Photo Courtesy: Meryeta O'Dine, BC Snowboard

By Ethan Ready

Snowboard Cross

BC Snowboard Cross Team uses Prince George as training ground

Aug 13, 2021 | 6:02 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – For five days, Prince George was home to the BC Snowboard Cross team.

It was a welcomed experience for snowboarders Meryeta O’Dine, Colby Graham, Evan Bichon and Jasper Matthe as the four all hail from the city. It marked the first time a training camp of its kind was held in the Northern Capital, but when three members of the 11-person team are from the city, it comes as no surprise.

“It was awesome,” said Graham. “It was so awesome to be so close to home and be just steps out my door to train. I come to train here (at the Northern Sport Centre) just about every day with the trainers here. To see BC Snowboard come up here and realize all the great facilities we have up here, and all the athletes here, it’s pretty awesome.”

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For Bichon, who typically spends most of his time training in the Lower Mainland, it gave him an opportunity to return to his old stomping grounds and back to his roots.

Coming back here to be able to train, it made me feel really close to the roots where I started training. Originally, I started strength training fr my sport at the (Northern) Sport Centre here, and that was when I was around 12 or 13-years-old. To come back and training with some of the same people I grew up going to high school with, and training up here at the Sports School with our team environment, it was a really great feeling.”

With the group from Prince George working towards qualifying for the Beijing Olympics next year, they feel like they’re injecting some inspiration into the community, essentially proving goals and dreams can be achieved.

“I think so. I think we definitely are. Just the other day, Meryeta and I came across a young girl, she was in the Sport Centre here. She came up to us, and her dad, and was like ‘oh, you guys are going to the next Olympics.’ We as we don’t know yet but she said that’s so cool. We invited her out to do some starts with us over at my house, and she was just ecstatic. It’s just kind of really cool to see the next generation coming up.”

Of the four, O’Dine is the seasoned vet having competed at the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, and that experience isn’t something the 24-year-old takes lightly.

“It’s great for me because it keeps me accountable, and on my toes, and keeps me being a great role model for kids who maybe this is their first year coming into this sport,” said O’Dine. “It makes me feel a lot happier that I have all of the experiences that I do and that I can share it with them. That sometimes makes me think about things a little bit differently for myself. If I’m trying to explain what I do to someone younger than me, I can maybe have a little realization in myself and learn some more about myself.”

In the next several weeks, the four Prince Georgians will shift focus onto fine-tuning their individual skillsets through training ahead of one final training camp in Prince George set to be held in late September before the team heads overseas ahead of the World Cup season.