Winning athletic medals is nothing new for Joy Fera of Tsawwassen, BC. As a member of Canada’s rowing team at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, she recorded a 7th-place finish in the Coxed Four, then went on to receive back-to-back bronze medals in the Eight at the 1977 and 1978 World Championships – a first for Canadian women.
Joy’s sporting ability, however, was apparent long before rowing. She started skating at age four on the homemade ice rink her father created in their backyard.
“In elementary school, I took figure skating lessons three days a week, and after passing various tests between ages 6 and 11, there wasn’t a qualified coach to take me any further,” says Joy.
Next came skiing. When Joy was seven years old, growing up in Cranbrook, her dad took her and her sister to watch ski jumping at the Canadian Nordic Championships in Kimberley.
“I was amazed,” says Joy, “and the following December I said, ‘Daddy, no more dolls for Christmas, just ski equipment.’”
Joy’s wish came true; skis and poles were under the tree on Christmas morning 1958. She asked her mom when the next race in Kimberley would be held. “I didn’t know people just skied for pleasure; I guess I was born with that competitive bent!” she quips.
Joy jumped in with both skis and joined the junior racing program at the Northstar Ski Hill in Kimberley, where they had hired coaches from Austria. She won her first medal at age 11. Then, when she was 14, Joy and her sister were both invited to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team summer training camp at Kokanee Glacier near Nelson.
“The 10-day camp cost $170 each and my family did not have the funds to send us both, so neither of us went,” she recalls.
Joy’s competitive ski career came to a grinding halt. But she didn’t let the setback deter her from other competitive sports; she started to focus on all the high school sports teams and playing hockey.
“When I was in grade 12, the City of Cranbrook finally offered ice time on a Sunday night for girls to learn ice hockey. I was thrilled! I would go from skiing all afternoon, straight to the rink. Not having a brother, I borrowed bits and pieces of equipment from boys who played. I can still hear the voice of one of them when he saw me walking down the hallway at school, and he shouted, ‘she shoots, she scores!’” Joy reminisces.
Following in her sister’s footsteps, when it was time for post-secondary studies, Joy attended UBC, where she started ski racing again. She also made the Varsity alpine and cross-country ski teams and represented Canada at the 1972 World University Games at Lake Placid.
“During that same period, on my own time, and my own dime, I also entered Alpine Canada races. Highlights included two World Cup races on Grouse Mountain in 1970, and winning team gold in dual slalom at the 1971 Canada Winter Games.” She was also the Vancouver city cross country ski champion in 1971.
Joy’s involvement in rowing started in 1974 when she got a call from her cousin, Don Steen, who had been a Canadian decathlon and javelin champion. “It went like this,” says Joy, “‘How much time to you have?’ I sighed and wondered what he wanted me to volunteer for now! He said that ‘they’ – whoever that was – were looking for women with a sports background to try rowing with the hope of making the 1976 Canadian Olympic Team. I said, ‘Yes! When and where?’ and the rest is history! I can still hear the roar of 70,000 spectators as Canada entered the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.”
“I know some people have thought that rowing must be easy,” continues Joy, “making an Olympic team in two years. With it being a ‘late entry’ sport for me, my years of other sports, along with expert coaching, and training six days a week, twice a day, contributed to my ability to have five years on the National Team.” During those years, Joy was a recreation therapist at George Derby Centre in Burnaby and would train before and after work.
When Joy learned Canada was one of the countries boycotting the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, she was disappointed, but she had already been planning to retire at age 30 because she and her husband, Steve, wanted to have a family.
Throughout their marriage, sports have been a common interest for the couple. In the early 1980s, Steve, who had played ice hockey for UBC, coached the women’s hockey team on which Joy was a player. By 1984, they were BC Champions and went to the Nationals in Edmonton.
“At age 34, I was playing with 17-year olds,” says Joy. “I loved playing centre and getting the face offs. Unfortunately, I was just born too early to have made it to the Olympic Winter Games in ice hockey.”
The two also played slo-pitch softball together. “If Steve had input into the batting order, he would put me ahead of him, so he could get away with yelling at me to run faster!” she jokes.
Having two children didn’t slow down Joy’s sports involvement either. She co-founded the Delta Deas Rowing Club in 1988 with two other Olympic rowers, Bill McKerlich and Lyle Gatley, and she chaired the Scholastic Regatta annually for the next 25 years. As an inaugural member of the Delta Sport Council, she is still passionate about organizing “send offs” and “welcome homes” for athletes going to multi-sport games.
When she visits her hometown of Cranbrook, Joy also offers to take high school girls out sculling in a double on Jim Smith Lake to give them some tips. “And locally, I encourage people to give rowing a try. One doesn’t have to race, just row recreationally and enjoy the outdoors.”
