Levesque a top prospect
Jan. 12, 2010 - Regina Leader-Post
By Ian Hamilton
Leo McGee knows Jimmy Levesque isn't much of a practice player.
For now, though, the head coach of the University of Regina Cougars wrestling teams will accept that from his prized freshman.
"In practice, I have to keep my hand on his shoulder to push him," McGee said Monday while standing outside the Cougars' wrestling room. "When the whistle blows (in tournaments), though, he competes."
So why does something change in Levesque?
"I don't like to lose," said the 23-year-old product of Val d'Amour, N.B. "I'm more focused in tournaments. Practice is to practise what you're not good at. In tournaments, I just do the correct thing."
At his most recent tournament for the Cougars, Levesque won a silver medal in the men's 96-kilogram division at the Golden Bear Open on Saturday in Edmonton. He's expected to hit the mat again Saturday during the Cougar Invitational at the U of R's Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport.
McGee began recruiting the 5-foot-11, 203-pound Levesque two years ago when Levesque was living in the Maritimes.
"We flew him out here for a visit," McGee recalled. "Once he got here and I saw him, I thought, 'This is a guy we really need. We need a guy at 90 kilos.'
"We're trying to put a team together here and we needed a guy at 90. Well, he's that guy. It's like putting together a hockey team and not having a goalie."
Levesque said he spoke to a friend, former Cougars wrestler Sean Leblanc, about the U of R and got a favourable review. When Levesque decided he wanted to wrestle collegiately in Western Canada, the only options -- because the schools offered his classes in French -- were the U of R and Alberta.
It didn't hurt the Cougars' cause that Levesque's girlfriend, Ariane St-Laurent, helped push him to Regina.
"In one way, she wanted me to stay out there," Levesque said of St-Laurent, who plays soccer for the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues. "But I was always talking about Regina and wrestling here. When I chose to come here, she understood."
Now it's up to McGee to help Levesque live up to the potential the head coach first saw two years ago.
McGee said Levesque is quick and powerful with a strong technical background in Greco-Roman wrestling. He needs to work on his training, though, as well as his practice habits.
"We'll develop that," said McGee, who noted Levesque is "out of the back alley right now" instead of a polished wrestler. "We'll take him along slowly. We won't break him. We'll take it easy with this racehorse to get him to the track.
"He needs to adapt to the workload. With the workload, he can be one of the best wrestlers in the CIS as a freshman. I think he can compete for a medal right here right now."
"That's really good to hear," Levesque noted in reference to McGee's prediction. "A couple of coaches have told me if I can practise really hard, I can be a national champion."