Boxing Canada wanted to quickly turn the page on Daniel Trépanier’s season

Met in his offices at Groupe Yvon Michel in Old Montreal, he seemed uncomfortable commenting on the events that led to the departure of the man who has been high performance director of the national federation since 2008.

Daniel, reviewing everything that had happened, considered that it would be better for him personally and for Boxing Canada, for the athletes, for the program, to resign. And we (the board of directors), we accepted his resignationhe said first.

Invited to explain why we came to this conclusion, Yvon Michel delights himself in recalling the observation reached by the management in the face of the many voices raised in front of the management of Daniel Trépanier.

” Because of reports or allegations, Boxing Canada took matters into their own hands and made the necessary changes. But at some point, you have to consider the structure to assess if it’s a good deal for him to move on. “

Without details, he cited several encounters that took place over the weekend. However, he indicated that Board members had rumors, on Saturday, of Trépanier’s intentions to leave.

If we trust the comments made by Yvon Michel, it is clear that Boxing Canada wants to open the page as quickly as possible to put in new managers to occupy the positions of high performance director and national coach separately.

At any time, during the interview he gave on Radio-Canada, was there any question of an internal or independent investigation that would allow a better understanding of what led the federation to the embarrassing situation being criticized of more than 230 boxers and trainers, present and past.

For a long time, Canada, between 1980 and 1997, we had many international medals. No. 1 we are in the Commonwealth Games. We have Olympic medals every time. Something happened that took us in a different direction, but I think now we have what it takes to raise the level and bring the (national) program back to the potential level of the athletes here.he said.

Limited power

Of course, questions remain about what allowed Daniel Trépanier to stay in office so long. Here, Yvon Michel underlined the limits of the intervention power of Boxing Canada’s board of directors vis-a-vis the management of the program intended for the elite.

The management office issues policies and regulations that people apply in the community. We have a general manager at Ryan Halpern. After that, it was left to the start of the people we put in place. All board members are volunteers.

” We receive reports regularly. But since most Board members are not technicians, they are only there to provide general guidelines on all Boxing Canada rules. “

When asked about Daniel Trépanier’s alleged methods and schemes and his impunity, Yvon Michel preferred to talk about the resigned’s good relationship with government decision-makers and the management of Own the Podium.

Because that would be the crux of the problem. From what has possibly learned in recent days, fears of losing Own the Podium’s $ 600,000 per year funding for the national team have been on the minds of some Board members in connection with Daniel Trépanier’s presence in the chair of high performance director.

We should take and leave most of what has been said in recent times. That is the past. What happened happened. We need to find a replacement for Daniel as high performance director. We don’t have a national coach, we have to looksaid Michael.

Canada first

To this end, it is important for him that recruitment be done right here in Canada, rather than turning to foreign expertise, as has happened in recent years.

We need to look within provincial associations at the people we think are capable of having an influence in the development of our programs.Michel insisted while indicating that this process will move forward quickly to select the perfect person in the shortest possible time.

Beyond the identity of Daniel Trépanier’s successor, Yvon Michel believes it is important to restore the confidence of all members of the national team by putting in place the best people possible, by supervising them and by of supporting them to bring everyone together towards a common goal. .

Among the requests expressed by the signatories to the letter sent by pugilists to Sports Canada and Minister Pascale St-Onge last week was a clear separation of powers between the high performance director and the national coach.

It is also part of the review report filed in 2014 by À nous le podium and for which Radio-Canada Sports obtained a copy.

It also addresses issues of leadership, management, transparency in the national team selection process, performance culture and apparent weaknesses in everything related to athlete coaching.

However, six years later, this report is sleeping and taking up dust somewhere on the shelves of Own the Podium and Boxing Canada.

Yvon Michel reiterated the importance of setting achievable goals so that each boxer can measure his or her progress and fully understand the path to be taken towards the fulfillment of his or her dreams as athletes, whether Olympic or otherwise.

” Essentially, we do this in professional boxing. When an athlete finishes a fight or a competition, he or she should know right away where he or she is going. You don’t have to ask yourself any questions. You need to know what you need to do, in a very, very clear way, to have access to the Olympic Games. “

We will make sure to have all this enthusiasm and all this knowledge so that athletes perform to the maximum of their abilities.

Initially scheduled for March at the Pierre-Charbonneau Center in Montreal, the Canadian Amateur Championships, which were canceled due to COVID-19, may be rescheduled this fall. Should we expect to see a visible change in their development?

Yvon Michel was quick to point out that there have been no championships in Canada in two years.

This is because of COVID and not because of malfeasance, by anyonesaid Michel, ignoring the passing of the alleged cases of favoritism filed by Daniel Trépanier.

It has to be done in every case and I don’t want to think about that anymore. I think we have good standards. Now it’s about having the right people to apply themhe concludes.