Maillon héritage

Kyle Shewfelt : Le seul et unique

Après avoir longuement marché dans le centre-ville de Calgary en un après-midi de lʼautomne 2012, Kyle Shewfelt a réfléchi à une grande question : « Quʼest ce que je fais? »

Le champion olympique en gymnastique de 2004 venait tout juste de conclure une entrevue avec une équipe de recrutement. Depuis sa retraite, il voguait d’une aventure à l’autre, dans des domaines comme l’immobilier, le mentorat, et l’enseignement du yoga. L’entrevue devait mener à un emploi dans une grande entreprise, avec sécurité et permanence. Mais dès son départ, il savait que quelque chose clochait.

« Au cours de cette longue marche, j’ai dû me demander ce que j’étais en train de faire, » se souvient Shewfelt. « Après Beijing, j’ai passé quatre ans à passer d’un emploi à un autre. Je nʼavais pas d’objectif central. Jʼétais perdu et je nʼavais aucune responsabilité. » Trouver un endroit où se poser semblait être la bonne chose à faire.

Toutefois, une idée née il y a plusieurs années continuait de faire son chemin dans sa tête. Tout au long de sa carrière, Shewfelt a admiré de nombreux gymnastes américains exceptionnels, dont certains ont ouvert leur propre gymnase. « Je me sentais inspiré par ces champions olympiques qui ont aussi créé un héritage après leurs carrières, » dit-il. Lui aussi aimait l’idée d’un jour ouvrir son propre gymnase.

Il est allé jusquʼà dévoiler son projet à son amie de longue date Krystal Boychuk lors d’une fête, alors qu’ils étaient dans la mi-vingtaine. Il s’est tourné vers moi et m’a dit : « Je vais ouvrir un gymnase un jour, et tu vas devenir ma directrice, » se souvient Boychuk avec un éclat de rire. À ce moment, elle a accepté avec enthousiasme, sans se douter qu’un jour, l’entente serait officialisée.

Shewfelt nʼen était pas certain non plus, et il a souvent douté sérieusement de sa capacité à faire le saut dans le monde de l’entrepreneuriat. « Je voulais ouvrir un gym, mais je nʼavais pas le courage, » avoue-t-il. « Je ne savais pas tout ce que ça impliquait. »

En fin de compte, sa vision s’est forgée autour des souvenirs récurrents de sa jeunesse, alors qu’il aspirait à devenir un athlète olympique, et qu’il s’entraînait quatre heures chaque après-midi, avant de revenir à la maison pour manger et faire ses devoirs. Il était extraordinairement méticuleux et consciencieux au gymnase et à l’école, mais une fois par mois, lorsque son magazine de gymnastique arrivait, il lâchait tout pour le dévorer d’une couverture à l’autre.

Ce souvenir a rappelé à Shewfelt à quel point il aimait la gymnastique. « Je ne faisais pas semblant, » s’exclame-t-il. « Le sport mʼa apporté tellement de joie, et quand je m’y suis finalement reconnecté, tout est devenu très clair. »

À la fin de sa longue marche, Shewfelt, maintenant âgé de 36 ans, a pris la grande décision qui allait tracer son destin : il allait ouvrir son propre gym. « Je ne suis pas un gars d’entreprise, » explique-t-il. « Je voulais être mon propre patron. Jʼétais prêt à affronter mes peurs, et je voyais mon avenir dans ce gymnase. »

Avec sa vision en tête, il a appelé Boychuk, qui, à ce moment, élevait ses deux jeunes enfants à la maison. En quelques minutes, ils ont conclu une entente, et à partir de ce moment, Shewfelt s’est lancé à temps plein dans la réalisation d’un plan d’affaires, en travaillant seize heures par jour pour en faire une réalité.

Après avoir trouvé lʼemplacement idéal au printemps 2013, les choses sont devenues sérieuses. Shewfelt a trouvé du financement, et a suivi plusieurs cours d’entrepreneuriat à l’Université Mount Royal. Ces expériences, dit-il, lui ont finalement donné la confiance pour devenir un entrepreneur.

