Interview with Darryl and Dale O’Brien

I know you have participated in Gymnastics, Archery and Slalom C2.
I’m going out on a limb now, but I guess it possible you have both had the most wide ranging success in so many activities as athletes than any other nationally top polo players I know of. How about you give us a run down of some of them.

Well, we have done a number of different activities,  but the first major sport activity was one to which almost every Canadian boy was exposed, that being ice hockey, which we played up into our second year of university.  Our hockey careers spanned 12 years.  At one point we were approached by a scout from a team in the farm system of a professional team, but we chose to continue with our university education.

We have done archery all our lives, but never really competitively.  We used to build all our own arrows and we have even made composite bows and the activity was primarily focused on hunting.

Gymnastics became our university activity after hockey which involved too much time away from our studies.  We could adapt our gymnastics training to suit our own schedule. Why gymnastics?  We, as kids, used to watch the American NCAA championships on TV, and although I always wanted to try it, the opportunity to do so did not happen until university, which had a gymnastics team.   We competed on the University of Alberta Gymnastics team for six years, through our university years, and basically retired from the sport after graduating.   Ten years later, we participated in a “masters” event for fun, and I (Darryl), severed my Achilles tendon in that competition. We have not done any gymnastics since then (this was about 1982).

Gymnastics actually led us to paddling, since several of the university gym team members were paddlers before we ever had any interest in this sport. However, an invitation to participate in a river trip led to us actually making a kayak for the trip, and that event perked our interest in paddling.  We started out in kayaks and soon got interested in competition. We attended our first nationals in 1973 (whitewater) and I went to my first worlds in K-1 wildwater in 1977 in Spittal, Austria.

In 1980 Dale and I decided we would try C-2 and in 1981 we qualified for the Canadian Team to race at Bala in slalom and wildwater. Following that, we competed at Merano’83, Augsburg’84, Bourg ’87, Savage ’89, Tacen ’91,  PreOlympics’91, plus numerous other international events including world cups all over the world.

It was in our whitewater competitions in England and Scotland that we were introduced to the concept of using canoe polo for conditioning in the winter.  We decided to introduce canoe polo to Canada in 1993.  This sport aroused many memories of our first team sport, ie. hockey and soon, for us became an activity unto itself. We decide to retire from whitewater competition in 1992 and focus on canoe polo.

Clearly you’ve been around forever – 55 this year is it ? How do you manage to keep it up ?

Actually, we haven’t “been around forever” in polo.  I would suppose that we are, in fact, still babes compared to your experience in the sport. Of course, we bring a lot of experience from other sports, and probably most importantly, our experience in gymnastics has given us a great advantage in kayak paddling in general.  The strength, power and flexibility from this sport allowed us to progress very rapidly in whitewater over a very short period of time.  This has carried over into polo. However, as you point our, we are now 56 years old, and it’s getting harder to play the game against players who are 30 years or more our junior.  We are still keen to play in the World Masters Games in Edmonton, Alberta Canada, our home, in 2005 and we invite all our polo friends (who are old enough) to join us.

There are actually very few polo players who have participated at all the Canoe Polo World Championship events so far since 1994. So what about Japan ?

We have thought about playing in Japan, because, we still greatly enjoy playing the game, but, canoe polo has progressed in Canada to the point where we have very good up and coming younger players.  To them, I think we will throw the torch for future worlds. There are other things on the horizon for canoe polo in Canada which will keep us busy.

The O’Brien influence in polo throughout Canada – and possibly some parts of North America have certainly promoted and increased participation of the sport. What made you decide to put so much of your time, money and effort into this given your other varied pursuits ?

That is an interesting question for me, because I hadn’t actually thought about it. However on reflection, it is clear in my mind that one of the main reasons is the enjoyment derived from playing the game itself.  But mere participation is not the only enjoyment for us.  We have always loved designing and building things and so, designing polo boats and other equipment for the sport, adds to our interest in this activity. 

We have also quite actively promoted the sport because of our feeling that it is a superb activity through which to develop kayaking skills.  If one looks at the skill of international caliber canoe polo players, there is no question that they exhibit excellent paddling technique to highest level in addition to all the other skills that are associated with the sport.  We have successfully used canoe polo activity to teach kayaking skills to beginners for several years in our paddling club. 

Certainly in the summer, we always get in a few whitewater trips, and the odd sea kayaking trip as well (to the great inland “seas” of Canada).   Lately we have hatched the idea to combine a ski trip with a canoe polo tournament.  So if you have a team of members that like to ski as well as play polo, then join us at the “Cup of the North” in February 7- 8 2004.  Activities like this allow us to link some of our non-paddling activities with our paddling.  Paddling remains, for the time being, the dominating activity.

OBECO is your hobby business which produces so many of the seemingly indestructible polo kayaks in Canada. Does demand still far out strip supply ?

OBECO is a hobby business by definition, because we both have other careers, but that is where the “hobby” part ends.  In fact OBECO is quite consuming and takes a large part of our time.   When someone orders a boat or other equipment, it becomes a priority to meet the delivery date that we have stated.  We have always been able to meet the demand, even when, on a few occasions, we have had over a dozen boats ordered at one time.  We believe that we are fulfilling a definitive niche in Canada and North America being the only manufacturer of canoe polo kayaks in this area.  This has certainly helped us to develop the sport in Alberta and to promote it wherever we can.

