Seeking Excellence

"I feel people need to see excellence. Excellence impacts all of us. It inspires people to do things they haven’t done; to look at their own lives and explore where they can be excellent. We create a better country when we have great leadership and great citizens". ~ Jane Roos


In 1997, former athlete Jane Roos, founded the "See You in Sydney Fund”, a not-for-profit devoted to raising funds and awareness for Canada’s athletes in their quest to reach the Olympic Games. The fund (now named the Canadian Athletes Now, or CAN Fund) has raised more than $6 million: funds which Jane and her team redistribute directly to the hands of upcoming Canadian athletes.

Jane has been listed on CAAWS Most Influential Women in Sport, in the Globe & Mail’s top 30 most powerful people in sport, and awarded a “Leadership in Sport” award for her outstanding contribution to the betterment of sport. In between launching her most recent campaign “Snowdays”, and in preparation for her upcoming gallery fundraiser, Jane found time to share her inspiration.


The Fund has had so much success and you are continually recognized for your passion and your creativity. What are you working on now?

My latest favorite would be our upcoming fundraiser. I have mixed my two passions: sport and art. This September 15 - October 20th, famous Canadians are creating a painting to exhibit in my Gallery and all the funds raised will be donated to our Canadian athletes ... talent supporting talent!


What would you say is the best thing about what you do?

Rallying people to help others succeed. Providing athletes the financial support they need so they can afford new equipment, better nutrition, coaching, pay their team fees, and travel to training camps and international competitions - we do our best to take the financial strain off their shoulders so that they can focus on being successful.


And the worst thing?

One of the hardest things is that when the Games roll around Canadians develop such a sense of pride for our athletes - but we want people also to give when our athletes need it the most - when the Games are not going on. I collect 10 NO's a day.


What makes you want to keep doing this?

I learnt very early in life that life is short, and so many of us give up on dreams too early, I think it is incredible that our athletes have the courage to strive to be the best in the world. I love that sense of risk and boldness, and I think we all can help each other be the best version of ourselves. I want my daughter to grow up in a country full of excellence and great role models


What are the goals for the fund going forward?

My goal is to provide unique opportunities for all Canadians to donate what they can and find out which athlete they have supported. I believe we all can do what we can to help people succeed.

What about on a more personal level?

I'm always trying to reinvent myself - to play more and to be committed to my dreams and not attached the results. To continue to contribute to the success of people who are willing to risk everything for a complete unknown. And to be a good Mom to Ruby (my four year old daughter).


Is there one thing you’d like people to know about the CAN Fund?

With every donation you find out which athletes you've helped!



For more information go to: http://www.canadianathletesnow.ca/

A Contribution of Consequence

With over 35 years as a Masters ski coach, a pioneer of Alpine Canada’s Patrons Program, 10 years as a pro ski racer, film, broadcast & media careers intertwined, over 30 knee operations (including double total knee replacement), a Cosmopolitan Magazine’s Bachelor of the Month spread and an ill fated photo shoot with Playgirl; the mountains have led Collingwood’s Greg Lee to a nomination in the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame.


A Brief Bio

Masters Coach of the Year (2004)
Coach of the year, North York Ski Centre (2005)
Head Coach/Supervisor of Skiing, Blackcomb Ski Club (1985)
Director & Head Coach, Greg Lee International Ski Camps (1985- present)
Alpine Canada Alpin, Director, Patrons Program (1989 – 2001)
Head Coach, International Masters Academy (2001 - 2009)
Head Coach, Alpine Ski Club (1987 - 1989)
Georgian Peaks Ski Club (2002 –2006)
International Masters SL Coach, North York Ski Club (2002 – present)
Craigleath Ski Club, Masters Coach (2007 – present)
Blue Mountain / Jozo Weider Ski Club (2006 – present)


Skiing is a dance, and the mountain always leads. ~Author Unknown

Originally born in Halifax, NS and now a Collingwood mainstay, Greg Lee first skied at Don Valley. With a vertical drop of only 72 feet, it is a curious place to have launched a number of national level athletes, but, in hindsight, a fitting place for Greg to begun his colourful career.

As though being a top ten ranked tennis player in Canada wasn’t enough, Greg spent much of the 1960’s and 1970’s competing on world pro ski circuits. “Things were a little different then,” he says. “There were a lot of different circuits, some larger than others and all with different ways to qualify. Typically people would ski on the amateur circuits and then go pro,” Greg laughs, “but Al Green thought some of us may have had too many ‘discipline problems’ for the amateur circuit, and figured we might as well just turn pro.”

“Lots of us would race for a few weeks, stop and coach for a while, then rejoin the tour. You might win $10,000 – which was a big deal back then.”


