Melissa Wong is Team Captain for Queen's Cycling and helped the Gaels win the Canadian Collegiate Cycling Association Virtual Championship Series this year in her fourth year with the team. She sat down with GoGaelsGo.com to talk about her time on the Cycling team, competing virtually this past season, and leading the team through constantly changing competition circumstances through the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
What was it like to switch to virtual competition for the 2021-22 season?
 
Melissa Wong: I think for the team in general, it was a little disappointing because usually we have the road and mountain bike seasons. So that's two opportunities to compete. And given that 2021-22 was looking like it was going to be in-person, and a lot of teams did have in-person competition, to not be able to compete in-person was a little bit disappointing. But a lot of the other Canadian teams were also in the same boat as us so it was nice because we at least got to do something and still compete against each other, even if it was just virtual. Having competed virtually in the 2020-21 season, it was good preparation for this year as well.
 
What was it like to be in a leadership role the past two seasons as your team navigated a pandemic and constantly changing competition environments?
 
Melissa Wong: Coming into this year, it was a little bit of a gray zone in terms of, we had a couple of years where the captains didn't have to organize any in-person events, so that was a bit of an adjustment for me being team captain for the first time. But this year we really tried to emphasize getting people comfortable with group riding again, because there's like a lot of etiquette and safety associated with doing group rides and that's something no one had done for a couple years since everyone was just riding by themselves. So when we all came back in the fall, the emphasis was really just on having fun, going out for rides, and re-acquainting ourselves to doing group rides, and being comfortable with that again. Not really worrying about the whole racing and competitive aspect of it. I think that really helped us to have a really good team culture, because everyone was just there to have fun. 
 
And again, with mountain biking being cancelled right off the bat in September, we thought we'd have a little bit of time before we can start preparing for the road season during the winter. And then of course, we've found out that the road season wasn't going to happen. So in that sense, just taking a little bit more of a casual approach and just getting everyone comfortable with being on the team again, really helped to build a strong team culture.
 
How special was it to be part of a team that won a national championship?
 
Melissa Wong: Usually our big championship is the U-Cup Mountain Bike Championship, so as I mentioned before, we had a bit of disappointment with that being cancelled. So it was nice to be able to refocus our efforts and be able to compete for another championship, even if it was virtual. In some ways virtual racing is almost harder than in-person racing, because you can't stop pedaling whereas outside you can coast if you're going downhill. And the atmosphere isn't quite the same. Everyone is competing and suffering at the same time as you, but i you can't see everyone and there aren't people on the sidelines cheering like you would in-person. But a lot of  people on the team were participating in a race for the first time. It was nice to have so many newcomers come out, race, be like, 'this is kind of fun.' And then come together in that sense where we'd be on social media afterwards, 'Great job everyone!' or sharing post-race Snapchats. Just supporting each other in a more virtual manner. We learned to adapt to a virtual championship was nice. The team really embodied having fun no matter what, that really contributed to a good feeling with winning the championship.
 
What advice would you give to an incoming rookie at Queen's?
 
Melissa Wong: It was a little bit unique for my circumstances since we had two years virtual with the team, but I would say I learned so much from the upper-years, especially in my first year when were completely in-person. So, don't be afraid to ask questions and learn from them, a lot of them might have more experience in the sport than you do. Or they might not, but either way they're there to help you become a part of the team and really feel like you belong with the team. For me, that was huge, having the team to feel a sense of belonging at Queen's.
 
And make the most out of your time as a Gael. Enjoy it. For me with COVID, that's something that I personally didn't really take to heart, and it's something I'm realizing as I'm leaving now, because I kind of assumed I still have another three years, and then we never competed in-person again. The four years do go by really fast and it's a unique, special opportunity to be on a varsity club or a varsity team. Really make the most of that time and cherish it.
 
How involved were you in EDII initiatives this past year?
 
Melissa Wong: I mainly still focused within the Queen's Cycling Team. Cycling has always been a fairly male-dominated sport and it's not usually been the most diverse sport either. I wanted to make sure, especially this year as a team captain that everyone felt encouraged to try out. We had a lot of people email that didn't really know if it was a good idea to try it, they didn't know if they were good enough, etc. I encouraged everyone to try out because you never know.  People may completely underestimate their abilities. In that sense, when we were hosting tryouts, I really encouraged everyone to try out. And then once we selected the team, including everyone because a lot of people were newer to competing. A lot of people got into cycling through COVID, but then this was the first time that they're exploring like racing. Which can be intimidating - that was me in first year. When I joined the team, I'd never competed before. I wanted to make it a safe space to learn and grow into racing for everyone, no matter who, and I think we had one of the largest tryout numbers to date. That also allowed us to have one of the most diverse teams. Nearly half the team were women this year, which we haven't really had before. That was nice to see, especially for me having been one of those rookies in first year. It was great, because the team captain that year, Chris Hatton, had been great with encouraging and making it a safe space for the rookies. Really trying to emphasize that and creating a safe space for everyone on the team super important to me.
 
How rewarding was it to see people you encouraged to try out competing this year?
 
Melissa Wong:  It was very rewarding to see everyone grow in cycling this year – everyone sets out unique goals for themselves while making the most out of team activities to get themselves there and having fun in the process. Everyone enjoys different disciplines and achieving different things, but still being able to come together no matter our goals and abilities or skills to enjoy a shared passion is very rewarding!  
 
What do you hope to see accomplished with Queen's Cycling moving forward after your time at Queen's?
 
Melissa Wong: Cycling is unique compared to a lot of other varsity clubs or teams in that you don't necessarily have to have raced coming into it because cycling isn't a huge sport in high school and there's a lot of people who are aiming to join a team. Having that development pathway through the team where someone joins and then has a couple years with the team to really grow into racing and figure out what they love about the sport. For me, that would be the most rewarding because I had barely gotten into cycling in first year when I joined the team, and now I'm racing and have a whole race calendar with the team Toronto Hustle moving forward when I graduate. That progression is something that I'm very fortunate to have been able to achieve through the Queen's Cycling team and I think it's a really unique  opportunity, given that we have one of the strongest teams in Canada. People know about the team, which is not very common in Canadian university cycling. I think that's a chance for us to be able to develop more racers going forwards.