Joy is also dedicated to community youth sports. “I guess it reminds me of my youth,” she says, “and because my ski racing career was cut short when my family didn’t have the funds for training camps, I’m passionate about giving time to my local chapter of KidSport (a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to kids for sports registration fees and equipment).”
In 1986, Joy got back into ski racing in the annual Over the Hill Downhill Team race in Vernon. “My sister knew of a three-man team looking for a female. I took my old, 1972 giant slalom skis to a sports store to get checked over and the technician said, ‘lady, we won’t touch these!’ It had been 14 years since I had raced, and the equipment had changed.”
Then again, in 2005 when Joy was 55, she was invited to join in the Master’s Alpine Skiing Championships, and she re-entered the world of competitive skiing. Fortunately, due to her regular sports activities, she had maintained her fitness.
“I stayed in shape through rowing and other sports, so I only had to step up my training a bit to compete in the World Masters Games,” she says.
And Joy’s still winning the medals, taking a Gold, Silver and Bronze, earning the “Champion of Champions” award at the Canadian Master’s Championships at Stoneham, Quebec in March of 2017.
“Looking back, having doors closed for me in ski racing at age 14 was a blessing, as I might never have embraced rowing,” she says. “Now, I am doubly blessed to still enjoy both sports.”
These days, Joy gets out rowing at least two times a week. On the days she isn’t rowing, she inline skates. In the winter, she competes at Whistler/Blackcomb in the Thursday races, so the Wednesday before, she’s usually on the slopes training the slalom gates in preparation for the next day.
“I just show up and try to remember how to turn left and right. It is fun, and I have made great friends there,” she says.
To keep her body fit, Joy also has regular chiropractic adjustments. “I’m a firm believer in keeping one’s body in alignment, not just treating symptoms. I will, though, occasionally have a massage after a six-minute, 175-gate giant slalom race from the top of Whistler to Creekside!”
What’s next for Joy? Her 76-year-old cousin, David Steen, is trying to get her into cycling, while other friends have asked her to give curling a go. “For my 65th birthday, my husband and two daughters gave me my first set of golf clubs, and now I’m trying to find the time to get out on the fairways,” she says.
“Also, on my possible bucket list, I might want to compete in a long-distance rowing event at the head of the Charles River in Boston. One has to put in the hard work in a crew though, (single sculling is too lonely for me) if one wants a decent result.”
Rowing requires a lot of nutritional and caloric intake. “I am losing weight now, which means losing — unintentionally — muscle mass,” says Joy. “I should do more weight training, but for me, sport is now competitive-recreational, not Olympic level! Gravity helps one get down the course in ski racing (a little leg strength and technique helps too!). That is not the case with rowing – it takes hard work, using arms, legs, back and cardio fitness to cross the finish line in a decent time. That is probably why I tend not to do rowing races anymore. It’s easier to just enjoy the outdoors, fitness, friendships and umpiring aspects.”
Joy has a firm belief that if seniors maintain an active lifestyle, it will cost our health care system less than sport-related injuries.
“It is never too late to start,” she says, “and most sporting clubs accommodate new ‘young at heart’ members, like the Delta Deas Rowing Club, which offers lessons for middle-aged folks, as long as you know how to swim.”
Joy also doesn’t buy into the myth of “being too old” to continue being active in sports. “The oldest man in Whistler’s Peak to Valley race in 2017 was Owen Owens at 91, and the oldest woman was 82-year-old ‘Amazing’ Grace Oaks,” says Joy. “I want to be just like them when I grow up!”
SNAPSHOT
If you were to meet your 20-year-old self, what advice would you give her?
“I would tell her that her greatest resource is her time, so spend it well. Also, to contribute to community with a humble heart and an attitude of gratitude.”
Who or what has influenced you the most? And why?
“My parents were great role models for me. They were both active in our church in Cranbrook, and Dad was a city councillor for six years and hospital board chairman for eight years during the construction of a new, regional hospital. My mom co-founded an organization that brought professional musicians into the East Kootenays. She took my sister and me along when she visited residents in care homes.
My two older cousins, Don and David Steen, influenced my love for competitive sports. I photographed their numerous trophies when I was eight years old, wondering if I would ever win any!”
What does courage mean to you?
“When I think of courage, the word ‘brave’ comes to mind. I think of my dad, a WWII fighter pilot on the Burma Front, and other men and women – war veterans – who gave or risked their lives protecting our freedom. At age 19, for courage, I wore one of my dad’s jackets while I made six static-line skydiving jumps.
Professionally, as a recreation therapist for para and quadriplegics, many on ventilators, I witnessed their great courage to face each day.”
What does success mean to you?
“In any endeavour, success is being the best you can be, based on the abilities you have been given.”
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