Greg was sponsored by K2 (a $10,000 deal which was big industry backing for the time) when he and his teammates were approached by Playgirl. Being the high-spirited guys they were, they agreed. They were each paid $1000, but because of a morality clause in their K2 contract, they lost the sponsorship in its entirety. “We made $1000 and lost $10,000.”


Turn right, turn left, repeat as necessary. ~Author Unknown

The transition from racing to coaching was a natural one. Greg began coaching at the Toni Sailer/Dave Murray Summer Ski Camps, where the masters format was initially introduced, and for the next 30 years coached alongside triple gold medalist Toni Sailer, Dave Murray and a host of other Hall of Fame athletes. He went on to develop his own Greg Lee International Ski Camps which have been held throughout Canada, the USA & Europe.

Today Greg is recognized as one of the top Masters ski coaches in the world, and along with the late Dave Murray, is considered a founder of the masters ski movement in Canada.

Legendary freestylist and Hall of Famer Wayne Wong recalls Greg “ …coaching from the bottom of the race course while sitting in a life guard chair. Greg’s favorite line was "you made some good turns and you made some bad turns. Now go back up and make your bad turns like you made your good turns!"

His list of national Champions spans from the first national Masters meet held in Whistler to the latest in Sun Peaks where Greg had 32 individual and overall champions, including 87 year old, Midland’s Rolf Hauge who has been training with Greg for over a quarter of a century.


Canadian Ski Hall of Fame nominee - criterion for submission:
a national contribution
a sustained contribution
a unique contribution
a contribution beyond the primary reasons for submission


Woven throughout his racing and coaching, Greg was hired as a color commentator for CBC Sports, created and hosted a World Cup radio show (which is now in it’s 7th season), spent time in LA modeling and doing film work (1991’s ‘Ski School’ and Jim Carrey’s first film, ‘Copper Mountain’). He was a Cosmopolitan Magazine’s Bachelor of the Month, (garnering some colourful fan mail), has written about skiing in the desert (among other things), and is currently helping launch a ski and snowboard simulator.


Pioneering a Patrons Program

“One of Greg's major contributions to Alpine Skiing was his position as the chief of fund raising for the Canadian Ski Team,” says Wayne Wong. In addition to providing top level coaching to masters athletes, these camps also linked influential enthusiasts to Canadian national ski programs. The direct result was the formation of the Patrons Program for Alpine Canada; a program that was unheard of at its inception and which Greg was instrumental in developing. The program has since raised millions of dollars for ACA.

Greg Lee, from a 1987 interview:
“I’d also like to make it to the Canadian Skiing Hall of Fame someday. Not so much on skiing ability, but hopefully from the career, the coaching and as someone who has put something back into the sport.” ~


His nomination for consideration to the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame was put forth by the National Ski Academy co-founder Dan Hadley in May of this year, and was seconded by current Hall of Fame Skiers (Jungle) Jim Hunter and freestyle legend Wayne Wong. During the summer the Hall of Fame’s steering and election committees were reviewing submissions that will culminate in a vote scheduled to take place in early Fall / Winter ‘09.

Also from a 1987 interview: “I’ll be happy to still be skiing when I’m fifty, but I’ll be skiing long after I’m not walking. I can promise you that.”

Hopefully the mountain will continue to lead him - right into the Hall of Fame. Good Luck Greg!

Lifestyle Factors and Risk Reduction

Health and wellness is not simply a retail industry. It is not a collective of nutritionists, massage therapists and alternative medicine gurus intent on selling their trades. Health is the state of our beings. Are we healthy? Are we well? How long will we live? How well will we live?

I recently came across a study evaluating the relationship between “healthy lifestyle factors” and chronic disease. Data from almost 25,000 adults was evaluated over a period of about 8 years. Participant’s health factors were measured by 1) smoking, 2) BMI, 3) physical activity and 4) diet. Follow-throughs measured relative risks of developing major chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer).

Not surprisingly the study found that there was a significant relationship between choosing healthy lifestyle factors and lowering the risks of chronic disease.

“the data … show the unfulfilled potential of preventing chronic diseases.”

“because the roots of these factors often originate during the formative stages of life, it is especially important to start early in teaching the important lessons concerning healthy living.”

The study title, “Healthy Living is the Best Revenge” is straightforward and to the point.


To read the entire methodology and commentary follow this (cumbersome) link:
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/search?sendit=Search&pubdate_year=2009&volume=169&firstpage=&author1=&author2=&title=&andorexacttitle=and&titleabstract=&andorexacttitleabs=and&fulltext=healthy+living+is+the+best+revenge&andorexactfulltext=and&fmonth=Jan&fyear=1908&tmonth=Jan&tyear=2010&fdatedef=1+January+1908&tdatedef=25+January+2010&tocsectionid=all&COLLECTION_NUM=&flag=&RESULTFORMAT=1&hits=10&hitsbrief=25&sortspec=relevance&sortspecbrief=relevance

or go to www.archinternmed.com and search the article title “Healthy Living is the Best Revenge”.

