Five years ago, Trevor Hirschfield remembers training in the concrete parkade the Richmond Olympic Oval, before the actual structure was complete.
The London Games silver medalist and his fellow wheelchair rugby teammates would occupy the space several times a week.
"I think we were the first rugby team to train in the oval," said Hirschfield, who used to live close by. "I've seen its turnover."
To celebrate its five years, oval officials invited the media to go head-to-head with a handful of athletes. Sitting in a wheelchair across from Hirschfield, I quickly came to realize the amount of coordination and strength involved in the sport.
He showed me the battle scars on his wheelchair and thankfully refused to accept my challenge for a game.
"If you hit a player hard enough, they can definitely get knocked over," he said. "We go pretty hard, and I wouldn't want to knock you over," he added with a smile.
Next up was challenge-turned-pity rally with table tennis player Mo Zhang. Being a more familiar sport, I went in with confidence - perhaps too much.
After her first serve hit the floor beside me before I had any time to react, I decided to stop the trash talking.
Rower and Richmondite Darcy Marquardt was also on hand with her silver medal from the London 2012 Games. She talked about life after retirement and her participation in
the RBC Olympic program.
"It's been a bit of an identity crisis since my retirement," she said. "I would always call myself a rower. The RBC program helped me develop new skills though."
I was drawn to the sound of the field hockey ball being whipped across the gym, slamming the wooden backboard of the goal. Although I fared a bit better when playing Natalie Sourisseau (I managed to keep the ball for at least a few seconds), I couldn't get enough power behind my swing to make that slamming sound.
"We're lucky to have so much space to work with," said Sourisseau, originally from Kelowna.
Her and fellow teammate Kate Gillis are training for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Both started playing the sport in high school. "It's growing here, but still not as much as in other places," said Gillis.
"The Commonwealth Games are going to be incredible because we'll be in a place where field hockey has such a fan base."
I'm then taken to watch speed skaters whiz around the rink at over 40 kilometres per hour coached by Michelle Pepin, Canadian Master Women's record holder.
"In 2012, we saw a direct correlation between training and the athletes' finishes," said Jordan Mottl, program manager of community sports at the oval. "I'd love to see B.C. skaters filter into the senior levels. It's a sport still dominated by Eastern Canada."