Both being Doctors (Dale, an ER physician and Darryl in the Pulmonary Research group in the University of Alberta), how do you manage, since polo is so consuming in both time and expense ?

Dale’s job as an ER doctor is intense at the best of times.  However, the upside is that it is not a 9 to 5 job five days a week with the result that he does have more time than a 9 to 5’er to do other things.  In addition to OBECO, this includes many hours spent teaching and promoting kayaking to young kids through various activities including club lessons, school programs and instructional clinics.

My job as medical scientist is more regular, but if the need be, I can negotiate time off or combine travel with attendance at conferences which sometimes may coincide with a major polo event. Just as an example, after the Worlds in Essen last year, I was able to attend a conference in Stockholm and present some of the research from our lab at this major European conference.  Had the two events not occurred at a similar time, I would not have attended this conference.   

Darryl, with your wife Rosemarie and two girls Catherine and Kristina (as well as Twin brother Dale of course), does it bother you being referred to as team O’Brien whenever people see you all ?

Actually, it doesn’t really bother me.  In fact, it’s kind of neat to be able to participate in this activity with my wife and daughters as well as brother, Dale.  Usually though, when we play in tournaments in which we have mixed teams, we end up playing on different teams to balance the teams out.  It’s been quite fun, on a couple of occasions to play as a “family team”.  I look upon it as a great privilege in my lifetime to have played with my whole family, wife, daughters and brother on Canadian National Teams at the World Championships.

With your home club EWP having put in a bid for the 2008 World Champs, how do you think that will compare to other events so far ?

We have organized a lot of canoe polo events and in most cases, they have run rather well.  The worlds are certainly a task of a new order of magnitude.  We have the World Masters Games in Edmonton in 2005. That event which includes canoe polo will be the first major canoe polo event that will help us prepare for the Worlds in 2008.

So, with hosting the World Masters Canoe Polo competitions in 2005, will you be playing and organizing ? and who is the event open to ?

The World Masters Games is the largest games in the world, with over 25,000 participants in 15 or so sports.  We think it is a great opportunity to have canoe polo in these games and we would encourage all polo players to consider participating in the two age classes, ie over 30 and over 45.  The teams may be mixed, but there may be a separation with regard to recreational team’s vs competitive teams. The criteria is not set for this yet.  Our club, the Edmonton Whitewater Paddlers will be organizing the canoe polo event and Dale and I, in addition to helping to organize the event, we also hope to be able to play.

What do you guys do over there in the winter with the temperature being so cold ?

It does get pretty cold sometimes during the winter, sometimes going to –30 degrees C. But the great thing about Edmonton in the winter is the bright blue skies. Which predominate the winter even when it’s cold.  For the most part, we only get a couple of really cold days in the whole winter. The snow is very fluffy and great for cross country or downhill skiing and of course, we are only 3 hours from the Rocky Mountains and great downhill skiing on a world class ski area.   In regard to polo, we have great indoor pools in Edmonton. Our main venue the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre has a huge 50m, 10 lane wide pool which we rent twice a week. We also rent another 50 m pool, six lanes wide for a third day of pool paddling every week. Various competitions are staged at least once a month during the winter.  We are planning an international event on Feb 7 and 8, again this year combined with a ski trip.  We encourage European teams to participate.

Roughly how many people are playing in Canada in the various classes?

In our nationals we have over the last couple of years, around 30 or so teams.  This includes an open division, a women’s division, a club A (which is mixed) as is the Club B division, which is composed of “recreational players”.  Below that, we also have a youth division which includes under 16 year olds.

What kind of structure is there for the sport Nationally in Canada?

The Canadian Canoe Association is the sport governing body of paddling (sprint, whitewater and marathon) in Canada.  Canoe Polo as a governing committee is under Whitewater Canada which also includes slalom and wildwater.   Canoe polo finds itself in this position mostly due to our previous involvement with whitewater activities. Nationally the sport is governed by a Canoe Polo Committee which is concerned with the participation of the national team in events, with developing a schedule of events for the year. National training camps and selections events are organized by this Committee. Development of new players takes place in the clubs and at the provincial level where events are focused on youth and recreational participation.  We also have a higher level league in the winter season which is open to club teams made up of the best players from each club.

How often do you have National training camps ?

Canada is a big country, but for the time being, canoe polo is focused in the western provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Sask. All of the National Team members come from these areas.

In a world championship year, we would try to have at least two development camps and invite all potential players to attend. These camps would not be mandatory and would be self-funded. Following selections two mandatory camps have been held and costs have been pooled so that participants coming from farther away are equalized so that everyone more or less pays the same. We have also, when possible, organized a tour prior to the worlds so that the teams can gain experience by attending one or two tournaments before actually competing in the worlds.

You’ve had various “outsider” coaches there for the National teams over the years. How important do you think it is to get that outside influence ?

The development of the sport has benefited greatly by the outside coaches that we have had.  However, as we get experienced, it is important that we develop our own coaches and a progressive program that will allow for the development of coaches for all levels of our competitions.

Where do you think Canada will be in 5 years from now ?

The performance of Canadian teams has been improving over the past several worlds and while this may not be evident from the placing in the last worlds, most of the games that our teams played were good games with close scores. I believe the level of the sport will continue to rise with the result that while Canada may well be competitive in the top twelve teams in the world by 2008.

~ Mainly answered by Darryl, with input from Dale ~

©1st November 2003