Gavin Broadhead

Mind Over Matter

By InnerVoice

January 30^th, 2019

My favorite quote is “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” - it’s all about how you perceive hard work. The human body is capable of reaching amazing limits if you dial into your inner voice, paired with the right amount of practice. It might seem a little bit crazy, but it gives me peace of mind knowing that I can achieve anything by sticking to a strict training plan and continually learning to mentally push through it.

Like many Canadian kids, I grew up playing hockey. I had a dream that one day I would become a professional hockey player and make it in the NHL. From the time I could lace up my skates, hockey was my ride-or-die sport. With the nature of the full contact sports, too many hits to my head became a serious wake-up call. I had to stop playing for the sake of my mental health. I should have quit sooner, but I wasn’t ready to give up on 16 years of dedicated effort. I had to walk away from my dream. No longer could I even let myself start the day thinking “how am I going to be a better hockey player?”

I still had that fire and drive within me, but after I hung up my skates, I had to channel that energy into a different outlet. I transitioned into crossfit, track and field, and cycling. With an athletic upbringing as my backbone, transitioning into different athletic capabilities helped positively propel me forward after having to give up on what once was my all-encompassing dream. Although I was still training, I didn’t know which direction it would take me.

When I started school at The University of Lethbridge, I joined the track team to continue participating in sports and 'keep my head in the game'. I first learned about RBC Training Ground from my friend Sarah Orban (whose success in the program got the attention of Canada's cycling federation). The program is targeted for athletes 14-25 years old, with the idea that the various sports federations will pick up on their potential talent and start training them for the Olympic Games.

I didn’t think much of the program, but I also thought 'why not, I love a good challenge'. Myself and a couple of buddies rented a car and made the trek down to Calgary to measure our physical endurance. They put us through a number of rigorous tests that measure speed, strength, agility, endurance, and power. At one point I pushed so hard on the arm leg bike that I considered asking a medic to standby. I fell to the ground incapacitated, but it paid off in the end.

I ended up winning the competition!

Fourteen sporting organizations watched athletes from all walks of life compete. I had no idea which sport would recruit me, or even what direction I could picture myself going in. Having grown up watching The Tour de France, part of me wanted to go into cycling, but in the end, it wasn’t a far stretch that Speed Skating Canada selected me. I did well on the speed and endurance tests, and my background is hockey. The real kicker is that I’ve never even tried speed skating.

I’m about to start training in Calgary at the Olympic Oval with some of the master athletes and lace up a new style of skates. It’s an entirely new sport for me, but I know my mind will help me push through the gruelling workouts to come. In any sport, the work you put in translates to the results you achieve. I am excited about the challenge of embarking on a new sport. I know what it takes to succeed as an athlete, and I enjoy pushing my body to the absolute limit of what it’s capable of. I’ve skated for over 20 years on hockey skates, and although speed skates are very different, there are still a lot of similarities between a speed skating stride and a hockey stride. While it will be a shock to my system, it's not a totally foreign movement that I'll be learning, which is why I'm confident I can adapt.

Right now I’m fearless. No worry or doubt is overshadowing this next chapter in my life. I am facing this opportunity head on, and with excitement. I know how hard I will have to push myself if I want to have any taste of being successful. There’s a very small percentage of people that are willing to put their body through the level of training-induced pain that I am not only willing to do, but I enjoy doing daily.

My parents have always been supportive of everything I do, and they’ve helped me get to where I am today. My mom is an insanely hard worker, one of the most selfless and caring people I have ever met. She makes the people around her better and has positively impacted so many lives. Similarly, my dad is well respected by everyone who meets him, his presence can be felt in any room without even having to speak a word. He has always given me every opportunity, like driving me 12 hours to Edmonton and 12 hours back for one hockey practice. He is the most reliable person in my life if he says he will do something he does it, no questions asked. Both my parents know how to make people feel valued and don’t think twice about putting someone else’s needs before their own.

I am doing this because I love to train, I love being an athlete and I’ve always wanted to see how far I can take myself as an athlete. The advice I’d give to my future self is: do everything you can to get to the level you want to. Develop a hunger. Don’t do things that will hinder yourself from being successful. Make those small sacrifices to get to the highest athletic level, and that means missing parties because there will be many early morning training sessions. Be ALL in. And remember to have fun.

A lot of training starts and ends with the mind. The body can self destruct, and it’s the mind that pulls the body through. The mind can be a double edge sword; sometimes it is my biggest cheerleader, and other times it’s begging me to stop. It takes as much effort to train the mind of an athlete as it does to train the body to be an athlete. Not every day is a beautiful training day, but I continually remind myself that game day, race day, or competition day is over in a blink and I want to do as much as I possibly can to reach my goals.

I don’t know if I’ll be good at speed skating at an elite level. I don’t know if I’ll make it to the Olympics. I do know that I will put 100% effort into training to become a speed skater and I hope I fall in love with the sport. I am so fortunate for this opportunity and excited to see where my potential will lead me. An open door presented itself, and I’m going to face it head-on.

I love training, I love being an athlete, and I love competing.

Footnotes

Words by Gavin Broadhead, Photos by Kevin Light Photo and courtesy of RBC, Edited by Kelty Campbell, Published by Cody Royle, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group Inc.

FootNotes

Words by Gavin Broadhead, Photos by Kevin Light Photo and courtesy of RBC, Edited by Kelty Campbell, Published by Cody Royle, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group Inc.

Colin O'Brady

Gavin Broadhead

Mind Over Matter

FootNotes

No Human is Limited

I'm Here To Win

The Humble Son

My Incredible Journey

The Most Interesting Man In The World

Season 3