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Athletes from the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut are heading to St John’s on Friday to compete in the Canada Summer Games
Team Yukon and Team Nunavut will be sending their largest contingents of athletes ever to this year’s games, with 211 athletes representing the Yukon and about 70 athletes representing Nunavut. Another 130 athletes will be representing N.W.T.
The summer games, which run until Aug. 25, include over 4,000 athletes, coaches and managers from every province and territory.
Team Nunavut sending first basketball teams to games
This year’s games will be particularly memorable for Team Nunavut’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, who are making history as the first basketball teams to represent the territory at the Canada Games.
“It’s definitely exciting, but I think everyone’s a little bit on their nerves,” said Victor Pothier who plays centre for the men’s team.
Pothier says the milestone is a reflection of the growth in the sport in the territory.
“It’s definitely amazing to see how much we’ve grown in sports and in everything else,” he said. “I’m super happy to be part of the first team that ever went to the Canada Summer Games for basketball.”
Making it to the games hasn’t been without its challenges for the basketball teams. Some of the athletes train without coaches in their home communities, and the teams only had 10 days to train together before the games.
Despite that, the athletes say they are eager for what’s to come in St John’s.
“We are going to try our hardest,” said Lia Dimitruk, a guard on the women’s team. “We’ll have a lot of fun and I’m very excited for us to all play together.”
In addition to basketball, Nunavut athletes will also be competing in beach volleyball, volleyball and wrestling, said chef de mission Jeff Seeteenak. He hopes Nunavummiut will tune in to cheer on the athletes.
“I think our athletes will be representing our territory with pride.”
N.W.T. women’s basketball ready to face bigger provinces
N.W.T. athletes are competing in eight sports, including athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, soccer, swimming, tennis, volleyball and wrestling.
Women’s basketball assistant coach Tina Locke-Setter says her team has been preparing for games for the past two years and feels they are ready to face the country’s best.
“They worked hard last year at nationals in every game…. I think it’s going to pay off for them in this tournament and we’ll likely have a few wins.”
Ella Skauge, who plays forward on the team, says representing a smaller territory means the team is going into the games with a different mindset than some of their competitors.
“Instead of getting as many wins as we can, we want to fight and have the biggest battle and have the closest games and have as many points as we can get on that board,” she said.
No matter what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, Locke-Setter hopes her athletes enjoy the experience.
“It’s about giving these kids something that they’ll never experience again, making sure that they’re having fun, competing at the best level that we can,” she said.
“To get the opportunity to go to a national-level event like this for these kids is really in almost every instance a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Yukon athletes to lead teams at opening ceremonies
Team Yukon’s chef de mission, Trevor Twardochleb, says new and emerging sports in the territory have helped it assemble its largest Canada Games team to date.
“It’s tough to find athletes for every one of these [sports], but there’s just really so much to do in the Yukon, so many opportunities,” he said. “So it’s really great to see the programs developing in our territory.”
Yukoners will be competing in 13 sports at this year’s games, three of which will be firsts for the territory, including sailing, rugby sevens and women’s softball.
Team Yukon athletes will arrive in St. John’s Friday evening and will start preparing for competition on Saturday, said Twardochleb.
The games will officially kick-off with the opening ceremonies on Saturday night.
This year, it will be a particularly special event for Team Yukon, who is set to lead the provinces and territories into the ceremonies, said Twardochleb.
Beach volleyball athletes Jennifer Tuton and Lily Kremer will be the territory’s flagbearers.
“We’re actually the first team out and so we’re gonna get to see everybody else walk in,” said Twardochleb. “It’s going to be a really cool vibe.
