Ajay Dube
Ajay Dube - Olympian
Born: October 10, 1960, Paris, France
Came to Canada July 1972, as the son of Diplomatic parents, immigrated to Canada in 1976
Graduate of Lisgar Collegiate Institute (elected to Athletics Wall of Fame in 2018), Humber College and the University of Toronto.
Hockey Clubs:
Outaouais Field Hockey Club around 1976,
Moved to Toronto in 1979 to pursue higher level of hockey and university, played for OOKPICS Field Hockey Club in Toronto Served as OOKPICS club secretary, tournaments and team organizer from 1983 – 1995
Provincial, National and International Hockey mostly as a goalkeeper
Member of various U-21 and full provincial teams throughout 1978 – 1992
Member of Canadian National U-21 in 1979 & 1980 Junior World Cup Qualifier in Santiago, Chile
Member of Full Canadian Hockey team from 1985 – 1989, Full Indoor team from 1986 - 1993
Member of 1985 World Cup Qualifier, Barcelona, Spain
Member of 1986 World Cup team, London, England
Member of 1987 Pan American Games team, Gold Medal
Member of 1988 Olympic Games Team in Seoul, Korea
National Team Manager for 2007 Pan American Games Team, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Men’s, Gold Medal
National Team Manager for 2008 Olympic Games Team, Beijing, China, Men’s
Served on and led many hockey tournaments for Ontario Provincial Organization
Ajay has earned about 50 international caps.
Hockey has been a wonderful part of my life, it gained me many friends, travelled the world and taught me life skills, which I continue to apply in my business and every day activities. Sport teaches you work ethics and social behaviour, fundamental to living a balanced life style, no matter what level you play at.
I was always a goalkeeper, just fell into the position, probably not good at anything else so was thrown back there, LOL, seemed to excel very quickly as the provincial coaches and then the national coaches extended invitations, so it continued. Did not really have the size for the position, not tall enough, but made up with a more technical game and tactics. Mostly just determined to excel and too stubborn to give up. I helped coach a few teams, but mostly my post playing days were dedicated to helping in administrative and management tasks, thus the national managerial roles.
Why indoor hockey: Truly speaking I enjoyed the indoor game much more than the outdoor, maybe because of my size the indoor game suited me better. Lot more action for a goalkeeper in the indoor game, you are much more involved. Found the outdoor game for a goalkeeper to be too mundane, in the time that I played, the game is much different now, and in my opinion, considerably better now, for the players and the audience. Much faster, active and every player has to be widely more versatile in all aspects of the game. But the outdoor game had the bigger events, World Cup and Olympic Games, so I continued to play.
Memory of Special hockey event: for an amateur athlete the first Olympic Games is always their highlight, so yes, the Seoul Olympics in 1988. For me it has been very interesting to go to the Pan American Games and then the Olympic Games as, first, an athlete and then as a manager, to see the games and the preparations from both sides of the game is fascinating, a good human experiment, one can write a book on this.
Business: Owner of Team Concept Inc since 1992 as a company in sports apparel in Toronto. It started totally from my involvement with hockey, I organized getting sponsorship for our club and then uniforms which led me to helping do the same for the provincial / national teams. As I was finishing my playing career, I saw this as a viable opportunity to do the same for other teams and sports, and make a living, but now l mostly concentrate on staff uniforms.
Living in Toronto, ON
Hobbies: golf, running, tennis, and cycling.
Draft AJ DC 2022 Aug 20
References:
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/18296
