``I'm anxious already and the way our seasons go, they fly by so fast, I look at it that it's not that far away,'' the native of Kitchener, Ont., said Thursday. ``And come that Olympic year, we're skating earlier because the trials are earlier, we have to ready.

``It's right there for me, especially because it's in our own country.''

The march to Vancouver begins next week for the short-track squad, which leaves Friday for the first World Cup meets of the season Oct. 20-22 in Changchun, China, and Oct. 27-29 in Jeonju City, South Korea.

The team has been training on the international-size rink at the Maurice Richard Arena here since mid-July.

The off-season brought major changes to the team that settled for four medals at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy _ down from six at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Veterans Eric Bedard and Amelie Goulet-Nadon have retired and the management and coaching staffs have been revamped.

Long-time head coach Guy Thibault's contract was not renewed. His former assistant Martin Gagne and former national team skater Derrick Campbell will share duties with two assistants in a new team approach to coaching.

Also, the short- and long-track teams have each been assigned a director to handle administrative affairs. Yves Hamelin, whose sons Charles and Francois are on the national team, is the director for short-track.

Campbell, a native of Cambridge, Ont., who skated at three Olympics, returned after a nearly two-year stint as coach on the U.S. Olympic team.

``A lot of things drew me back _ the first was to be part of the Olympic movement going into 2010,'' said Campbell. ``Another was that my family and friends are here and at this stage, my wife and I wanted to be back in Canada.

``And I wanted to work with the Canadian team. I grew up in the Canadian system and it just felt right to come back and work for the Canadian team.''

Canada is a world power in short-track, along with South Korea, China and Japan and will be expected to produce medals at the Vancouver Games.

The process begins this year, when staff will be using events like the World Cup meets to assess veterans and develop young skaters.

The team headed for China has three women Olympic team veterans _ Overland, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher of Montreal and Kalyna Roberge of St-Etienne-de-Lauzon, Que. But it also has three prospects _ Anne Maltais of Quebec City, Raphaele Lemieux of Riviere-du-Loup, Que., and Nita Avrith of Montreal.

Veterans Tania Vicent (hip) and Alana Kraus (Achilles tendon) are sidelined with injuries.

The men's side has Olympians Charles Hamelin of Montreal and Francois-Louis Tremblay of Alma, Que., with prospects Steve Robillard, Jean-Francois Monette, Mathieu Giroux and Olivier Jean, all of Montreal.

``We have a lot of changes on the team,'' said Hamelin, 22. ``We feel like it's a new style of training, a lot of new programs. so for this year, it's more about seeing how it goes with the new coaches and the new program.

``I think we're ready. Now we'll see how it goes in Asia.''

The World Cup format has also changed, with qualification rounds in all distances now on the Friday of a race weekend, with quarter-finals, semifinals and finals on Saturday and Sunday.

A new wrinkle is a repechage to give a second chance to skaters knocked out in qualifying.

``It's good, especially for people who don't usually make the finals,'' said Overland. ``There's plenty of skaters from the smaller countries who aren't as advanced as us or the Koreans or Japanese and the repechage round gives them a chance to race more.

``Or for myself. If you toe in and don't make it and you're upset because you didn't get to the quarter-finals, you get a second chance.''

Also, by packing the rounds that count most into two days, organizers hope to sell more tickets and draw greater media attention to the sport.

Overland is curious to see how she and the team will respond to the changes.

After the Olympics and world championships last winter, Overland had shock wave therapy on a nagging right knee injury and now feels as strong as ever.

She has also changed her skate boot, adopting the Apex boot developed by teammate Mathieu Turcotte, figuring she'll have four years to get used to it before the Vancouver Games.

``I'll be 28 by the next Olympics,'' she said. ``And I still really want it.

``After the (2006) Olympics, I needed a break, but I've had the break. I watched some DVDs of my races and I said, `That's fun.' ''

World Cup meets are scheduled for Dec. 1-3 in Saguenay, Que., and Dec. 8-10 in Montreal.