Canada now has three Training Centres spread out across the country—Quebec, Thunder Bay, and Whistler. The Callaghan Valley Training Centre (CVTC) is still in its infancy—after four years, it’s still trying to get its legs under it and prove itself. Despite having the perfect training site, an Olympic venue, and ideal conditions for athletes to develop into top-tier athletes, the Centre has been dogged with bad luck—three coaches in four years, a complete athlete turnover after just two years, and now uncertainty for some of its athletes to even get on based on funding issues.
Camille Cheskey is one of those athletes. Born in Waterloo, Ontario, Cheskey was one of many Canadian junior athletes with the “What now?” question when he graduated from high school. While Canada has a university Nordic skiing circuit, aspiring athletes are encouraged to forgo school to focus solely on skiing. When given the choice, Cheskey chose the Callaghan Training Centre over Thunder Bay’s National Team Development Centre because the mountains and a chance to train on the Olympic trails day in and day out was too good to pass up. Like, many training centre athletes, his goals include the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
Despite proving himself on the Ontario Cup provincial circuit, Cheskey had a disappointing first year with CVTC. Adjusting to life on the west coast, a new coach and racing at a higher level has left the 20-year old feeling like he has something to prove.
Now he’s hoping to join up with the CVTC for a second year but is still waiting for the Centre to decide whether or not they’ll take him. The Centre has seven athletes at the moment, and is waiting to hear back from funding to see if they can add him to the team.
Despite the indecisiveness, Cheskey is staying positive.
“It’s a feeling of frustration,” said Cheskey in an interview. “But it’s out of my hands so the only thing I can do is try as hard as I can to focus and keep motivated when everything else seems to be working against me.”