Meet the Sudbury nordic ski coach who trained 2 Paralympians

As Canada's team prepares to return from the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, Sudbury's Patti Kitler is celebrating the successes of some athletes she helped reach the international stage.

Kitler founded Laurentian Nordic Ski Club's para nordic ski program in 2006. Two of the athletes she's trained are Beijing 2022 Team Canada Paralympians: Collin Cameron and Christina Picton.

Coaching is a calling, said Kitler, who has trained athletes and built sport clubs since 1982, mostly with Olympic-stream athletes. She began working with para athletes in the early 2000s.

"I get emotional because all those athletes are performing at their best, and just seeing their quality of effort, 110 per cent, is just amazing," Kitler said.

She has coached a half-dozen para athletes to the World Juniors and helped many more reach regional, provincial and national competitions.

Deep connections with athletes

Kitler's coaching legacy in Sudbury began with Tanya Quesnel. Quesnel was one of the first para nordic skiers Kitler worked with in Sudbury, and her tutelage helped Quesnel reach three Canada Winter Games, along with international competitions.

Quesnel said skiing has changed her life but Kitler's guidance has had an even greater impact, both for competition and in her personal life. Kitler and Quesnel, now good friends, continue to ski together.

"She's very dedicated to her athletes and she'll find different strategies to make it work," Quesnel said.

Sudbury's Kivi Park is the location of choice for Kitler. She said the park is accessible and has supportive management that support the para athletes.

A Paralympian enters

Growing up in Thunder Bay, Kitler did not start nordic skiing until she was 25. She moved to Sudbury in 2000 and continued to coach Olympic-stream athletes in her new city, despite an attempted retirement.

In the mid-2000s, she began working with para athletes before trying to retire again in 2014. 

In 2015, however, while serving as chair of the Sudbury Accessible Sports Council, she connected with Cameron. Kitler saw his potential almost immediately and worked quickly to get him Paralympic-ready.

"He only had three years to make the Paralympics in 2018. And so I fast forwarded," she said.

Watching Cameron and Picton at this year's games is a humbling experience, said Kitler.

The athletes don't train directly with her anymore. Her role is mainly to develop their fundamentals, confidence and comfort levels, and ensure that the national Paralympic team notices them.

In the case of Cameron, she brought him to a training camp in Canmore, Alta., then urged him to apply for a passport immediately. It arrived the day before he was set to leave for a competition in Vermont, with European trials following shortly thereafter.

Continuing a legacy

Kitler is still coaching para skiers in Sudbury up to five days per week, with help from a couple of coaches. Now, nearing age 70, she's looking to try retiring for the third time. Finding others to take up the work, however, is proving to be a challenge.

"Everyone I've asked, they have kids of their own, right, and they're skiers. So their plates are full," she said.

She said para coaching is less about mastering a specific sport than it is about helping people learn the strengths and weaknesses of their body, then training to get the best results from it.

Cameron, for instance, was a para ice hockey player before he tried skiing, and now has Paralympic nordic ski medals to his name.

"You don't have to be proficient in everything to work with the athlete. You just need to understand the passion you can develop in them," Kitler said. 

For now, Kitler has to send her congratulations to Cameron through online chat messages. Some day after his return from Beijing, they'll be back on the trails together, sharing their best stories from games past.