James Kirkpatrick of Victoria, 32 with fatherhood looming in August and balancing a career in software engineering at EA Sports, knows the ball will only roll so much further for him on the field-hockey pitch. The Tokyo Olympian hopes it rolls all the way to Paris next summer.
The Canadian men’s team began its quest for the 2024 Olympic Games with a training camp held this week at UVic, where Kirkpatrick starred for the Vikes after graduating from Oak Bay High.
“This week represents a milestone for us as a ramp-up,” he said.
The first qualification window is this fall at the 2023 Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, out of which the gold medallist team earns a berth into the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The quest for Paris began with a training camp on Kirkpatrick’s old stomping grounds.
“We had a great squad at UVic,” he said.
Out of those Vikes teams came Olympians Kirkpatrick, Keegan Pereira, Matt Sarmento and Brenden Bissett, with Kirkpatrick and Sarmento still on the national team. A promising newcomer is forward Harbir Sidhu of Victoria, out of Mount Douglas Secondary.
“Harbir is going to be a big impact guy and he’s just getting started and is learning and is on the doorstep,” said Kirkpatrick.
“There are definitely more new faces. But we have a very strong team culture. Veterans like myself and Matt [Sarmento] are leaders by example now and hope to inspire the younger players. We guide more than direct.”
The group will be looking to carry on a surprising tradition of competence in a nation better known for the other brand of hockey.
“I played for the Victoria Ice Hawks but then I started making provincial teams on the field, and it just sort of naturally happened,” said Kirkpatrick, of his journey from ice to field.
sa国际传媒 has qualified for the last two Summer Olympics in men’s field hockey at Tokyo and Rio, and also at Beijing in 2008 and Sydney in 2000. Consider that the Canadian men’s basketball team, now loaded with NBA players, has not qualified for the Olympics since captained by Steve Nash of Victoria at Sydney in 2000.
“The Olympics are the peak of our sport. It’s every player’s dream. We want to keep it going and maintaining that identity [as a reliable Olympic-qualifying national side], but it’s never easy,” said Kirkpatrick.
It only gets more complicated deeper into life. Kirkpatrick’s wife, Georgia, is pregnant and the couple are expecting their first child this summer. And field hockey in sa国际传媒, unlike ice hockey, hardly pays the bills.
“On the road, it’s the laptop in the hotel room doing work, but software engineering lends itself well to a sports playing career because a lot of it can be done away from the office,” said Kirkpatrick.
The national team camp concluded Friday. The national team players from sa国际传媒, however, remained to play in the Metro Vancouver Pro League semifinals at UVic on Saturday. The MVPL was established in 2022 and represents the highest level of club play in sa国际传媒.
“The pro league is an exciting initiative and gives us more high-quality games in which to play and that benefits both the national team players and the rising junior players,” said Kirkpatrick.
