When her classmates head back to school in early September, Sydney Nixon will be representing the Canadian Junior Kayak team at the 2013 ICF (International Canoe Federation) Canoe Freestyle World Championships in Bryson City, North Carolina.
From Sept. 2 to 8, right before her 16th birthday, Nixon, a Grade 11 Centre Wellington District High School student, will be one of over 300 of the world’s top freestyle athletes to compete on the Nantahala Gorge, on the river with the same name.
And she’ll be all smiles, no matter what the outcome.
“That’s her signature. This kid smiles all the time,” says Robert Zwanenburg, Team Canada manager, president of the Canadian Freestyle Association and freestyle committee chair of the Canoe Kayak Canada Whitewater council.
Zwanenburg shares the managing duties with his wife Sylvie Lebel. The pair has known Nixon for three years.
“She’s dedicated,” he said of Nixon. “She absolutely loves the sport and that is key.”
So it is hard to believe there was ever a time when Nixon didn’t want to run rapids in her kayak.
But you could say running rivers runs in her family.
“I grew up around it, but I hated it,” Nixon said, laughing. “Getting wet and stuck under water, it wasn’t fun for me.”
But she turned that around, literally, when she learned to properly roll her kayak.
“At around 12 years old I went to a weekly training camp and I learned to roll, and then I really started liking it.”
It’s a day her mother Kim Jefferson remembers well. It changed everything for the young athlete.
“She came out of the water after learning to roll and she never looked back,” Jefferson said, adding, “Then she started running everything … Now you just can’t shake her from the kayak.”
That’s okay, because Jefferson and her husband Bob Grassing are avid kayak enthusiasts. In fact, Grassing, who trained his two older sons, soon became Nixon’s coach.
“Because we were so comfortable with it, she’s been exposed to big rivers, like Pettawa, Ottawa, etc. She always felt comfortable and unafraid,” Grassing said of his step-daughter.
“She knew we were right there with her. She didn’t grow into the fear because we didn’t show any.”
From her family, Nixon learned to have a healthy respect for the water.
“Whenever you think you have a handle on the situation, it will remind you that you aren’t in control all the time … not fully,” she said. “You learn how to react.”
She admits the water offers her solitude. “It’s a good break from life.”
Jefferson says her daughter has an almost intuitive sense with her sport.
“She’s really hooked on knowing where to go … on river reading, and not everybody can do it. It’s more of a learned skill,” Jefferson said.
“Sydney can pick her own line and know where to go. She can just see it.”
Nixon’s passion for the sport grew, as did her opportunities to travel and experience more river challenges.
“Kayaking has taken me places I would never go to otherwise,” she said, noting her love of the scenery and landscape around rivers in Ontario and Quebec is a view best appreciated from her boat.
Nixon loves the challenge, explaining that a hole is different than a wave, rocks, waterfalls and deep water, which are all part of the training.
“In the hole, the kayak is stuck there, so you have to get out of that fear to get out of there, and with freestyle kayaking, you learn to have fun getting out of it,” Grassing said.
“Education, safety equipment and training teaches you to stay away from these places and you can stay away from it. You are in control.”
He notes the education and training teaches young kayakers “it is fun and you don’t have to make it dangerous.”
Jefferson claims it is Nixon’s courage that makes her a good kayaker.
“She’s very daring. She’s willing to jump in with both feet … She doesn’t fear it, she just loves it.”
At home in Elora, Nixon takes every opportunity she can to get down into the gorge and the flow of the Irvine River. Where she rides the rapids with her family is a special, remote area.
“It’s like a canyon around Elora and you can’t get there any other way,” she said, noting the sentimental impact it has on her and her appreciation for the natural environment. “There’s a lot of history there.”
In all seasons, Nixon and her family can be found kayaking there.
“I go usually a few times a week,” she said. “It depends on how much water is in the river.”
She adds she’ll be there, “As long as the river isn’t frozen over.”
Nixon says the workout is part training, part fun. But this summer, Nixon was only home long enough to pack.
“After my last exam, I went to Ottawa for a little over three weeks,” she said.
There Nixon participated in the Keener Program, offered through the Ottawa Kayak School. It was her second summer there.
“They have world-class kayakers come in and teach kids there,” Nixon said of the development program. “You meet really great people, you learn a lot of freestyle tricks and how to read rivers and running rivers.”
But Nixon also says the experience has taught her independence. “You grow as a person,” she said.
Grassing points out that through the Keener Program, Nixon is certified in swift water rescue, first aid and CPR.
“They get all the training and it’s well worth it,” Grassing said, noting it is an expensive program, at nearly $4,000, but also an investment in her sport.
The investment in Nixon’s sport paid off after the first summer in Ottawa, when Nixon competed at the Canadian Junior (under 18) Kayak team trials, held at Gull River in Minden, and earned first place in the junior girls standings.
Fast forward to this summer, when Nixon left Ottawa and headed straight for North Carolina for training at the site of the Nantahala Gorge.
“She’s been training since the first week of July,”
Zwanenburg said.
For Nixon that means daily training of approximately seven hours a day. She joins another junior girl and senior woman teammate.
“I’m learning new tricks and trying to get tricks I know to be consistent.”
The training site in the Nantahala Gorge is dam controlled, with water released at night, Nixon explains.
Called the 2013 Wave, the site for both training and competition was created specifically for the 2013 ICF competition “to create an optimal freestyle feature.”
