Even as CrossFit success came her way while still in her teens, Sudbury native Ambroise Stevens-Paquette recognized that this wasn’t necessarily a marriage made in heaven.
“I wasn’t always the typical CrossFit athlete body shape,” said the 18 year-old first year student at Cambrian College (Pre-Service Fire Fighting) with a smile. “I was a bit heavier and better at the Olympic lifting. The gymnastics and cardio did not come as naturally to me.”
Still, she garnered some notoriety locally, breaking through among the top 10% of the competitors who took part in regional CrossFit Worlds events, just 14 years of age at the time.
That is a testament to the fact that the world of CrossFit does offer a wide variety of key skill sets, including some that are more strength-based, as well as a testament to the resolve that Stevens-Paquette possesses when she sets her mind to a particular task at hand.
With just three months of in-depth training devoted primarily to Olympic weightlifting, the talented teen has served notice to the lifting community, both provincially and nationally, that she will likely be one to watch.
How else to explain that while still 18 months away from graduating from the junior ranks, Stevens-Paquette has already earned an invitation to represent Team Ontario at the Canadian Senior Open Weightlifting Championships in May. She is expected to also compete at the Canadian Junior Championships in Quebec later in the summer ... and not just compete.
“There is a huge upside to her and her potential,” said Sudbury Weightlifting Club head coach Alex Fera, a man who has seen his fair share of lifters come through the system dating back to his early days as a competitor in Coniston. He will not be the least bit surprised if she earns a medal at the junior ranks – not to mention the benefits of the incredible environment for learning that she will witness, competing with the very best in the country at the senior level.
“She’s a great young lady, very positive and easy to work with,” said Fera. “And she still has a year and a half at twenty and under. This experience (Senior Championships) will be good for her.”
Let’s be clear: the girl did not start from scratch.
Even as she made her way to the Bob Leclair Open in North Bay in 2019, before ever working with a weightlifting club specifically, even as she posted a video of completing a clean and jerk lift of just over 200 pounds, “just for fun”, as she termed it, she did so based on a foundation that was first laid via her first foray into true athletic competition.
“Congratulations to Sudbury CrossFit; her coaches there did a great job with her,” suggested Fera. “But Cross Fitters do tend to do some things differently than Olympic weightlifters. We dialed in on a few little things: changed her grip a little bit, changed a little how she lands, where she focuses her eyes.”
“We have new lifting boots for her which makes a huge difference in terms of stability.”
It’s been a lot to throw at the young woman who was a tad reluctant about expanding her boundaries to now go head to head with those whose only real focus is lifting.
“I had never considered myself as overly strong, but when we crunched the numbers, they told me I had a fair shot,” said Stevens-Paquette. “I thought maybe I should take a fair shot at it. It’s such an impressive sport. I didn’t realize that it was so technical.”
More than willing to put her faith in the hands of coach Fera, Stevens-Paquette echoed her mentor’s thoughts on the initial effects of the training. “For me, personally, I found that there was some fine-tuning,” she said. “Alex tweaked a few things, little things that I wouldn’t even think about, that I knew nothing about.”
All of which has led to a northern product skyrocketing up the charts in Ontario – and across the country.
“Three months later, I am going to the Canadian Senior Open Championships,” exclaimed Stevens-Paquette. “This is amazing. I never thought this would happen.”
