Nineteen-year-old Taylor Henrich became the first Canadian woman to win a medal at a Women's World Cup ski jumping event – but that might never have happened without the support from one Alberta brokerage.
“Right now, from what we understand, there has been no support from the government (the Own The Podium program),” says Rosetta Bilodeau, vice president, business development, insurer relations and communications, Rogers Insurance, Calgary, Alta. “They have a certain amount of money budgeted, allocated to where their best opportunities to win a medal would be – and Ski Jumping Canada didn’t know if there was any potential there; so Ottawa didn’t give them any money.”
That decision not to fund had many athletes – including the two athletes that Rogers insurance eventually sponsored, Henrich and Matthew Rowley – who had intended to go to South Korea in four years start to think about quitting.
“They didn’t have the funding to continue the training, and be able to live and work,” says Bilodeau. “It’s opened up my eyes to what these kids go through.”
In order to go to the Olympics and be competitive, it is important for Canadian athletes to go to all of the little competitions to make sure they are developing where they need to develop, and know who their competition is, Bilodeau told
Insurance Business.
“It’s been an interesting ride.”
In Henrich’s case, her placing third in the normal hill competition in Oberstdorf, Germany is a vindication of Rogers’ faith and four-year financial commitment to both her and Rowley – especially when you consider that Henrich has made history by being the first Canadian woman to win a medal at a Women's World Cup ski jumping event.
“She wouldn’t have been able to go to this competition had we not jumped in and helped her out by giving her some money,” says Bilodeau. “Both Henrich and Rowley are showing how they can ‘own the podium,’ and hopefully the funding will come from the government after that.”
For Rowley, he’s also been given another opportunity to do more than just medal at the Olympics – a chance to shine in the insurance world. (continued.)
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“Actually, we’ve just hired Matthew,” she says. “He’s interested in insurance as well, and he is on the life and benefits side. He was interested in a job and we said, ‘Hey, why not! We’ll give you a job.’”
Look for the article on Matthew Rowley in an upcoming Canadian Life newsletter.
The interest in sponsoring young Canadian athletes came about from the relationship Rogers has with
Aviva Canada; specifically, Tom Reid.
“He is the senior vice president out west here, and he is involved quite heavily with Ski Jumping Canada,” says Bilodeau. “He is the president of Ski Jumping Canada this year. So we all sat down – Bruce Rabik and Sharif Gemayel – and discussed whether we would be willing to become a sponsor. Based on the fact we had a great relationship with Tim, and we are very community focused, we thought it was a good opportunity for us to give back.”
Both Rowley and Henrich are from the Calgary area.
The sponsorships amount to roughly $10,000 per athlete per year, and is spent at the discretion of the athlete – be it in training, travel, and/or meals.
Bilodeau says that Rogers will be participating in the nationals that will take place at the end of March, and anticipates bringing along some of the brokerage’s more affluent clients, so that they can get a better perspective on what their involvement with the athletes involves.
But the real benefit of sponsorship comes from getting to know Canada’s future athletes.
“They are great kids – and I say kids because they are really still children,” says Bilodeau, of the 19- and 21-year-olds. “The world of ski jumping is akin to hockey in this country over in Europe. They both raised eyebrows in Germany during the competition. If we could train the way the Europeans train, imagine what the potential could be.”
