A Mission archery coach is aiming for the podium at the upcoming Paralympic Games in Paris.
Linda Price was the backup archery coach for both the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020, and again for the Paris Olympics earlier this month.
However, this time Price will take the lead.
The Starr Archery coach will be attending the 2024 Paris Paralympics as the head coach for Canada’s para archery team.
The team features Ontario’s Kyle Tremblay, a wheelchair athlete competing in the Compound Men's open category, who is the lone archer representing Canada.
“He's been training so hard to get to this point. I just admire his stamina and perseverance in getting the job done,” Price said.
She began working with the Paralympics program in 2021 and says it has been an amazing experience. Price is inspired by the work of the para-athletes, despite the barriers they face.
“It's a real eye opener of the challenges that those athletes meet on a day-to-day basis that we don't really think about. So I really admire that they push through those challenges and then are successful in what they're doing. It's really nice to see,” Price said.
It’s been a long wait for Paris since earning a spot in the Games last November in Chile, Price says.
“It seems like it has just taken forever and then all of a sudden it's here,” she said.
Preparations for Paris have included several international competitions in Dubai, Brazil and Czechia. During those competitions, Canada earned some bronze medals and progressed further in match play.
“It’s been lots of competition, getting used to a tighter competition environment and a deeper field of play,” Price said.
The Paralympic quota spot was earned over a two-year process that culminated with qualification at the Para Pan American Games in November 2023.
The dream for Price since she started coaching archery has been to make it to the Olympics. Achieving that goal has yet to sink in.
“It still seems unreal to me that I actually have this opportunity,” Price said.
Price says the experience coaching with Archery Canada has been wonderful. Attending international events and gaining experience has added more to her arsenal.
“You should never think that you're not learning. As a coach, you should always be learning,” she said.
Archers will be under the spotlight more at the Paralympics than other international competitions, but Price isn’t nervous.
“At all the international events, the beginning of the match play is just on a big field and there's lots of matches going on at the same time. But in this, every single match is its own match and its own finals venue. So it's got a little more hype to it. Well, that makes it more exciting,” Price said.
Price was in Paris prior to the Tokyo Paralympics for a different competition, but COVID restrictions were still in place and she didn’t get to see many sites.
Time will be short for tourism again this time around, with just one day of non-competition.
The competition begins on Aug. 29 at 8 a.m. PT with the Men's Individual Compound open ranking round while match play in the 1/16 round is scheduled to begin August 30 at 6:30 a.m. PT.
“Our goal is to move on to the final rounds of 1/8 to the final medal matches beginning on Sept. 1,” Price said.
