Laura Branchaud helped the York field hockey team reach the CIAU national tournament four times between 1979 and 1984. The squad won two silver medals in 1980 and 1981 and Branchaud was named to the tournament all-star team in 1981. York reached the national championships those years (1979-82) after playing in four straight OWIAA championship games, capturing two gold medals (1980-81) and two silver medals (1979, 1982). In addition to her success at York, Branchaud represented Canada at the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988 and went on to coach Carleton University's field hockey team for four seasons.
Laura Branchaud used her time at York as a launch pad for a remarkable athletic career.
In five years with the field hockey team, she helped the Yeowomen capture the first two OWIAA titles in program history and advance to the national championships four times, where the squad won back-to-back silver medals in 1980 and 1981.
“I came away from York with a great sense of accomplishment,” Branchaud said. “It was really exciting being part of a successful team. But even more than that, what I remember is how much fun it was. It was always all business on the field, but it was a lot of fun off of it too and I have a lot of memories of fun things that happened that I will never forget.”
Branchaud’s impressive run with York’s field hockey team represented just the beginning of a long list of achievements in the sport. Playing at York gave her the opportunity to learn from the best – Yeowomen head coach Marina van der Merwe, a York Sport Hall of Fame inductee in 2004, was also the head coach of the national team – and she took full advantage.
She took up the difficult task of an extensive training program while also going to school part-time, all in an effort to qualify for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, a dream she first had at the age of 16 and realized in the summer of 1984.
“I can never describe the feeling of walking into the stadium at the opening ceremonies with so many Canadians in the stands. The place erupted and I couldn’t remember feeling my feet touch the track. Playing against the best teams in the world was an awesome experience, but it was very different to be treated like a celebrity everywhere I went!”
The event left such an impression that she set her sights on a second Olympic appearance and in 1988, became one of only four Canadian women (at that time) to play field hockey at the Summer Games for a second time.
Following the Olympics, she moved to England to continue playing field hockey and, while there, decided to become a cop, quite the feat for a woman who is under five feet tall. Her height actually prevented her from joining the police force until 1994, when the country removed a height restriction that had been previously in place. Faced with a new set of challenges at the West Mercia Constabulary, she turned to what she’d been taught in all her years of high-level sport to help her learn the ins and outs of policing.
“The biggest thing was having the ability to be flexible and adaptable. In field hockey, every game is different depending on the opposition and the position you are playing and you quickly learn how to adapt to a number of different situations. With policing, no two days are the same and often what I had planned for the day would switch instantly. Through sport, I learned how to be flexible and also how to deal with pressure.”
Although she wasn’t training seriously while in England, Branchaud was never found far from the field. Citing the pure enjoyment of the game and the opportunity to continue to learn new skills, she played in the national league and continued coaching. When she returned to Canada she accepted a job at Carleton University and was the Ravens’ field hockey coach for four years, a position she left five years ago but has since returned to.
Branchaud retired as a player for good in 2002, 21 years and a lifetime of achievements after she first stepped on the field as a York Yeowoman.
