A softball player who spent some of his formative years in Duntroon just got home from representing Canada on the world stage in New Zealand.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Quinten Bruce, 26, Team Canada softball player and plumber.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in Grand Valley, on a dairy farm. I played minor sports – minor ball and minor hockey.
Q: Did you always know you had an interest in sports?
A: I’m really fortunate. My parents never grew up playing organized sports as kids. They made sure that both my brother and I did play organized sports. Grand Valley is a really small town. When I was growing up there, they had about 1,200 people.
In the wintertime, kids played hockey, and in the summertime, kids played softball.
My mom was my first coach. I played minor ball and hockey until I was 18.
Q: When did your family move to the area?
A: When I was 16, my family moved to Duntroon.
They sold the farm and we moved up. My parents still live there. I was in my last year of high school, and I finished high school in Shelburne.
I was playing Junior C hockey for the Stayner Siskins.
Q: What happened after high school?
A: I went to Conestoga College in Kitchener, and I played Junior B hockey for the Elmira Sugar Kings.
In the summer, I was playing for the Owen Sound Junior Selects.
Q: You recently returned from Auckland, New Zealand where you were on Team Canada competing in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Men's Softball World Cup, and were one of three Canadians named to the All-World team. Can you talk about that a bit?
A: I was named the all-star right-fielder.
At the tournament, there were 12 teams. (Team Canada) lost in the finals to Australia. I felt fortunate to make the national team after so many years of playing.
Wearing the maple leaf on your chest has to be the highest level of ball you can reach in our game. It was a life-long journey to get to that point, but there was a lot of hard work and dedication, not only from me, but my parents too.
Without them, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today. When I got named to the team, I was over-the-moon excited to tell them.
Q: Is baseball your main career focus at this point?
A: No. I’m a plumber by trade, so I still have that 9-5 job.
It’s an amateur sport so you don’t make a killing doing it, but there are other benefits.
Q: Do you have other hobbies you’d like to talk about?
A: I still play hockey in the senior A league in the wintertime. I joined a curling club this year.
Sports are a big part of my life.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
