Spokesperson and ambassadors

Patrice Bernier is the former captain of the Montreal Impact and is now a trainer at the academy.

He led the team to the CONCACAF Champions League finale and to an Eastern Conference finale against Toronto FC.

Find out more.

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Jacqueline Simoneau participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics in artistic swimming. She also qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games. She is the first Canadian to win 4 consecutive gold medals for Canada at the Pan American Games! Very resilient, she has won close to 100 medals for Canada on the world stage despite being diagnosed with celiac disease at age 9.

In addition to her studies and training, Simoneau also gives back to the community by working closely with the Make A Wish Foundation, Celiac Quebec and Fast and Female!

Achraf Tadili is an Olympic athlete and has held the Quebec record in the 800m since 2003. He was a member of the Canadian team for 10 years (1999 to 2009), including 3 World Championships (Paris – Helsinki – Osaka) and 2 Olympic Games (Athens – Beijing). He was Pan-American Champion in 2003 and vice-champion in the 800m at the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2006, as well as 3 times Canadian Champion. Achraf is currently coaching at the Vainqueur Plus club, having coached several QC champion athletes. In addition, he is a Jouez Gagnant speaker to inspire the youth of tomorrow.

Maude Roy discovered Ultimate Frisbee at the age of 15 during her time in high school.

She then made her competitive debut in mixed teams in Montreal and played in the Canadian junior league with the Montreal women’s team and the Quebec team.

This summer, she is part of the best team in Quebec for her 2nd year and will participate in the World Ultimate Club Championship that will be held this July in Cincinnati, USA.

She also participated in the Canadian university league with the McGill University team.

The spirit of the game is so important to her and makes her sport unique, especially with her self-refereeing. In fact, both teams she played with in 2021 (Team Quebec and McGill University) won the Team Spirit award in their respective Canadian leagues.

“I care about making a positive impact through skateboarding.”   

Born in Montreal, Jessy Jean-Bart discovered his passion for skateboarding at a young age. As a teenager, he honed his craft, eventually gaining international recognition from renowned magazines such as; Thrasher, Sugar Skate and Low Card among others. Currently, Jessy works with over ten sponsors such as Vans, Outlaw skateshop, Baker Boys Distribution and represents them all over the world.   

In his spare time, you can find him leading skateboarding demos and seminars, or participating in sport-study clinics at international schools. As part of the collective “Vivace, un mode de vie sans tabac”, funded by the Conseil québécois du tabac et de la santé, he promotes a smoke-free lifestyle at events throughout Quebec and the world.  Living both vegan and sober, Jessy walks it like he talks it.

Nadianie Ouaqouaq-Bergeron, Montreal native, she began to pratice her sport at the age of 7. She evolved at differents levels of competition during her 20 years career, she also win a gold medal at the Canada Games in 2015, participeted at the Pan American games in 2016, and travelled all aournd the world for international competitions and training camps.

More recently, she completed a university career of 4 years, which ended with a victory of the feminine team of UQAM at provincial championships.

Now retired, Nadianie keeps praticing her sport with as much as pleasure as before, and to give as much as she can for the Quebec succession to be strong.

Maximilien Van Haaster has always wanted to be a world class athlete and represent Canada on the international stage. In 2013, he stood on his first individual podium, winning the bronze medal in foil at the Pan American Championships. At the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, he finished fifth in both the individual and team foil events. Van Haaster made his Olympic debut in Rio in 2016 and won his first dual. Van Haaster concluded the 2018-2019 season ranked 22nd in the world, greatly influenced by a silver medal at the Pan American Championships and a 16th place finish at the FIE World Championships.

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sørensenj have been skating together since 2012 and have represented Denmark internationally, on the Senior Grand Prix circuit as well as at multiple World Championships where they qualified for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games. Due to citizenship issues, they were unable to participate. For this reason, they chose to skate for Canada in 2018. They proudly represented the country by placing 9th at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, as well as the lastest World Championships in France. This season, they won a gold medal at the Japan Grand Prix (2022) and two silver medals a the 4 Continents (2023) Championships and France Grand Prix (2022). They currently practice in sight of the World Championships in Japan taking place mid-March 2023.

Alexandru Sorin is a karate athlete. He began training in 1993 in his hometown of Bucharest, Romania. He immediately developed a passion for karate. In 1997, he became the national champion of Romania. In 2007, he pursued his dreams in Canada and became the Canadian national champion in 2011 and 2012. It was his self-discipline and persistence that pushed Alexandru to realize his dream of national champion. Alexandru continues to inspire other athletes and teammates as a coach, father, speaker and now a book author.

Sandra started playing water polo at the age of 7, a sport she has been playing for over 35 years. During her career, Sandra has won the Canadian championship 21 times with her CAMO team from Montreal. She has been named the best player in the country three times, in addition to being a member of the All-Star Team, which brings together the top seven players in Canada, five times. The best memory of her sporting career is his participation in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney in Australia, when the women’s water polo was admitted to the Olympic program for the first time in history !

