The experience of a lifetime for Kassandra Reaume was competing for Canada at the ICF Canoe Polo World Championships.
Reaume, who turned 15 the day Canada left for worlds on Sept. 16, was the second-youngest paddler on the national U21 women’s team in Thury-Harcourt, France.
“It was awesome to play for Canada and I’m going to do it again,” said the confident Grade 10 Morinville Community High School student. “My goal is to stay on my current team and get better and train more and get some more experience and prepare for (worlds in) London in 2016.”
A youthful 10-player Canadian lineup finished 0-9 for eighth place out of eight countries. In the round robin, Canada scored 11 goals and allowed 92 against in seven games.
In the classifying five-to-eight phase at worlds, Canada lost 14-1 to Poland and 5-4 to Singapore.
“We went into this year as more of a development team to get better and get more experience for London and hopefully we place higher and actually be more of a big competitor to the European teams. The European teams are more developed and everyone there plays canoe polo,” Reaume said.
After losing to Germany (7-1-1) in the opening game the Canadians grew stronger as the tournament progressed. ). Germany went on to be the world champions after a 5-3 win over France (8-1).
“I thought we played really well, especially since it was such a young team,” Reaume said. “We got better with each game and the goal difference went down each game and we developed more as a team. Playing those teams with that experience we were just learning constantly. You have to play together as a team to win over there. Even if you lose but you played really well as a team it feels almost like a win.”
Reaume and her teammates have a greater understanding of what to expect at the 2016 worlds.
“You can’t train to win if you really don’t know what your opponents are all about. It’s really hard to get gold and not have any experience playing teams from other countries so you have to know what they’re about and train hard so you know what you’re up against.”
This is Reaume’s fourth year in canoe polo, often described as a mixture of water polo, basketball and kayaking played in swimming pools or any stretch of flat water.
Canoe polo combines canoeing and ball handling skills within a contact team game. Tactics and positional play are on par with the speed and fitness of the athletes.
The canoes are specifically designed for the sport and are faster and lighter than a typical kayak for greater maneuverability. Paddles are lightweight with pulling power and ball control in mind. Nose and tail boat bumpers, body protection, helmets and faceguards are mandatory.
Games consist of two 10-minute periods with a shot clock.
“There are two goalies and offensive and defensive players. The point of the game is to get the most goals,” Reaume said. “Canoe polo is a fun, aggressive team sport. I like that it’s aggressive, I like the competition and I really like playing on a team and being able to work together. I also like to get goals, too.”
The ball can be thrown by hand or flicked with the paddle into a net, suspended two metres above the water.
Reaume scored twice at worlds, both by hand, against Singapore (2-6-1).
Her position on the water was sprinter.
“At the beginning of the game the ball is thrown into the middle and a person from each team sprints for the ball.”
Paddlers also have to be fit in order to excel on the world stage.
“It’s pretty much all your body so your fitness has to be really good, especially cardio and strength,” Reaume said. “Upper body strength is crucial but you also actually use your legs a lot too for bracing and rolling your hips.”
Reaume averages between two and three two-hour paddling sessions per week at the Rundle Park Paddling Centre. Her regime also includes a demanding dryland training schedule of running and endurance weight training.
“You have to put in the time,” she said. “Training more and getting better fitness is really what it’s about and it’s not just training with your team but personally knowing you have to be committed to train yourself, too.”
Reaume didn’t know what canoe polo was until she saw the sport for the first time.
“My dad actually wanted to do whitewater kayaking so he found a club called the Edmonton Whitewater Paddlers but they do a lot of canoe polo. He took my sisters and I out to try it and at first we were just kind of scared and shy. We didn’t really know what to do but eventually we started to learn the game and I started to like the game a lot more so I went from there,” said the three-time national participant who competed in the U21 and club divisions this year.
Grant money from Morinville town council and numerous sponsors helped Reaume achieve her goal of playing for Canada at worlds.
“I’m very thankful,” said the multiple medal winner in kayaking at the 2012 Alberta Summer Games.
