Bruce feeds the need for speed Track guru sought out for ability to bring out best in athletes By: Taylor Allen Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, May. 8, 2023 Last Modified: 4:29 PM CST Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023 Updates

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This article was published 08/05/2023 (854 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s Monday at 6:30 a.m. and rain is starting to fall from a grey sky blanketed by clouds.

Rather than using the miserable weather as an excuse to stay under the covers, or opting to work out at a warm, temperature-controlled gym instead, three high-level athletes are running at Dakota Collegiate’s Murray Field and listening to orders from a man known as the “speed guru” — Glenn Bruce.

Bruce’s students on this day were Saskatchewan Roughriders running back Kienan LaFrance, Manitoba Bisons linebacker Nick Thomas (who was drafted in the seventh round of last week’s CFL Draft by the Riders), and Nicholas Parrott, a Grade 12 student at Churchill High School who excels in both basketball and football.

There are no helmets, pads or even a football anywhere in sight. For the next 60 minutes, Bruce — who won seven national titles in 15 years as a sprint, hurdles and relay coach at the University of Manitoba — puts the trio through drills and exercises that are designed to help them nail down the proper technique to run faster.

“I’ve been training with Glenn for 10 years. Right out of high school… He has a wealth of experience, so being able to coach us up in terms of speed and football stuff has been second to none,” said LaFrance, who’s preparing for his eighth CFL season, after Monday’s training session.

“And he’s passionate about it. It makes it easy to show up when he’s gonna hold you accountable. He also wants to be here. He doesn’t have to be here. But the fact he’s shooting us a text on the weekend saying, ‘I’ll be there at 6:30 A.M., see you or not’ makes you want to be there.”

Some days the 60-year-old Bruce could be working with NHLers from Manitoba like Seth Jarvis (Carolina Hurricanes), Keegan Kolesar (Vegas Golden Knights) or Ryan Reaves (Minnesota Wild). During the off-season and bye weeks, you’ll see the former Grant Park High School physical-education teacher with members of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers such as Adam Bighill, Brady Oliveira and Willie Jefferson. Bighill and Bruce have even teamed up to offer an online speed coaching program called The Speed Code.

“I’ve been training with Glenn for 10 years. Right out of high school… He has a wealth of experience, so being able to coach us up in terms of speed and football stuff has been second to none.”–Kienan LaFrance, Saskatchewan Roughriders

When you listen to the detail Bruce puts into helping athletes, it’s no wonder some of the biggest names in the province trust him.

Take Jarvis, who has played a key role in Carolina’s playoff run so far this season with four goals and four assists in nine games, for example. In his exit interview last season with Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour, Jarvis was told he needs to get faster in his first three steps.

Challenge accepted for not only the 21-year-old forward, but for Bruce, too.

Instead of kicking his feet up with a cold one in his hand, Bruce is hard at work when he’s watching a game. He’ll lay down a piece of paper on the floor every time Jarvis steps on the ice and will trace his skating routes for each and every shift.

For Bruce, it’s about breaking a player’s movements down into a science and then converting it into a workout.

“If he has 20 shifts in a game, 20 sheets go on the floor and literally I just try to look for patterns, and there is a pattern, there’s definitely a pattern he has in a game. I call it route running, but it’s actually skating routes that he has. And so what I’m going to do is take those routes and we’ll put them on the field. So, we literally set up a hockey rink on the field,” said Bruce, who retired from teaching last year and now coaches full time.

“It is a passion, it is a love, but it’s also a job. It’s weird, when I go into a sports bar or when sports is on TV, I’m not watching it all for enjoyment. I don’t even know what the score is because I’m watching one guy and I’m counting how many reps he’s taking.”

Bruce was a sprinter at the U of M himself before he got into coaching. He spent five years helping the Manitoba Bisons football team, capped off by winning the Vanier Cup in 2007, before working out of ELITE Performance Training Centre. From there, word began to spread, leading Bruce to guide all types of athletes and start his own company called Speed is Life Inc.

No matter who Bruce is working with, he isn’t afraid to push them.

“When I come out here with Ryan Reaves, there’s people watching. They want autographs. But I don’t see him as that. I see him as a guy that wants to get better with me so we’re at the same level. He’ll call me out, I’ll call him out. I’m not scared to call these guys out. I’ve been known to say ‘Do it again. That looks like crap, that doesn’t look good. That’s not the level of speed that we have to execute in a practice, so walk back and do it again.’ I think it’s important to be like that. They want direction, but they also want to have their own personal freedom, too,” said Bruce.

“It is a passion, it is a love, but it’s also a job.”–Glenn Bruce

“It’s very, very rewarding. But the big thing is watching them grow as human beings. I worked with Kienan when he was right out of high school and now he’s a grown man. So, you develop a relationship with people and there’s a commonality of respect and admiration. And that’s really what it’s all about, right? And then, of course, you want to kick other people’s assess, too.”

Junior hockey talent — like Brandon Wheat Kings players and Humboldt Broncos bus crash survivor Matt Gomercic — as well as youth soccer teams and the Winnipeg Rifles have also benefitted from Bruce’s teachings. Despite being retired, Bruce is as busy as ever and rarely has time to pursue his other passion: fishing. But at least for now, he has no issue with devoting a large chunk of time each and every week to those with a need for speed.

It’s the people that bring me out here. It’s people first, and then performance second. Always.”–Glenn Bruce

“It’s the people,” said Bruce.

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll come at four in the morning, I don’t care. People stay at the bar until four in the morning, and why do they do that? It’s because of the people, right? It’s the people that bring me out here. It’s people first, and then performance second. Always.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31