2022 Canada Games Team Feature

Leading up to the 2022 Canada Games, we are sharing stories about some of the people representing Team Ontario in the pool this summer

This may sound like the start of a fairy tale – but it’s not.

Once upon a time, a young girl heard her former swim coach talk openly about the opportunity and thrills that come with competing in a national showcase of sports talent - like the Canada Games.

That same girl recalled those words the other day when asked how she reacted to an e-mail sent to her family with news that she had, indeed, been chosen to swim for Ontario at the largest amateur multi-sport event in Canada.

Some eight years later, fiction became reality.

For Julie Brousseau, it was no dream or magic. It was the culmination of hard work, intense training, and a commitment to inch closer to perfection in a water sport – one in which she has already caught the attention of so many.

Yes, it was coach Jeremy Dumora, who had shared the Canada Games dream with Brousseau when she launched her aquatic sport experience. Back then, he was head coach at Swim Ottawa.

Now, at just 16 years old, Brousseau has placed herself among Canada’s elite across the breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley events. She proved it at the 2022 Canadian swim trials held in April in Victoria, B.C.

Finishing with multiple medals and crushing an assortment of club records, Brousseau had earned a spot on the Canadian contingent headed to one of the premier international swim events – the Junior Pan Pacific Games in Hawaii set for later this summer.

But first, in what may very well be a huge move in an ambitious future in swimming, the Ottawa native is focussed on an August trip to the Niagara Region. No, it’s not to see Niagara Falls, but for the excitement and glory of the 2022 Canada Games.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect (the invite),” said Brousseau in a telephone conversation. “I’ve always thought how cool it would be to compete with so many great swimmers from across the country.”

She had hinted that the past few years of delays and cancellations, caused by the coronavirus and omicron shutting down so much, may have worked in her favor. It allowed for additional time to improve physical fitness, gain strength, and get mentally focussed on a sport she adores.

The youngest of three siblings, Brousseau is a multi-sport athlete and academic honors student at Nepean High School. For an individual who liked playing in the water as a toddler, now her success is at the competitive level as a member of the Nepean Kanata Barracudas Swim Club and under the tutelage of coach Scott Faithfull.

“I was in a civics and careers class at school when I got a text from my mother with the news that I was picked (for the Canada Games),” added Brousseau, who admitted she kept her control in the classroom and didn’t let out an ecstatic scream. “I can remember being super happy. But I could just imagine how excited my mother was reading the message and then telling everyone.”

Over the years, Canada has done well in the pool, but could very well be looking at the emergence of another great swimmer. Call it a star in the making. Some who know the sport well, may go as far as to say that if you’re investing in the success of one swimmer over the next decade, Brousseau may very well be the one.

Committed and blessed with the physique of an enthusiastic and energetic athlete, Brousseau has the charisma and goal of perfection. Despite early success, her most productive years are still to come.

“Just before (the COVID pandemic), I could tell that my times were improving and I set a provincial age class record in the 50-metre breaststroke at a local meet in Gatineau,” said Brousseau, who may not have won her first ever race, but knew it would become an incentive to keep pushing for progress.

On any given day, Brousseau has a standard routine: home, school, swim, and train at the Nepean Sportsplex and back home again. Admitting that she’s in the pool nine times a week, averaging between five and six kilometres of practise swimming, those numbers could very well increase in leading up to a very competitive month of August.

As for the future, it may be too early for Brousseau to predict. However, there is always the thought of one day wearing Canada’s colors and competing at the Olympics. Outside of the pool, Brousseau is thinking about a career in medicine while still un-sure of post-secondary education in Canada or through a scholarship to the United States.

For now, the focus is on Canada’s Summer classic.

“To do my best, that’s it,” said Brousseau. “It’ll be a lot of fun, I’m lucky to have this experience and I’ll treat it as an inspiring opportunity to push harder for personal goals and improving my times.”

David Grossman is a veteran multi award-winning Journalist and Broadcaster with some of Canada’s major media, including the Toronto Star and SPORTSNET 590 THE FAN, and a Public Relations professional for 45+ years in Canadian sports and Government relations.