Greg Cowan Celebrates Canadian Sports and Athletes with the Latest Entry in the Canada's Teams Series

The history of Canadian sport is full of rich and exhilarating stories, both of teams and individual athletes that have strived for greatness and inspired generations of young people to participate in sport or support those that do. Some of the tales spun around our best athletes and teams have wound their way into popular culture and the social fabric of the country, and deserve to be told and retold. 

As part of the ongoing Canada's Teams series from Beech Street Books/Saunders Book Company, author and journalist Greg Cowan has written Hockey. The sport is often tied to impressions of Canada on a local and global scale, but it is the athletes and their efforts that truly draw the reader in. Cowan adds to this series with enthusiasm in this new book, using the topic as a way to inform and inspire young readers, and to bring them together around our national athletes.

Check out this True Story Nonfiction interview with the author right here on Open Book!

Greg Cowan:

Tell us about your new book and how it came to be. What made you passionate about the subject matter you're exploring?

Open Book: 

I've been interested in writing sports books for some time now, but I report on sports nearly every day as part of my career so it seemed a bit like a mechanic working on the family car when they get home — something that inevitably gets put off. Then, the Canada's Teams idea came along and I thought it would be both an interesting and informative place to start. I've been enamoured with sports, especially team sports, for as long as I can remember and have always followed Canadians and Canada's teams closely at international events. I was excited to dive into some research and tried to think about what I'd like to know about the Canadians I watched as a 10-year-old competing on the international stage.

GC:

Is there a question that is central to your book? And if so, is it the same question you were thinking about when you started writing or did it change during the writing process?

OB: 

I imagined a young person reading these books about incredible athletes representing their country under some of the brightest lights imaginable and asking themselves "How do I get there?" The books are about Canada's teams, the history and the accomplishments, but I wanted to highlight the stories of the players and athletes and try to chart their path from small towns and big cities to Team Canada. What does it take? Is it different for everybody? Is it attainable? What should I work on? All of those questions.  

GC:

What was your research process like for this book? Did you encounter anything unexpected while you were researching?

OB:

I read a lot. A lot of old articles, digging through team websites, looking up statistics and trying to get a handle on the wealth of information that is out there and distilling it into about 3,500 words. Not that it was unexpected, but I enjoyed learning about the backstories of some of Canada's greatest athletes. Some come from tiny little villages in Quebec or rural farming towns in Saskatchewan. It highlights the fact it doesn't matter where you're born or how you start, the common thread with all of these super-athletes is sacrifice and determination. 

GC:

What do you need in order to write – in terms of space, food, rituals, writing instruments?

OB:

I'm lucky enough to have the ability to block out the world and write from anywhere. In my job as a newspaper reporter, I've often written hundreds of words on a tight deadline in the most unusual circumstances. I once wrote a game story on the team bench after the final buzzer because it's the only place I could get the wireless internet to work. I've written in crowded arenas and deafening little music venues. I once filed a story from the top of a mountain— and avoided frostbite. 

GC:

Did you write this book in the order it appears for readers? If not, how did it come together during the writing process?

OB:

No. I found it helpful to write the player profiles and collect the information for the "trophy case" section first. I think writing those sections first gave me a good overview of the people who make up Canada's Teams and the success they've had, and then after I had the "who" and "what" I could start mining for more context and depth in the details. 

GC:

What do you do if you're feeling discouraged during the writing process? Do you have a method of coping with the difficult points in your projects?

OB:

Take a break, but set a time to get back at the task and set yourself up with a starting point. Don't just stop without a plan. I find a walk helps organize thoughts. 

I also find stream-of-consciousness writing helps. That's to say, I don't worry about what I'm writing, how I'm writing it, or if it will end up as part of the finished product, I just write and get words down on the page. That often helps to get me started and then I can whittle it down, or scrap it and start again with some momentum. 

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Greg Cowan is a print-media journalist and sports reporter who has worked in both Alberta and Ontario covering a wide array of sports from rodeo to racquetball. When he’s not watching and writing about sports he sometimes tries to play them. He lives with his family in Meaford, Ont.