UNITY – The build up for the 2024 Saskatchewan Summer Games has been mounting for quite some time, as the City of Lloydminster has been preparing for a few years to host the large-scale event. As for the athletes, they have been under the microscope by the coaches in the districts as they attend tryouts and some school events.
The Unity-Wilkie Press-Herald readership area is within the Rivers West district, where 13 local young athletes were chosen to represent not only their district, but their community. Students that will be participating in the Saskatchewan Summer Games are Lily Holman, Luseland; Darian Lowe, Bently Heffner and Samantha Cowie, Macklin; Alynne Hein, Neilburg; Dawson Gilbert, Ella Brebner, Myah Wagner and Jaidyn Mackrell, Unity; and Zander Chambers, Kayden Fenrich, Cheyene Cey and Keegan Schell, Wilkie.
Of all the athletes that were selected, SaskToday.ca reached out to five to see how the experience has been so far. While most of the sports went through a tryout process, Holman’s experience for the track and field team was slightly different.
“For this sport, there were no tryouts, coaches looked at results from district, provincial and club track meets,” said Holman.
In the softball, soccer, and baseball events, athletes had tryouts over two days, whereas Wagner, who plays basketball, only had one day of tryouts.
“There were 12 girls who tried out for the team. We had a four-hour tryout, which included two hours of skills and drills followed by two hours of scrimmage,” said Wagner.
After the tryouts, coaches reached out to all the athletes via phone or email, where all five of the teens had similar reactions.
“I woke up all the people in my house with excitement. I am the most excited to be staying by myself, meeting new people and learning more about the game,” said Heffner, who was chosen to be a part of the soccer team.
Along with the excited teens, many proud parents and families are also showing excitement, including Heffner’s mom posting the news and soccer schedule on social media.
With the announcements being made, the teens are now focusing on the week-long event. The two ball players, Hein and Schell, have been attending some practices and a few games, learning to work with their new teammates. Heffner has been travelling to North Battleford once a week to work with his team plus doing some training at home five days a week. Wagner has been on the court for the past few Sundays for her practices that are four hours long while Holman continues with her regular training plan.
“I run six days a week and do track workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday, I run for about 40 minutes and extend it to 50 minutes or more on Fridays, which is usually over 10 kilometres,” said the track athlete.
The teens are not only excited for the experience, but some of them did also express some nervousness. Some have thoughts of making a bad play or messing up a pass, while others are just nervous to be in the Saskatchewan Summer Games.
“I’m not really nervous about anything, mostly just hoping we will play well and win some games,” said Schell.
As the event draws nearer, the athletes are eager to see what the games can do for their future athletic successes.
“I hope to make new connections with people in the track and field community.”-Holman
“It’s events like this where athletes get to showcase their talents, learn new skills, learn new plays and work together as a team.”- Wagner
“More pressure to make me work harder and improve my game.”- Heffner
“It allows me to compete against another level of softball players my age in Saskatchewan.”- Hein
“Being a part of these games will help me get more reps and hopefully lots of opportunities to play in the games.”- Schell
The Saskatchewan Summer Games will be held throughout the City of Lloydminster starting July 21 to 27. Check out saskgames.ca/summer for schedules and locations of the various sports.
Stay tune to a follow up story at SaskToday.ca or in an upcoming issue of the Unity-Wilkie Press-Herald on how our local athletes made out during the week.
