Cape teens get a shot at kayak glory
Can you kayak from Cape Coral to the Olympic Games?
Four local teenagers will give it a try.
The South Florida Canoe ?& Kayak Club, on SW 3rd Place near Lake Kennedy and Sun Splash Family Waterpark, is where their Olympic dreams are afloat.
USA Canoe & Kayak, the organization that runs our country’s Olympic program for canoe and kayak athletes, named Alex Atia, Donovan Gervasoni, Tucker Goetz, and Chloe Mitchell to its 2017 National Team Training Squad as part of its Olympic Development Program.
Atia, 13, a Challenger Middle School student, has been kayaking for about two years.
“My friend Carlos told me about this when I was in sixth grade,” Goetz said. “It was pretty fun. I liked it. Eventually they invited me to the development team.”
Oasis High School student Gervasoni, 17, started about three years ago. He took seven months off, then came back to the program three months ago.
“Before I left I was on performance and now I’m on high performance in the Olympic program,” Gervasoni said.
Larry Parzynski, who coaches the four Olympic hopefuls, said the teens train every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
There are different kayaks for different levels of competition. High performance, as the name suggests, is the race car of kayaks. Cutting edge, providing the most speed possible, and unforgiving.
Learning to kayak begins with training craft, then moving up in class to try to master the high performance kayak.
Parzynski said even experienced kayakers have to spend hours simply learning how to get into and out of a high performance kayak, to learn how to keep the craft upright and under them.
There are also divisions in the sport for the number of people in a kayak – one, two, or four. As Parzynski said, the four-person kayak is an odd-looking and rare watercraft.
There are different types of kayaks. There are flat-water models, such as these four teens use, as well as open ocean and whitewater kayaks. All different boats for different conditions.
Goetz, 15, also attends Oasis. He’s been kayaking for four years.
“It was just something that – I was playing soccer at the time – I wanted to try. I got into the program and quit soccer.”
Perhaps the most accomplished so far is Mitchell, 14, of Mariner High School.
She picked up bronze medals in the K1 (solo) kayak at 500 meters and in the K4 (four-person) in the 500 at the 2016 Nationals in Oklahoma.
Mitchell got an early start in the sport at age 11.
“I wasn’t doing any sports,” she said. “My mom wanted me to go outside and be active. So we came here.”
Olympic kayak races are held at distances of 200, 500, and 1,000 meters.
Atia finished sixth in the K2 1,000-meter event and qualified for the national finals in the K1 500 meters.
Goetz explained how the four got to where they are. It began, simply enough, with paperwork.
“There was this form you have to fill out,” Goetz said. “You put down your max situps, pushups and pullups. Then they want your best times. Out of that you have to be placed on a team.
“The kids from last year at Nationals, the kids that got the most points, finishing 1-9 in the A finals, they went to the Olympic Hopes, which is in Hungary. Since none of us made it, we had a very likely chance of making a lower team.”
Which is how they wound up on the developmental team.
That squad doesn’t only include teenagers. There are developmental kayakers at the senior (over age 23) and under-23 levels in addison to the teenage divisions.
“They’re all pretty much self-motivated,” Parzynski said. “Everything they’ve done, they’ve done pretty much on their own.”
After all, it’s not like Parzynski can run alongside while his charges paddle their way through Lake Kennedy and the surrounding canals.
“You can coach someone, but you can’t teach that athletic spirit,” Parzynski said. “You do it on your own.”
American kayakers are at a slight disadvantage compared to European competitors. There are frequent kayak events in Europe throughout the summer, compared to just a handful of events each year in the U.S.
Even in the states competitions can be a long way from Southwest Florida.
The Cape Coral kayakers get something of a break this year. Georgia’s Lake Lanier, northeast of Atlanta and the site of the 1996 Olympic kayak venue, is holding this year’s team trials, one of the major events on the schedule. The Sunshine State Games are, as the name implies, held in Florida. The 2017 Nationals will be close to home this year in Clermont, 22 miles from Orlando.
There are also plans for a 2018 World Cup event in Sarasota. The majority of World Cup competitions are usually held in Europe. In 2018, however, a trip to the Nationals means a trip to the Pacific Northwest state of Washington.
As for the Olympic Games, Gervasoni said being ready for the 2020 Games in Tokyo is probably too soon. The next Games, in 2024, are a more likely target.
While a 2024 site has not been selected, Los Angeles has been thought to be a top contender.
When asked if they are ready to put in seven years of work to make it to the 2024 Games, the amount of time involved seemed to sink in for the first time. Nervous laughter from all four kids, and their coach as well.
Reality can get in the way of dreams, but Olympic dreams die hard.
They have a shot. Very few kayakers get this far – between three and 10 athletes were named to the U.S. developmental team in each age bracket.
Only time will tell if the four Cape teens will be able to balance kayaking and getting started on their lives, and go for the gold.