What is: "Xiao Jian immigrating to Toronto" + "World Cup in Germany one week and one in Vancouver three weeks after so it's pretty useless for the Chinese team to go back to China for a week or so then fly back to Vancouver" + "I live in Toronto"? Yeah... The answer is quite obvious right? "Training camp in Vango Toronto with the Chinese Team!".

Five fencers and one coach came to Vango for two and a half weeks. At that time my hip was still a problem for the first two weeks. Then when it got better the training was a bit more relax moving towards the world cup in Vancouver. I did not do all the conditioning with them but all fencing practices and group lessons were a must. Very painful but still necessary because I needed the training. It was at that point that I started to look into the cortisone shot avenue. Then, Shaman
Nader happened (see next blog) and everything was back to normal.

We had a local tournament in Vango Toronto when Team China was there and they all participated to the tournaments. It was a great opportunity for the local fencers and the members of the club to see and fence the national team of China. I approach the tournament only with the intention to finish on the podium to have access to the cash prizes they gave for medalist. I did need the money and only the registration was 50$. At the end, the gold medal was worth 500$, the silver 250$, and bronze medals 125$ each. So my plan was to do extremely well in pool to avoid any Chinese until semi-finals. I won everything and only received 2 hits. I was ranked second and did not have any Chinese in my way until the podium. Once in semi-final, I was fencing one of the Chinese (Shi Gao Feng) and lost 12-10 in the last minute of passivity. It was a pretty good bout and both of us fenced well.

​After the tournament, we had a couple of days of training before leaving for the world cup in Vancouver. The hip was better and I was very happy that I could sleep well again. It was very nice to see some of my old friends from China and train with them like old times. Old times being two years ago maximum but it feels like it's been an eternity and a half.

During all of my intense training in China, I had a tiny hip problem. I say tiny because it was only a big discomfort with pain that I could treat with a bit of stretching and self-massage before training. With that, I could train as hard and as frequently that I wanted to. Every day the pain came and every day I massaged it away. Years like this passed until October 2015. Then the problem reached heights that hindered me from training as much as I wanted.

The problem is located in my left hip (back leg) and is very painful during normal activities (walking, getting in the car, etc.) and creates a huge pinching pain when I move my leg at a certain angle. This stopped me from walking normally, from being able to sleep well, and from even putting on my socks in the morning. So training wise, this was a disaster in my last sprint towards my Olympics qualification. I lost a lot of flexibility in my hip and I didn’t have a lot of it to start with.

Towards the end of 2015, I started to work with a physiotherapist at the Canadian Sport Institute of Ontario (CSIO) to release the pain and have enough flexibility in my hip to limit the deterioration of the problem. It worked pretty well. The problem stopped escalating and training was possible. Painful, but possible. During this time, I went for an X-ray and an MRI so see exactly what was going on. Basically, the hip bone (labrum) that connects to my femur is over reaching around it (pincer), thus creating a mechanical barrier in which my leg can't move as it should. So when it reaches the new limit, it becomes inflamed and the problem grows bigger -- adding pain and losing flexibility making the next safe angle of rotation even smaller.

When I was half way through my Chinese exile, Xiao Jian (my coach) started the process to immigrate to Canada. I even did my part in some forms and videos saying that he is one of the best coach in China and that Canada would benefit from his immigration. Then every now and then during the next two years, I heard some things about the process being long and complicated.

In February, he finally immigrated in Toronto with his family! Since then, I was able to work with him on a daily basis, instead of seeing him for one day or two in tournaments because he is still the national coach for Team China. My training is now back on track and we do a lot of follow up on daily training, on tournaments, and to see what I should prioritize in my training at the moment.

Now that my hip is better and my coach is here now, I have 3 lessons per week plus a coach that follows my daily training and correct my trajectory multiple times a day. The final sprint towards my Olympic qualification could not be in a better environment.

Since the beginning of the season, I had a world cup in Switzerland, Estonia, Ireland, Qatar, Germany, and Vancouver. I had very good results (4th in team event in Switzerland, best Canadian results in 7 years), decent results (top 64 in Doha) and pretty bad results (being cut after the first round in Vancouver). A lot of variations in the result and a lot of variations in my environment. My situation right now has improved a lot and stablelized a lot also. Now that it's stable, the training is going very well because I can now have quality AND quantity at training.

It feels like an eternity has past by when I first started competing on the international circuit and I did not have enough money to pay for everything. At this time, I was 15-16 years old and I started a summer job making sandwiches 60 hours a week in a factory not too far from where I lived in Gatineau. Biking there and back everyday during the summer, I made enough money to pay for a big part of my season. Since it was not enough, my parents were paying the remaining costs when they saw that I was doing everything that I could to afford the season.

I swore to my parents that when I was able to afford it, I would give them a week of vacation all expenses paid somewhere in the south to both of them as a token of gratitude. The promise stayed there without too much hope from my parents that I would honor it. A teenager swearing that he would payback his parents "when he can afford it" still seems like an empty promise.

A couple of years ago, when I was still in China, I paid for my father, my mother, my sister (because why not?) and myself for a week in Mexico. It just so happened that a lot of our friends were going to the same place at the same time! It sounded like a great vacation mixed with a lot of catching up with my family and friends. At the last minute, I had to cancel my ticket because a really great training and competing opportunity came up. So I ended up paying for the vacation for my family without enjoying it myself. Another sacrifice in the long list that I have since the beginning of my journey towards my dream.

​In December, my sister and my parents gave me a week in Mexico! We went there the four of us for a week and I only had one plan in mind: relax and do nothing. I had to train a little bit while I was there (maybe 8 or 9 light training) just to keep everything in check (and not have too much of a struggle when I will be back at training after the holidays). My major daily decision was to choose between going to the beach or staying by the pool. The week there was exactly what I needed at that time: a time off. After the week there with my family, I came back fully charged and ready for the 2016 challenges.

My last post was at the end of the 2014-1015 season in July and it's been too long that I procrastinate updating my blog. Many things happened since then and I will do my best to cover everything. My coach immigrated to Canada, I have major hip problem, the Olympic Games qualification is almost over, I had a great training camp with Team China, great results with my friend and physio Nader Abdelkader, my first real vacation in approximately 20 years, and the training I'm doing right now regarding the last sprint towards my dream: my Olympic qualification! Sorry about the delay and enjoy the reading.