The fact so many Olympians were in our Bow Valley last week is ample evidence of the importance of the upcoming Alberta Winter Games in Banff and Canmore.
It also indicates how critical it is that valley residents get on board with volunteering to make the upcoming Alberta Games a success.
Last week, a number of local skiers punched their ticket to the Sochi Olympics by skiiing the races of their lives at the Canmore Nordic Centre to qualify and represent Canada, wear the Maple Leaf and make us all proud.
In particular, Banff was flush with Olympians last weekend, both at the Travelers All-Star Curling Skins Game event at the Fenlands Rec Centre, where Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs’ Olympics-bound rink competed, and on Banff Avenue, where Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team, the Jacobs rink and Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones rink were on hand for the Molson Canadian Block Party Olympics send-off event and to party with The Sheepdogs and the Arkells.
If the Nordic Centre, Fenlands and Banff Avenue events don’t get you stoked to cheer on our Canadian athletes in Russia in February – nothing will.
The thing to remember is that all these Olympians had humble beginnings where they struggled to improve, compete and elevate their given game. All these athletes would have had their start in smaller, less pressurized events like the Alberta Games.
For example, Canmore Olympian Sara Renner had a quality Winter Games experience in Sundre – where she enjoyed camaraderie, competition and the fact she was recognized as an athlete by others. When Renner was named a games ambassador in 2013, she was quoted as saying, “They were my true beginning as an athlete and an introduction to the competitive world.”
As a youngster, Renner said she fondly remembers skiers like Carol Gibson and Jean McAllister (1988 Olympics, cross-country) speaking with herself and other young athletes. “At that age (Winter Games age), I remember them talking to us, telling us about being athletes and just that they took the time.”
As well as lighting a competitive fire within herself, Renner said provincial Winter Games were also the beginning for Olympians like Beckie Scott and the Fortier sisters, Amanda and Jaime.
Renner and Scott made the jump from Winter Games competitors to Olympic silver co-medallists, so it’s not hard to picture some of the athletes that will be in our valley for the Alberta Games (Feb. 7-9) being on the same career path.
With 19 sports ranging from on snow to on hardwood, and everything in between, even swashbucklers with swords in hand, who knows how many future Olympians may find their athletic spark lit in our valley?
And from a tourism perspective, who knows what kind of future upside there may be in having as many as 2,500 athletes, coaches and officials, along with who knows how many friends and family, enjoying themselves in our Bow Valley? A quality Winter Games experience and fond memories will no doubt lead to future visits.