Pascal Dion has been representing Canada on the international scene since 2015. A two-time Olympic medalist including gold at the last Olympic Games in Beijing, he is also a leader of a national youth team program.

He first represented Canada on the international stage at the 2015 Winter Universiade, where he came in fourth in the 1500m. He made his World Cup debut that same season and went on to win a dozen medals, including silver in the 1000m in Gangneung in 2016, the first individual distance medal of his career.

Named a Speed Skating Canada Short Track Rising Star in 2017, he was a member of the men’s relay team that won bronze in PyeongChang in 2018. He also finished 10th in the 1500m at those Games and has competed at three World Championships during his career, bringing home silver in the men’s relay in 2018.

In addition to his training, Pascal is pursuing his studies in finance, the field in which he would like to break into after his athletic career.

Originally from France, Canadian by adoption, Yann Jouannic has been living in Canada since 2011 and in Montreal since 2015.

Initiated to archery in 1996-1997 during his studies in management, he pursues a career in audiovisual production which keeps him away from the shooting ranges for more than 20 years. He resumes in 2019 with the Montreal club (CTAM). The pandemic and the interruption of activities slowed him down in his progression but he started competing at the provincial and national level in 2022. He participated in the Canada East Cup where he finished 9th and in his first Canadian Championship in Charlottetown where he finished 16th.

In 2023, for his second season of competition, he participated in his first international competitions at the Indoor World Series in Nimes (166th) and Las Vegas (62nd) where he scored his first points on the circuit. He finished 36th in the final Indoor World Series ranking for the 2022-2023 season. He also enters the world ranking, currently 673rd.

As it is never too late to follow his dreams, his ambition is to progress as an athlete while taking pleasure in practicing this sport at the highest possible level and passing on his passion to the younger ones.

Nancy was born in Drummondville, Quebec and now lives in Repentigny, close to Montreal.  She has been playing hockey for over 25 years.  She is one of the top all-time leading scorers for Team Canada with an impressive 116 points in 110 games on the International Level.  As a member of the National Team, she is a (6) six-time Gold Medal winner at the World Championship, scoring the winning overtime goals in two of those World Championship.  She was also a member on the Olympic Team in Nagano, Japan, when Women’s Hockey made its Olympic debut realizing her childhood dream by winning an Olympic Medal.

She has a remarkable number of individual awards such as the Elaine Tanner Trophy given to the best Junior Athlete in Canada all categories, as she was playing on the National Softball Team at the same time of the National Hockey Team.

Her biggest dreams now are developing youth through sports, her conferences and coaching, helping as many people as possible realize their own dreams and true potential.  This businesswoman and great athlete is now as passionate in helping others succeed than she was on the ice helping Canada win Gold.

Frédérique discovered rugby at Markham High School in Ontario at the age of 16. She decided to give up soccer and devote herself fully to the sport, which earned her selection to the provincial team at 17. She then decided to return home to Montreal to Concordia University where she played with the Stingers for a semester before moving to Victoria, BC to play for the National Rugby 7’s team. She competed for the team for two years before deciding to return to school to study communications.

She continued to train with the Montreal high performance group and was selected for 15’s rugby tournaments and camps. In 2017, she participated in the Rugby World Cup in Ireland, her dream come true. It was an experience she will never forget. To finish her college rugby career she was awarded the Usports women’s rugby player of the year award in 2017.

Currently, she still plays on the provincial 7s and 15s team and recently completed her 10th season with the St. Anne de Bellevue Rugby Club. She also manages the rugby team at Cégep André-Laurendeau. This sport has given her so much and she wants to continue to give back to the rugby community and promote this inclusive sport.

Mattéo is French-Canadian and 21 years old. He is a table tennis player since the age of 8. He has been playing at the Montreal Prestige Club since 2013 and has had the chance to represent Canada internationally as well as play for a club in France and play the league in Europe.

Aurelie Tran, 16, has been a member of the National Gymnastics Team since 2020. She is the 2021 Canadian Junior Champion and the 2023 Canadian National Elite Champion. She is currently the best gymnast in the country.

Aurélie trains at the Gymnix Club for 30 hours a week and is preparing to represent Canada at the World Cup and Pan American Championships. Her goal is to participate in the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 Olympic Games.

Laura Mirabela is a Romanian tennis player. She arrived in Canada in 2005 and became a tennis instructor for Tennis Canada. Since 2006 she is a coach for the Tennis de Montréal’s sports studies program for the 6-18 years old development program. She also coaches the U12-14 category for the Orange Bowl Florida for Tennis Quebec since 2008.

As an athlete, she was part of the Romanian National Team U14 and U16. She participated in the ITF tournament and Fed Cup juniors Romania.

She won the special mention for the Coach Development Award by excellence Quebec in 2012.