« Jʼai connu du succès dans le sport parce que j’étais prêt à travailler plus fort que tout le monde, à tout donner », dit-il. « Je suis pareil en affaires. »

Moins dʼun an après cette décision cruciale, Shewfelt a ouvert son gymnase dans le sud de Calgary, le Kyle Shewfelt Gymnastics. Il se distingue des autres centres par sa vocation purement récréative, une priorité pour Shewfelt. « J’ai déjà suivi le parcours compétitif, et je n’en voulais plus dans ma vie », dit-il. « Jʼai tâté le marché, et je savais quʼil y avait déjà de nombreux gymnases axés sur la compétition à Calgary. »

Shewfelt dirige les athlètes qui présentent un potentiel compétitif vers d’autres gymnases et demeure ancré dans son approche originale. « En ouvrant son gym, Kyle a créé un espace pour tous, peu importe l’âge et le degré d’habileté », affirme Boychuk, la directrice du programme. « Cʼest son héritage. »

Bien sûr, l’héritage de Shewfelt dans le monde de la gymnastique est largement reconnu et admiré. Il est le seul médaillé olympique canadien dans l’histoire de ce sport, grâce à sa médaille dʼor lors de l’exercice au sol en 2004. Son exploit héroïque, soit de revenir à la compétition après s’être cassé les deux jambes onze mois avant les Jeux de Beijing en 2008, a consolidé davantage sa position comme lʼun des meilleurs et des plus courageux athlètes canadiens de tous les temps.

Mais maintenant, cʼest son héritage en tant que bâtisseur de communauté, d’entrepreneur, de mentor, de bénévole, de mari et de père qui motive Shewfelt chaque matin.

Il sait pertinemment que ses succès dans le sport et dans la vie s’appuient sur les mêmes fondements : un puits profond de motivation intrinsèque et une extraordinaire minutie. Malgré tout, ce qui est peut-être le plus remarquable à propos de Shewfelt, c’est son énergie sans bornes, son enthousiasme et son optimisme qui le suivent dans tous les aspects de sa vie.

« Il est sérieux et a la bosse des affaires », remarque Boychuk. « Mais il est aussi très amusant! Parfois, au beau milieu de la journée, il monte le volume au max dans le bureau et nous dansons tous ensemble. » C’est ce qui fait qu’il est « le seul et unique ».

Shewfelt affirme quʼil est toujours à la poursuite de la meilleure version possible de lui-même, et il reconnaît qu’il y est presque. « Jʼai reconnecté avec mon but », dit-il joyeusement. « Je sens que je fais exactement ce à quoi j’étais destiné. »

Institut canadien du sport de calgary: @csicalgary
Rédigé par Kristina Groves: @kngrover
20/09/18

Legacy Link

After walking forty long blocks through downtown Calgary one afternoon in the fall of 2012, Kyle Shewfelt pondered a big question: ‘What am I doing?’

The 2004 Olympic gymnastics champion had just finished an interview with an executive search team, after years of dabbling in various post-retirement ventures like real estate, life coaching and teaching yoga. The interview was supposed to lead to a corporate job, one with security and predictability. But as soon as he left he knew something about the idea wasn’t right.

“During that walk I had to ask myself what I was doing,” recalls Shewfelt. “For four years after Beijing I was just floating, going from thing to thing. I didn’t have a focal point. I was lost and had no accountability.” Finding a place to land seemed like the right thing to do.

Still, an idea he’d had years earlier lingered in the back of his mind. Throughout his career Shewfelt admired many of the great American gymnasts, several of whom had opened their own gyms. “I looked up to these guys who had won Olympic gold and also created a legacy after their careers,” he says. He was inspired to one day open his own gym too.

He went so far as to declare the idea to long-time friend Krystal Boychuk at a house party when they were in their early twenties. “He turned to me and said, ‘I’m going to open a gym one day and you’re going to be my director,’” recalls Boychuk with a laugh. At the time she agreed wholeheartedly, not knowing that one day the deal would come to fruition.

Shewfelt wasn’t sure it would either and there were times when he seriously doubted his capacity to take the leap into entrepreneurship. “I wanted to open a gym, but I didn’t have the courage,” he confesses. “I didn’t know what it would take.”

Ultimately, his vision galvanized around a recurring memory from his days as a young, aspiring Olympian, training four hours every afternoon then coming home to eat and do his homework. He was extraordinarily meticulous and conscientious in his training and schoolwork, but once a month his gymnastics magazine subscription would arrive and at that moment, he dropped everything until he read it cover to cover.

That memory reminded Shewfelt of how much he loved gymnastics. “That wasn’t fake,” he exclaims. “The sport brought me so much joy and when I finally reconnected with that everything became very clear.”

By the end of his long walk Shewfelt, now 36, made the bold decision that would chart his life’s course – he was going to open his own gym. “I’m not a corporate guy,” he explains. “I needed to be my own boss. I was willing to push past the fear and I could see my future as that gym.”

