When she was in Grade 11, former Olds resident Danielle Lappage, an Olympic athlete and wrestler, had a career solidifying moment.
Lappage, who had been wrestling since Grade 6, attended a camp for nationally ranked female wrestlers in Ontario.
They were addressed by Daniel Igali, the first Canadian to win a wrestling gold medal.
One of the athletes asked him how he managed to put in all that time and effort striving to be an Olympic gold medallist when the chances of making that dream come true are so small.
"His answer was, 'you can't think of it like that,'" Lappage said as she addressed a crowd at the TransCanada Theatre March 24. "The improbable is not the impossible. Canada is going to pick four girls every Olympic cycle to go to the Olympic Games, so why can't it be you?"
"For me, it was that moment that changed my wrestling career," she said."Because it was at that moment that I realized that my dream was not just a childhood dream. It was something that I truly believed after that moment that I was going to achieve."
Lappage urged the crowd to take that same attitude in their lives.
"Think of something that you really want to achieve. Something that might seem off limits. A desire you've had for maybe a long time that you haven't achieved yet. You keep making excuses about it," she said. "Ask yourself: why not you? Is it impossible or is it simply improbable?"
Ever since Grade 6, Lappage has dreamed of being an Olympic athlete, and it finally came true when she qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
Unfortunately, she never got a chance to compete. She tore a hamstring during warm-up, making a move to her right that she'd done thousands of times before with no problem.
She remembers an assignment back in Grade 6.
"One of the questions was, 'who's most likely to go to the Olympics?' And they didn't choose me," she said, sparking loud laughter from the audience. "I chose myself and I remember being super offended. Just looking around, being like, 'I'm going to show these people; I'm going to go to the Olympics.'
"Little did I know at that time actually that wrestling -- women's wrestling -- wasn't even an Olympic sport," she added, sparking more laughter. "It didn't become an (Olympic) sport until 2004."
After Rio, Lappage became a coach back at Simon Fraser University, the place where she had wrestled for years.
But she decided she wanted to compete again -- and study law. So she enrolled in the University of Calgary.
She also qualified for the Commonwealth Games, which take place April 4-15 in Australia. She leaves April 6 and competes on April 13.
After that, Lappage may attempt to qualify for the world championships and Pan Am Games.
Will she try to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo?
Lappage, 27, is not sure yet.
But she's not ruling that idea out.
"I think I can do it, yeah," she said during an interview with the Albertan.
"It's just a matter of making the mental choice to do that and make that commitment. Because it's a lot of physical work, but it's also a lot of mental, emotional all-consuming, in all aspects of your life, if you make that decision. So, yeah, I'll decide after the Commonwealth Games if the next Olympics will be a realistic goal of mine."
Lappage admits she's still suffering from the hamstring injury. She told the audience that she tore one of three hamstring muscles.
"It's not back in place because it just kind of scar-tissued into the other muscle. So I'm still having trouble," she told the Albertan.
She admitted she can still feel the pain, "if I overuse it, especially. I can't really run properly."
Meanwhile, she's trying to find time to attend law school and study for exams.
But she perseveres.
"It's been a lot; it's been hard, because I literally have no life outside of those two things. I wake up and I work out. Then I go to school and then I go to practice. Then I come home and do reading. I do that every day. On the weekends, I work out and I do homework -- all weekend," she added with a slight laugh. "But in the summer, we don't have school, so it'll be nice to just be able to train -- focus on training for a bit."
Lappage says the U of C has been very supportive and has accommodated her schedule.
"I actually have to miss some of my finals for the Commonwealth Games, and they're allowing me to write them at a later date," she said.
Lappage says the support of Olds residents has buoyed her.
"When I lived here, I of course loved people, but didn't know the community very well. I was in high school. I was in a lot of sports and just lived a normal, teenage life, so I wasn't really involved in the community per se," she said.
"But since I've left -- especially comparing the town of Olds to other communities that my friends or teammates are from for example -- it's been incredible just to see that this is, like, the best place -- in my opinion, the best small community in the world.
"Every time they ask me to come back and talk, I'm like, 'really? You still want to hear what I have to say? Like, I'm not that cool.' But I'm always honoured to come and speak to the town and very flattered and very thankful that everybody still supports me."
