YORKTON - Trinidad and Tobago is an island country in the Caribbean, consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago and numerous smaller islands.
It is situated a few kilometres off the coast of northeastern Venezuela.
And, it certainly is not the first place one thinks of when the sport of bobsledding is being discussed.
But, Trinidad and Tobago does have a bobsled team, and it is a team which now has a connection to Saskatchewan – also not a locale known for its bobsledding.
Akenke Oliver, is a Business diploma student specializing in sport management at Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Moose Jaw Campus.
Oliver also happens to the first female bobsled pilot athlete from Trinidad and Tobago.
Oliver told Yorkton This Week she saw where her country was looking for bobsledders.
“I saw my country was recruiting female bobsled athletes. . .That really caught my eye,” she said.
Of course Oliver has always been an athlete with interest in a range of sports, gymnastics, track and netball among them.
“I’ve dabbled in a number of sports,” she said.
Finding places to play netball in Saskatchewan was a challenge, but being in Canada did put her in a great place to try bobsledding.
Oliver said her varied sport background certainly helped her in terms of being physically in shape, and having some of the core elements needed to bobsled.
Of course, there is the part about jumping into a sled and heading down an ice chute as quickly as possible, which seems rather dangerous.
Oliver said that really was never in her mind.
“I never put fear into anything,” she said, adding she simply felt bobsledding “would be something I could be good at.”
So Oliver took the icy plunge competing in the mono-bobsled category she joined the Trinidad and Tobago bobsled team in June, and has been training in Regina ever since.
In January, she flew to Austria to prepare for the IBSF Europa Cup race, marking her first in-person training experience with her teammates and an actual bobsled.
“It was such an exhilarating experience,” said Oliver adding once that initial run was complete her only thought was “let’s do that again.”
Oliver said even getting used to winter, the season in which bobsledding exists was new, suggesting being in Saskatchewan in winter is “a unique experience . . . an eye opening experience.”
Now Oliver looks forward to helping grow bobsledding in Trinidad and Tobago where she said there is already interest.
“Our country is definitely excited to see winter sports grow for us,” she said.
As the first female participant Oliver realizes other women in her country will be following her efforts closely. She said she appreciates she has “the opportunity to pioneer the sport,” adding she said it’s always positive when athletes like herself “help increase awareness in sport.”