With the vision in his mind he called Boychuk, who at the time was home raising her two young children. Within minutes they had a deal and from that point on Shewfelt dove full tilt into crafting a business plan, working sixteen hours a day to make it a reality.

After finding the perfect location in the spring of 2013, things got serious. Shewfelt secured funding and audited a number of entrepreneurship classes at Mount Royal University. Those experiences, he says, finally gave him the confidence to become an entrepreneur.

“I was successful in sport because I was willing to work harder than anyone, to do whatever it takes,” he says. “I’m the same in business.”

Less than a year after that fateful decision, Shewfelt opened his gym in south Calgary, Kyle Shewfelt Gymnastics. It differs from other centres because the focus is purely recreational, something Shewfelt knew he wanted from the outset. “I did the competitive thing, I didn’t want that in my life,” he says. “I looked at the market and knew there were so many great competitive gyms in Calgary.”

Instead, Shewfelt sends those with competitive potential to other gyms and stays rooted in his grassroots approach to the sport. “By opening the gym, Kyle has created a space for everyone, all ages and abilities,” declares Boychuk, the gym’s Program Director. “That’s his legacy.”

Of course, Shewfelt’s legacy in gymnastics is widely known and admired. He’s the only Canadian Olympic medalist in the sport with a gold in the men’s floor exercise in 2004 and his heroic feat of coming back from breaking both his legs just eleven months prior to the 2008 Games in Beijing further cemented his position as one of Canada’s greatest, and grittiest, athletes of all time.

But now it’s his legacy as a community builder, entrepreneur, mentor, volunteer, husband and father that gets Shewfelt out of bed every morning.

He is keenly aware that what made him successful in sport is the same as what drives him in life today: a deep well of intrinsic motivation and an extraordinary degree of conscientiousness. What is perhaps most remarkable about Shewfelt though, is his boundless energy, enthusiasm and optimism that bubble over into every aspect of his life.

“He’s serious and very business savvy,” remarks Boychuk. “But he’s also a lot of fun! Sometimes he will just crank up the tunes in the office when we’re working and we’ll have a big dance party right in the middle of the day.” Adding, “He’s one a of kind.”

Shewfelt says he is perpetually chasing the best version of himself and has a keen self-awareness that guides his quest, recognizing he’s just about there. “I’ve reconnected with my purpose,” he says joyfully. “I feel that I’m doing exactly what I was meant to do.”

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
20/09/18

During the weeks and days before competition, the Olympic infrastructure and organization for a successful Summer Games was in question.

And then the Games began. And Team Canada came out in full force.

The CSI Calgary’s Tara Whitten was able to come back from a freak accident that left her in a neck brace for 10 weeks. Her training in April and May was severely curtailed yet she finished seventh in the Road Cycling Individual Time Trial. It was a superhuman, herculean effort that is difficult to comprehend considering the nature of the injury and time required to allow the bone to heal.

Track Cycling teammates Allison Beveridge and Kirsti Lay brought home a bronze medal in the Women’s Team Pursuit. Allison is an Alberta athlete who overcame a serious injury early this year to compete. Kirsti Lay came through the Talent Lab program at CSI Calgary on her path to making the national and Olympic teams.

CSI Calgary’s Erica Wiebe unabashedly won gold in women’s 75kg wrestling, belting out “O Canada” with tears streaming and the enthusiasm of an entire nation behind her. Such unrestrained emotion is not the stuff of Olympic puffery – it is pure, unadulterated joy. We are all benefactors in her accomplishment.

And the fourths and the lasts, they mean something too, whether we know it or not. Honest, humble, fierce – unequivocally Canadian.

These are the stories that matter. Not to the IOC or to the sponsors or even to the fans, but to the athletes, who give us everything of themselves, win or lose.

They rise above the noise until it fades away and all that remains is their space, their opponent, their race and the inner sanctum of competition. Their playing field is sacred and within its confines the athletes are free to compete, unencumbered by the circus outside. They simply shine.

This glimpse into the true Olympic Games is what engages us still – we believe in their goodness and so we should.

While it’s true that many of the issues in Rio and around the world are serious and cause for grave concern, they are neither the fault nor the burden of the athletes, who are there simply to compete for their country. While they cannot make the world’s problems go away, they can help us believe that a better world is possible through their sportsmanship, humility and determination.

The CSI Calgary is proud and honoured to work alongside these athletes as they pursue their Olympic dreams. We share their joy and sorrow, triumph and defeat. Their stories are good news to us and to all Canadians.

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
24/08/16