Zwanenburg says, “The feature is man-made. They’ve rocked it up to get the kind of features they want.”
For Nixon, it is the perfect site to learn the tricks to manoeuvre her boat.
“I train on a hole,” she says of the water flow area. “You just throw tricks at it so your boat does certain things and you do certain things.”
The tricks Nixon speaks of have interesting names like the McNasty, loop, cartwheel, splitwheel, phonics monkey, space Godzilla, phelix, tricky woo and the lunar obrit.
“There is adrenaline,” she says of learning new tricks. “It’s really cool because once you get certain tricks down, you have to get them into your muscle memory.”
For a young girl in a male -dominated sport, knowing the importance of her physical ability is vital to competition.
“A lot of guys muscle the tricks, but as a girl, I don’t have the same muscles. So, as a girl you have to learn to use techniques and use the water to your advantage,” she said.
Nixon adds, “I work out and I try to keep my stamina up.”
Nixon is one of seven females out of the 27 members of Team Canada, which consists of junior boys and girls and senior men and women teams.
“A lot of the time when I’m training there are maybe me and two other girls, out of about 15 boys,” she said.
“It’s changing, but proportionally it’s about 25 per cent female,” Zwanenburg said. “Because of the kind of sport it is, the physical requirements, the muscle development is a bit slower at the junior level.”
Grassing believes kayaking is “an especially important sport for girls, who can’t always find something to focus on” to build self-esteem.
Jefferson notes Nixon never found a sport or activity she liked, until kayaking.
“For Sydney, I think it is a sport that not everybody does … it’s unique for her to say she is a freestyle kayaker,” Grassing said. “It really boosts her self-esteem … I see big changes in her.”
Grassing adds, “It has made her more mature, confident and not afraid to talk to people and be outgoing.”
He admires her cooperative spirit in the sport.
“She goes and helps other kids on the river and offers advice to others.”
Nixon feels it is her kayak community that makes her feel at home.
“I like the community, how everybody is really friendly and supportive,” she said.
Grassing agrees. “It’s a unique sport in a sense because all the competitors will help one another. They all share advice with each other. They’re all in it together, and that’s probably some of the best coaching you can get.”
That means time away from her family and friends. Social media has helped.
“My friends are all really supportive,” Nixon said.
Jefferson said Nixon checks in daily.
Of the sport and the athletes, Zwanenburg says, “It takes lots and lots of practice and support from their parents. There is a huge commitment to it. It takes lots of support and time on the river.”
With competition on her mind, Nixon has been focused on her skill and the personal competition of her time against the clock. She will compete in the K1 class, and will advance through the competition based on her results.
“From the hole to finish is 45 seconds,” she said. “It’s a lot of time actually.”
Her goal will be to complete as many tricks as she can in a race against the time clock.
“You have to turn off your mind in competition and get into your body,” Nixon said.
She adds, “When I compete, I don’t really compete against anyone, just myself and how I did the last time.”
It’s that persistence and focus that has put Nixon in the creek with her paddle, competing against freestyle kayakers from around the globe.
“This is her first really big competition,” Zwanenburg said, noting Nixon is “outwardly calm” during competitions. “If she really likes it, she can decide where she goes.”
He explains that members of Team Canada are on the roster for a two-year period.
“I will go to team trials again and hopefully make it,” Nixon said, already looking to the future.
Those trials will take place in Alberta, but the big competition will be in London, England for the World Cup Series and again for the World Championships.
“As she gets better and wants to compete, the costs will go up,” Zwanenburg noted.
Conscious of the financial cost to her family, Nixon has been fundraising for the past year, selling specialty T-shirts and stained glass Christmas ornaments and window decorations from her mother’s store in Fergus (Joanie’s Crafts, Gifts and Stained Glass Supplies).
She has received some sponsorship from local businesses and private individuals too.
“Mom and dad are the biggest sponsors,” said Grassing, laughing, noting the team also does fundraising as a group.
“Kayaking is quite expensive. There is a lot of travelling involved each year, plus her training in the summer,” Grassing said. “Sponsorship is quite important. It really helps.”
Right now, new equipment is a goal. Nixon is saving up for a new boat, a Jackson Rockstar, with an estimated retail value of between $1,300 to $1,400.
“It’s a boat with a design made for a smaller framed body,” Grassing said. “She probably should have it if she wants to keep competing.”
And she does.
“I would like to eventually get on to a pro-circuit and just have fun with it … not be too serious,” Nixon said.
But with kayaking as a demo-sport in the last Olympics and again in 2016, she says, “It would be nice to go.”
Grassing and Jefferson are behind her all the way.
“What really makes me so proud is that she really gives her all to excel in the sport,” Grassing said.
“It’s a fringe sport. You gotta love it,” said Zwanenburg. “And not a whole lot of fear helps.”
Persistence and patience count too.
“It’s hours and hours of practice. You get beat down and have to get back up,” said Zwanenburg. It’s physical and mental stamina and he believes Nixon has that down.
“She has an amazing outlook … the smile on her face, it says everything about her character.”
Sacrifice aside, Nixon is focused.
“I really like the sport, so I’d give it whatever I have to. It’s worth it,” she said.
To support Nixon’s fundraising visit Joanie’s Crafts at 116 St. Andrew Street West in Fergus or call 519-787-7063.
