Today we’d like to introduce you to Sebastien Fortier.
Hi Sebastien, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
This all began in 1989 when my father, Gaetan Fortier, took over the Sherbrooke International tournament and invited the two best teams from Russia to participate. Within 3 years, the tournament grew to host 12 countries and was the largest tournament in the world. Gaetan ran the tournament from 1989 through 2000 and was able to donate over 1 million dollars to Sherbrooke, Quebec Minor Hockey.
Sebastien Fortier was coaching youth hockey and ran hockey schools and brought his team to several youth ice hockey tournaments in the USA and Canada. He found one thing in common: they were all poorly run and disorganized. Sebastien decided to follow the path of his father and started OneHockey in 2003.
Things did not go as expected, and he could not get teams to commit because it was his first year hosting an event. Sebastien then had an idea – why not invite his players from his youth hockey schools to form teams comprised of players from all across the country to compete as a team? He built 6 teams that summer comprised of elite players that have never played together before and had them coached by NCAA coaches.
Sebastien made great friends in Minnesota while hosting a summer hockey school, and so began his commitment to hosting tournaments in Blaine, MN. In the first year, only 25 teams attended, but this tournament has grown to 80+ over the years and teams travel from all across the United States and Canada.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Sebastien grew the individual player concept and moved the tournament to Aston, PA. He was very excited to host 100 teams with players from all over participating and NCAA coaches leading the teams.
As part of hosting this event, OneHockey ordered uniforms for all participating players, which would lead to a very large hurdle for Sebastien. The uniform vendor had a delay on their end and was unable to provide the uniforms in time for the tournament.
Sebastien learned a hard lesson that day and had to disappoint the players with no jerseys or uniforms. This provided an obstacle in registering players for the following years, but Sebastien worked and worked and earned the trust of everyone, building the event back up in the years to come.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Today OneHockey hosts over 40 events annually, mainly in the United States and Canada. Recently Sebastien has added European tournaments to the lineup and including Sweden, Slovenia, and Finland. Next year, OneHockey will be hosting an Adult tournament in Thailand.
Sebastien is also very proud to host the most fun, well-organized, and entertaining tournaments in the world. His focus is all on the kids and providing them with an experience they will never forget.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
We take risks all the time but have learned how to manage them now.
When adding tournaments to a new region, there is always a risk that teams may not be familiar with OneHockey and not register. It is up to the OneHockey team to reach out and build trust and a good reputation.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.onehockey.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onehockeyevents/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneHockeyTournaments
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fortiersebastien/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneHockeyEvents
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialOneHockey
