Joey Payeur
Anyone passing Janie Guimond on the street likely could try to guess her occupation for quite some time and never get it right.
That comes with the territory for the 31-year-old Guimond, who has proven a smaller person can thrive among the giants of the volleyball world if they have a big enough desire to achieve their goals.
The 5’4” starting libero for the Canadian women’s volleyball team will bring her experience—at 103 international matches, the most of anyone on Team Canada—to Fort High for a two-day instructional clinic this Friday and Saturday.
Friday’s session for the 14U age group runs from 5-10 p.m., while Saturday’s sessions for the 16U and 18U categories will take place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Fort Frances Fire ’N Ice Volleyball Club is putting on the event, along with the help of the United Native Friendship Centre and Gizhewaadiziwin Health Access Centre.
The latter two organizations have provided the financial backing for the event, which has allowed both the clinic and a Saturday morning breakfast at the UNFC Circle of Life Centre to be free of charge for the participants in the U14, U16, and U18 age groups.
“I’ve been on the national team for eight years so I know a little bit,” laughed Guimond, who made plans to come for the clinic after meeting Fire ’N Ice head coach Amy Wilson-Hands at a youth club volleyball tournament this past March in Winnipeg, where Team Canada has its training centre.
“It’s my full-time job, my passion,” she added.
“Being only 5’4”, it’s nice for young people to hear from someone like me and not some 6’6” girl about how she had the opportunity to be on the national team.”
The youngest of four children growing up in Quebec, Guimond was involved in a variety of sports—from soccer and track-and-field to swimming and gymnastics—before giving volleyball a try for the first time at age 14.
“The dream of making the national team was not even something I was thinking about at that time,” she admitted.
“I didn’t really even know it existed until I was 18 because the women’s team has not been to the Olympics since 1996.”
Guimond also said she was an outside hitter back then because the libero position wasn’t even created until 1997.
“So to be a hitter and only 5’4”, the national team wasn’t even an option,” she stressed.
Guimond, instead, set her sights on making her CEGEP post-secondary team.
“I didn’t even know if I liked volleyball that much, and was deciding between soccer and volleyball,” noted Guimond, whose health situation made the decision for her.
“Because of my asthma and some heart problems I had, soccer wasn’t an option anymore,” she remarked.
With her sporting path now clearly laid out, Guimond ended up being not only the women’s volleyball MVP but also the female athlete-of-the-year at her CEGEP.
Then it was off to the University of Montreal, where she again considered herself a long shot to make the women’s squad.
“I just went and knocked on the door of the selection camp and ended up making the team as a walk-on,” recalled Guimond, referring to a player on the team that was not offered an athletic scholarship by the school.
Guimond was a full-time member her first two years in Montreal but then was “red-shirted” by her head coach in her third year—basically, a message that she wasn’t good enough to be a regular player anymore.
“I told myself it’s not over,” she recounted. “I said, ‘I can do this, I’m not going to give up. I’m not a quitter.’”
Guimond practised that whole year with the team despite not getting to play in any games and rededicated herself to becoming the best she could be.
The result was her being named a starter on the squad in her fourth year, then ending up being voted the best libero in CIS women’s volleyball at the conclusion of her fifth and final year.
Suddenly, a national team berth didn’t seem so far-fetched to Guimond, though she still wasn’t brimming with confidence when she attended the Team Canada selection camp in 2008.
“I brought two T-shirts and one pair of shoes because I didn’t think I would be staying more than a week,” she confessed.
That week turned into two months and eventually a spot on the 14-player roster, which was even more of a personal thrill for Guimond when she realized she would be on the same team as her idol—longtime national team member Annie Levesque.
“She was in her eighth year as libero with the team and she was 164 cm tall like me,” Guimond noted.
“So I saw it was possible for me to be part of that team.”
Every year has been a new challenge for Guimond as there are no long-term contracts to play with Team Canada. Rather, players need to prove themselves from one year to the next.
“You’re on the team until you’re not good enough anymore or you take it for granted,” she remarked.
“I’ve seen fifth-year players get released . . . I had no idea how long I’d be on the team,” added Guimond, who also has played professionally in Romania, Germany, and France.
“Every year, I don’t know if I’ll be sticking around,” she said.
“I hope I will so I push hard.”
That pushing is nearly over, though, as Guimond revealed she will be calling it quits at some point in 2016.
“It’s not necessarily been too tiring on my body as at my position I don’t jump a lot,” she clarified, though noting she’s experienced sprained fingers and hip problems as a result of her playing career.
“But the decision is mostly for my personal life as I’ve put everything else on the side to be the best I can be,” added Guimond, who plans to be an occupational therapist when her playing days are over.
“I’m 31 and time is flying, and I really want to have a family and be in one place in the world,” she explained.
“Right now, I’ve got five suitcases in five different places.
“But the sport has given me so much in my life, it will be sad to put that aside,” she conceded.
“Giving clinics and sharing my knowledge with the kids, for me, is like progressive retirement,” she reasoned.
Guimond has one final mission with Team Canada—helping the squad qualify for the Summer Olympics next August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
At a first-stage Olympic qualifying tournament back in September, the national team grabbed the fourth and final berth for the upcoming NORCECA championship in Lincoln, Neb. from Jan. 7-9.
Canada must finish first in a field that also includes the U.S., the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico to qualify automatically for Rio.
Placing second or third will get the Canadians into a last-chance qualifying event in May while ending up fourth will mean the end of the line for both Guimond and Canada.
“All we can hope for is to be the best we can be for three days,” Guimond said about the showdown in Nebraska.
“I believe this team has a lot of talent . . . everybody on this team deserves to win,” she stressed.
“It’s a matter of taking the opportunity, finding the other teams’ weaknesses, don’t let go and play until the last whistle.
“I am real confident,” Guimond added. “I think [the NORCECA field] should be scared.
“We hope to keep the dream alive.”
