Since high school, Trennt Michaud has had two goals that usually don’t share the same timeline: representing Canada at the Olympic Games and earning a university degree.
But this February, as the 29-year-old Social Sciences student prepares to lace up his skates for his first Olympics, he’ll also be cheered on by the McMaster community that he’s proud to be part of.
The Olympic dream
The exact moment Michaud knew he was going to the Olympics was caught on video.
It was when he and his pairs skating partner Lia Pereira won their first national pairs title at the Skate Canada National Championships in Gatineau. After their win was announced, the usual fist pumps and hugs were followed by the realization that they’d done enough to reach the Olympics.
“That’s where I think you can see me crying,” said Michaud. “I was thinking, ‘We did it!’ Between winning, skating well and knowing we had done enough to make the Olympics, that’s where it hit home.”
And when Michaud arrives in Milan, he’ll do so both as a member of the Canadian Olympic team and as a proud Marauder.
The academic dream
Michaud always wanted to study at McMaster, but under the combined demands of elite skating, work and study, something had to shift.
“I had to take a 10-year break after high school because I needed to work so much to help fund my skating career,” he said. “Realistically, I knew that in order to do justice to my skating and my studies, one of the three things had to be parked, or they all would have sucked.”
Michaud reluctantly put aside his academic dream to focus on skating, but he never gave up on it.
And that’s where Game Plan came in. The athlete support network works with the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees and Sport Canada to help athletes lead successful lives outside elite sport.
“I had talked to my Game Plan advisor who had contacts at McMaster and a few other schools,” said Michaud.
Michaud’s advisor guided him through the enrolment process, working out how he might tailor his course load to navigate both dreams at once.
There isn’t video out there of Michaud reading his acceptance letter, but suffice to say it was another hard-earned milestone for a dream he’d been chasing for a decade.
Living the dream
Michaud, who started at McMaster a few years ago, has had to manage his course load carefully, taking fewer classes per term than his classmates. His biggest surprise? He actually misses studying when he doesn’t have classes.
“Right now, I’m a little sad because I didn’t register for any courses for this semester,” he said. “We were gone with nationals for all of February. We have Worlds in March. I knew it wouldn’t have been a good idea to take classes, but I’ve really missed my philosophy class!”
Michaud avoids online classes, instead choosing classes that let him soak up the atmosphere on campus.
“Even years into my time at Mac, I still love walking to class,” he said. “I love going to school here and I love campus. It definitely makes the process of going to lectures and studying for exams easier!”
And studying helps him deal with the demands of elite skating, Michaud says.
“It gives me something completely outside of skating that I can still use my brain for,” he said. “And also helps me with skating by letting me take my mind off of it.”