Snow Angels II

Passion and Courage

Nottawa’s Kandace Kriese has become one of Ontario’s promising athletes dreaming Olympic dreams. While we were meeting Kandace’s parents, Kandace found some time to share her own thoughts on her journey so far.

“When I first started racing I loved the thrill of the speed”, she expressed in an email from her NSA training camp in Switzerland, “but initially I found myself less familiar with some of the technical details: like tuning, pole lengths etc. Lets just say I wasn't the one people would come to with equipment and technical problems!”

Kandace first skied when she was 2, but immediately realized that her “joy for skiing was short-lived.” (see Snow Angels). When she was 11 her parents signed her up for ski racing: she began in the K1 Category and now, at 17, has become a Giant Slalom specialist.

“I met Kandace a couple of years ago at dry land training. She was full of piss & vinegar: exercising between exercises, being goofy tossing the football around. She had a vivid personality – more than just skiing - and that is the philosophy at Head. I hadn’t even seen her ski yet.” ~ Todd Brooker, Canadian Race Program Director, Head Canada Inc., now Kandaces sponsor and family friend.

“I just tried to do what the coaches told me with whatever equipment I had. During the first years it was extremely difficult to fit in because I was not like the others that came from a family of skiers. I was not familiar with the specialized equipment, and neither were my parents. I just took my old skis and did the best I could with the equipment I had.”

Despite not having come from a ski family, at 17 Kandace has already enjoyed a great deal of on-hill successes, but when asked about challenges she confessed that many of them were off the course. “My challenges were mostly trying to make friends being the new girl. Usually the best thing for me to do was to stand back and observe - which turned out to be the best way to learn. Along the way I made mistakes, mostly learned the hard way, but I think because of that, I have also had huge successes physically and mentally.”

“My favourite memories involve my family attending my races and the moments that I had the opportunity to meet with the best of the best.”

Kandace is currently a member of the National Ski Academy based in Collingwood, a unique and well respected program created to provide students the opportunity to excel both academically and athletically. “Balancing it all is definitely a lot tougher than I had imagined but it helped me make the most amazing friends, and meet so many different people. Of course you win and you lose - certain situations and certain people - but I am very proud of where I am. The main struggle is to keep everything moving, to keep everything constant with no interference and no distractions: to keep things simple.”

She says her journey so far has been a mixture of frustration, success, mistakes and learning. “I have had to conquer probably some difficult obstacles to get here, but I still have a smile on my face. The passion I see in my fellow competitors, my family, and the friendships I have made have helped me build this strong platform.

It has given me the passion and courage I needed to deal with the most difficult most critical most negative and most positive person in the world - myself.”

Snow Angels - A Ski Parent’s Story

From early on Karl & Moira Kriese knew they wanted their children in sport. They signed their daughters up for skiing, but initially, Kandace was more interested in making snow angels. Luckily, she did discover racing, and now is a promising young member of the National Ski Academy with her eyes on making the national team.

Karl & Moira support Kandace in her pursuits, but they also try to keep their eyes on a “bigger prize . “Sport helps children learn about purpose,” Karl Kriese relates. “It teaches personal focus, health, ability and discipline.”

Not to say that they’re not into it: “When she is racing I get so focused” says Moira. “I’m bouncy and going crazy. I’m yelling Go Kandace! I’m fidgety and a nervous wreck. Karl knows not to come near.”

Sport is rarely inexpensive: the better an athlete gets, the more expenses are involved. Training and gear become increasingly important, and travel more abundant. It is a big commitment by both the athlete and their family, so the Krieses have a deal: if Kandace keeps her academics up Karl and Moira will do what they can to help her pursue her dreams.

“Nothing beats sport to help train people for everything life has to offer.”

“As a parent you can look at your own life and do your best to help your kids avoid making some of the same mistakes you did. But kids aren’t always ready to hear what you have to offer,” Karl says. “Sport can help fill those gaps. Nothing beats sport to help train people for everything life has to offer; ups and downs; discipline and teamwork; goal setting and achievement. Even success and failure.”

“It’s about personal development. When they win, you win.”

Vision Protection & Sunglasses (Summer 09 Issue)

UV protection is not only important for our skin, but also for our eyes. Absorption of the sun’s harmful rays can contribute to or cause serious and even irreversible vision damage.

UV Protection and Lens Make-Up:

Although most sunglasses claim to have UV protection, the protection may only be in the coating of the lens and not in the lens itself. As soon as that coating gets scratched, harmful light rays can easily pass though the lens directly into your eyes. Look for sunglasses that have UV protection built right into the lens itself.

Lens Colours

Lenses come in a variety of shades, from clear all the way to dark black or with iridescent coatings.

· Common sense tells us that the brighter the sun, the darker the lens you should use to help reduce glare.

