Trinity Shadd-Ceres is one of Canada’s top young track and field athletes, and arguably one of Team Ontario’s busiest at the Canada Summer Games.

But track is only half of the 15-year-old’s athletic repertoire. While one of her goals is to eventually own the Canadian long jump record, she’s also an accomplished volleyball player who dreams of one day playing for Canada at the Olympics.

“Right now my options are open,” she said. “I’m leaning more towards volleyball and doing track as my off-season (sport) because it’s really good cross-training, track helps volleyball.”

Shadd-Ceres captured three gold medals in a spectacular OFSAA (Ontario high school) debut in June, winning the 100 metres, 200 and long jump.

She’s competing in the long jump, 100 and 4×100 relay for Ontario at the Canada Games in southern Ontario’s Niagara Region, where track and field is one of the highlights of Week 2.

Shadd-Ceres originally hoped to play volleyball at the Games, but chose to focus on track this summer in hopes of competing at the recent world U20 championships in Cali, Colombia. She eventually was told she was too young for that team.

Despite her excellent results on the track, Shadd-Ceres said her heart is truly in volleyball.

“It’s a team sport,” she said. “You have to do your part of it, but there’s less pressure I guess. I’m very much like an overthinker and a perfectionist at track. If I mess up once, it’s just on myself. When I mess up in volleyball, like it’s my fault, but it’s not like all the pressure’s just on me.”

In volleyball, there are “so many opportunities” in a game to make up for a missed play.

Shadd-Ceres grew up in a family of athletes. Her mom Crystal Shadd was a two-sport NCAA athlete in track and volleyball, specializing in triple jump. Her uncle Kenen Shadd was also an NCAA triple jumper.

“My mom was a professional athlete so she knows what she’s doing training-wise, so I would get my workouts from her. Volleyball I would go to the park and my work on my passing or my hitting. Track, when we actually were allowed to practise, were practising in fields.”

Despite her young age, Shadd-Ceres was the top qualifier in the women’s long jump on Tuesday at Canada Games Park at Brock University. Her jump of 6.10 metres was just shy of the Canada Games record of 6.19 set by Sandra Latrace in 2017.

  Track and Field