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Orcas to compete at Canada Summer Games, North American Indigenous Games

May 15, 2017 | 12:00 PM

Two of the country’s biggest multi-sport competitions this summer will have representation from the Battlefords Kinsmen Orcas swim club.

Brandon Nord, Taylor Parker, and Lindsay Reimer will compete in Winnipeg at the Canada Summer Games (CSG), while Slade Pruden will compete in Toronto at the North American Indigenous Games. Nord and Parker will represent the province on the 12-person male team, and Reimer will compete on the special Olympics team for the second time.

Although both gatherings are large in scale, each featuring thousands of athletes, they are also very different.

The CSG will essentially feature the 12 fastest male and female youth swimmers from each province across the country, which is why Orcas head coach Ally Mcleod knows it will be some stiff competition.

“This is supposed to be a stepping stone to Junior Pan Pacific [Championships], and eventually the Olympic Games,” McLeod said. “The setup is kind of very similar – there’s an athlete’s village and the competition is supposed to be pretty good – the fastest 12 people from all the provinces are going.”

The coach for Saskatchewan wants athletes to be well-rounded, and so in order to qualify, athletes had to prove they could swim well in more than one type of race.

“The provincial coach made up a point system and simply put, the faster you go in certain events, the more points you get,” McLeod said. “He wanted to spring people who had accumulated 10 points over five different events. So the thought behind that is that they were not just very good at one event. They had to be good at at least five of them to be even considered.”

The Orcas got the times they needed at the Long Course Praire Championships in Saskatoon at the very end of March, which gives them plenty of time to prepare, as the CSG don’t begin until July 28. The swimming events don’t start until August 7.

When it comes to the North American Indigenous Games, athletes needed to do more than just compete at a high level in order to be selected.

The theme of the games is reconciliation and Pruden needed to write a submission in order to get chosen.

“He actually had to write an essay about his family history and what reconciliation means to him,” McLeod said. “Then at a competition, it was kind of like a nomination thing. So they went to the competition and they looked at their events and…they selected kids who performed well and did the written work.”

The 2017 NAIG will be held during the week of July 16-23 and are the tenth games to be put on. With Toronto as the host, they are the first to be in an Eastern region of Canada. It will feature youth ages 13-19 from all 13 provinces and territories, as well as 13 regions in the United States. There are 14 different sports that will be on display during the week, with swimming beginning on July 20.

For now, all four athletes are aware of the need to follow their rigourous training schedules. But coach McLeod also knows it’s important for them to not just be about work, and also enjoy it because these opportunities don’t come around very often.

“They know they really need to put the work in to perform well but they’re also very excited,” McLeod said. “So we’re still trying to reinforce, ‘This is going to be fun. This is a really great opportunity and whatever happens, happens.’”

 

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

@NathanKanter11