· Iridescent coating can help reflect rays in bright light conditions but is not consistent UV protection on it’s own.

· Yellow and bronze lenses are also useful on cloudy, misty days or in darker forest conditions with low light penetration. These lens colours help define contrast, so can actually help with your depth perception when light conditions make it difficult.

· Remember - harmful rays can still penetrate readily through fog and clouds and can still harm your eyes. These are good days for light or even clear lenses – when you don’t need to make things darker but still want protection.

Physical Protection – Lens Durability

Whether you are racing through the woods on your mountain bike or on the volleyball court with someone jump serving at you, you don’t want your lenses to shatter into shards if you get hit. Never do any active sport wearing sunglasses with glass lenses.

I have met people who have suffered severe damage to their vision because they didn’t have adequate protection: one girl suffered from what she called “night blindness” – which simply means that as the sun sets and it grows darker, she begins to lose contrast and depth perception. I met another woman who was suffering from a condition called “Pteryguim “ which was manifesting with tissue growth on the whites of her eyes. If the growth were to continue, her vision would be blocked completely. Both of these conditions are a direct result of too much time in the sun without proper vision protection. Both of these women were in their early 20’s.

Beach Volleyball – in Canada??? (Summer 09 Issue)

By now most people have heard of pro beach volleyball. Most people have probably even seen it. (I heard it was the #1 sport viewed on CBC.ca during the '08 Olympics). Most people may know that it is played with the same height net as indoor volleyball, and with a slightly smaller court. Most people have noticed that it is played with teams of two (unlike indoor teams of six), and that it is played on sand.

What a lot of people don’t know, however, is how athletes from our Canadian winter wonderland, our ice hockey celebrating citizenry, could end up playing beach volleyball.

While I can’t tell everyone’s stories, I can tell you mine.

When I began playing the sport was still in it’s infancy, and I have, in fact, been introduced as a pioneer in the sport (which is both flattering and makes me feel just a teensy bit old). There were no national teams, coaches or development programs, and there were very few public nets. There was however, a group of very driven athletes, and a few tournaments on summer weekends offering small prizes: a free t-shirt and the promise of good competition and a weekend at an Ontario beach town with your friends. I was hooked. (The winners of our events were traditionally obliged to buy a round for everyone else – often the bulk of their prize money - and in the early days I was the recipient of the free round far more often that the provider).

My story is simple. I played: as much as I could, anywhere I could. I played indoors in high school and university. I played beach every day after work in the summers. I played tournaments in Wasaga, Grand Bend, Midland and Toronto. When the tour went national I played in Vancouver, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary, New Brunswick, Ottawa and Montreal. When summer ended I went where the sport could be played year round. A friend and I moved to Sydney, Australia, where we rented a shoddily furnished apartment at Bondi Beach, and played with some of the country’s top athletes. It was at Bondi that I witnessed my first World Tour Event. I would rise, make myself a cup of coffee and head down to watch the world’s best players. I said to myself “I want to do that. I can do that”. I moved to Southern California, to pursue an MBA and trained with some of the US’s top players. During that time I was competing for Canada on the World Tour, (which took me to Brazil, Bali, Australia, Portugal, Chile, Japan and a host of other wondrous destinations). Ultimately I qualified for and competed in the 1996 Olympic Games.


That was then.

Beach volleyball is much better recognized these days, by fans, sponsors and organizations alike. It is regularly the first event to sell out at the Olympics, and has developed huge TV and web audience. Despite the international popularity of the sport, it’s growth had begun to slow a little here in Canada (which I greatly attribute to the loss of a national tour which would provide both opportunity and aspiration to younger athletes).


This is now.

There are, however, increasing opportunities for young athletes. In Canada, indoor beach facilities have sprouted up across the country. (There are at least four such places in Toronto alone). We have a number of provincial level events across the country as well as exciting independent ones. (The Not-So-Pro in Wasaga Beach, and the Midland tournaments are favorites). Volleyball Canada has developed national team training programs and camps, and has in fact, recently hired a new Head Coach for the beach program who brings with him a history of internationally successful program development. Finally there is currently is a group of loosely connected elite athletes, coaches and promoters working to rebuild the Canadian pro tour that was such a great launching pad for so many of our athletes.

Looking Ahead

What does the future look like? The growth of beach volleyball parallels the growth of other “newer” sports, largely driven by the passion, desire and entrepreneurial nature of athletes solely looking to find ways to pursue their sport and do what they love.

Very recently the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) in the US announced that they will be including sand volleyball (as they have called it) to college and university programs. Although the levels, format and structure have yet to be clearly developed, the mere fact that an athlete could play beach volleyball at university is a tremendous step forward for the sport. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Canadian universities keep pace.

For more information check out:

http://www.ontariovolleyball.org/
http://www.volleyball.ca/
http://www.fivb.ch/