This time last year, Steve Sir and his Team Canada teammates were traveling the world competing in 3×3 basketball, hoping to gain points in order to be selected for the Olympic qualification tournament.
Team Canada achieved that dream, but because of COVID-19, never got the chance to play it out as the qualifier was initially scheduled for the middle of March.
“Any time you get in to anything worthwhile or high level, you make your plan, you believe in it,” Sir said. “And you also kind of acknowledge that it’s not going to go according to plan.”
The 37-year-old Edmontonian isn’t prepared to let a year postponement get in his way. Same goes for his teammates.
“We’re committed to the task and we’re committed the path of what we need to do,” said Sir. “I think that’s what makes this still feel positive and achievable, because we’ve all stayed on the same page of feeling like this is a worthwhile goal for all of us to go after.”
With gyms closed, Sir has had to get creative to make sure he stays fit and sharp.
“Training’s a big part of my life and it has been for a long time,” said Sir.
“It’s where I get my confidence from and it’s where I feel most clear, so keeping that stuff up isn’t that big of a struggle for me.
“Making sure that I’m staying purposeful and planning out how to best do the workouts during this time, based on what we need to be able to do as a team when we’re back together has been a challenge because we’ve never really done this before.”
Team Canada is ranked eighth in the world, and will compete in Pool D at the Olympic qualification tournament. It has not yet been announced when and where that tournament will be held.