"
Black said.
So he started speed skat-
ing in 2012 at the small rec
club where mainly young
kids, preteens and older for-
merly competitive skaters
were members
"It honestly just felt like
being a kid again as things
progressed," Black said.
Then following the 2013-
14 season Ian Hennigar, the
former executive director of
the Ontario Speed Skating
Association and one of the
rec club's coaches, invited
Black to dinner "out of the
blue."
Overlooking the ocean
from Hennigar's deck fol-
lowing a salmon dinner, the
Hamish Black
coach told Black that he
should pursue long -track
speed skating and that he
thought Black could make
the national team and skate
World Cups, possibly the
Olympics.
"Which was just a very
surreal moment cause you
don't think at -- I was 26 at
the time -- well, I'm not
going." He said with a laugh.
"Who goes into a sport and
does that?
But Hennigar knew what
he was talking about and if
someone hands you an
opportunity like that, you
take it, Black said.
That summer Black par-
ticipated in a three week
speed skating talent ID
camp, following which the
coaches there asked him if
he was willing to move out
there full time to train.
"My own kind of idea was,
well the reason these guys
have made it to the Olym-
pics is because they train
full time and that's what
they do. Well, If that's what
they do, and somebody
thinks I can do it too, I might
as well go for it.""
On Nov. 1, 2014, Black
moved to Calgary to train at
26 in a program where most
people are age 16 to 19.
"And that's kind of been a
running joke, it's kind of
been fun here cause I just
don't fit any sort of criteria
or pathway or typical box of
athletes," Black said.
When he was to be slotted
in the elite athletic pathway
program in May 2015 follow-
ing his training in the talent
ID program, the organiza-
tion wasn't exactly sure what
to do with him, he said.
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