What was once a distant dream is now a huge circle on his calendar.
Since he and his Canadian men’s field hockey team punched their ticket for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Gabriel Ho-Garcia has made sure that one heady goal was replaced by another.
Compete at Rio, not just show up. Take nothing for granted. Train, push each other, and repeat.
And from the work they’ve put in, there’s a growing faith that anything now is possible.
“In the lead up to Rio, let’s just say the training has been tough,” Ho-Garcia told the NOW on Wednesday. “It’s the perfect word to describe it – tough.
“We’re on the field four nights a week, in the gym the other days… We’re completely focused.”
This weekend, Ho-Garcia and teammates jet to Malaysia for the Azlan Shah Cup, where they’ll compete against six of the world’s best national teams under some intense heat.
The nations in attendance include No. 1-ranked Australia, who Canada meets in the final round-robin test on April 13, No. 7 India, and No. 8 New Zealand. Both Pakistan, who Canada plays in the April 6 opener, and Malaysia are ranked ahead of the 14th-seeded Canadians. Japan, ranked 16th, rounds out the 10-day tournament.
What they achieve in Malaysia will be another piece to the puzzle as the Canucks gear up for Rio.
“We look at this as a warm-up for the Olympics, definitely. Just being from Canada, we rarely get a chance to play against this calibre of teams. It’s exciting and it’s an opportunity.”
The journey began after the squad fell short in qualifying for the 2012 London Games, and can be described as a road of pitstops and incredible drives. It all came together when Canada bounced Brazil by shootout at last year’s Pan Am Games, locking up the Rio berth and advancing to the Pan Am final in the process.
But the critical win which made it all possible came a month earlier in the World League semifinals in Buenos Aires, when they shocked New Zealand in a shootout and advanced to that tournament's final four. Although they dropped the next two games to miss out on the early Rio pass, it gave the squad something intangible. Beating the then-7th ranked New Zealanders was an eye-opener.
“Our emotions were all over the place,” Ho-Garcia said of the victory, which ended 8-7 in extra shots. “That night we were all celebrating, we did what we had set out to achieve… The next day in the (semi) final, that was the reality check.”
Losses to Argentina, 3-0, and No. 2 the Netherlands, 6-0, can do that.
The berth was officially clinched in Toronto when they advanced to the championship game, where they fell 3-0 to Argentina. From that point on and with the original goal realized, the squad has been focused on upping the intensity.
Ho-Garcia’s has matured as a member of the team, having experienced his senior debut at the age of 18 in 2011.
“It feels like forever, but it’s only been five years,” he said. “Looking back at my first tournament in South Africa, where I had not practiced with the team and was randomly pulled up… I look at that and I wasn’t prepared what-so-ever to be at this level.
“Over the past four years what has helped me is how my focus has been all about that – preparation.”
That preparation has done him well, but he’s made the prerequisite sacrifices, like postponing graduation from SFU with a business degree – two classes short.
For a kid whose dream was to play a sport for a living, being part of Canada’s run to the Olympics at the age of 22 has fulfilled plenty for the Burnaby native. Just not the one he originally thought.
“I wanted to be a pro soccer player when I was growing up. That was my big goal,” he remembered. “I played these two sports and I started making (field hockey) provincial teams every year, then one year I was invited to join the (national) junior team – I had to make a choice.”
There was no regretting that decision, although he does wish he hadn’t quit soccer completely at the time.
“My biggest regret was when I quit (soccer) I stopped playing for four years… I’m playing with my friends now, and it’s still something I really love.”
A forward, Ho-Garcia said his game has matured under the guidance of the national program.
“Technically I use to be a ball hog. As a forward I love to dribble and beat the other guys to get a shot but I’ve learned you have to possess the ball and move it around to get better results.”
Which brings us to the present, where results reflect both the progress and challenges ahead. The team is ready for anything, he said.
“What we’ve gained is belief. We believe in ourselves. Before, we would go into some games not expecting to lose but we didn’t believe we could win on any given day. Now we think we can grind it out.”
A handful of veterans bring Olympic experience – from the Beijing Games in 2008 – and have reinforced what that experience means with the younger players, said Ho-Garcia.
“The older guys have talked about it and talked about how important it is to not be satisfied just being there,” he noted. “When you go and lose every game you don’t feel like you achieved anything.”
NOTE: Changes from the newsprint version have been made to update and correct the story. The version online is the final, corrected edition.
