Being recognized as one of Canada's top up-and-coming field hockey players requires more than just slick stick skills these days.
South Delta secondary graduate Andrew Kanerva is training six times a week as a member of both the junior and senior national teams. He does this while living on his own in Tsawwassen and holding down a summer job with a catering company. He returns to university in September at UBC's School of Kinesiology.
That is an immense load and responsibility for any 18-year-old but the aftermath of funding cuts to Field Hockey Canada's national team men's programs means Kanerva has to do even more.
The athlete levy has been set at $1,500 per player to help cover program costs including Canada participating at the World Junior Cup in December in New Dehli.
The shortage of funds has already resulted in the juniors taking a different approach to their preparations with no traveling for international friendlies or tournaments leading up to the trip to India.
"Apparently about $900,000 was cut in funding," explained Kanerva who is one of Canada's youngest players in the senior national training pool and made his debut with the junior team three years ago. "We will be playing local teams and in club tournaments to try and stay sharp."
Like his teammates, Kanerva has launched his own fundraising campaign to reach the goal. He has done this through the Chimp Canadian charity website and now has his own personal page up and running https: //chimp.net/groups/ andrew-kanerva-s-junior-national-support. Donations come with an instant tax recipient.
"The senior squad has been doing fundraising for quite some time now and they are currently using the same online site," added Kanerva. "We have only just started to fundraise and we are just coming up with event ideas now."
Short corners... Kanerva isn't the only player from Tsawwassen headed to the Junior World Cup. Sara McManus has been named to the women's team which will be competing in Monchengladbach, Germany from July 27 to Aug. 4.
The team contains no fewer then 12 players that have already gained senior caps of which 10 are currently touring with the Canadian senior team in Ireland, including McManus. She scored off a penalty corner in Canada's 3-2 win to open the series last Saturday. Ireland took game two and the teams played to a 4-4 draw on Wednesday.
