The Canada Games

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

It has been a couple of days since we arrived in Sherbrooke for Canada Games and these are my observations thus far. Accommodations aren't too bad seeing as we are many in one room. I guess you can chalk that up to the perks of traveling with a large athletic group. Many of us have experienced this as athletes and coaches and it is something that we will always remember either as a positive or negative experience. For you athletes that will be eligible for the upcoming Canada Games, be ready for a truly unique experience. Train hard, with that goal in mind and good things will happen. Opening ceremonies were a blast and were quite different than the closing ceremonies that I participated in when I wrestled the Canada Games. I guess there is the fact that it seems to have more support from both the Federal and Provincial governments as lots of money has been poured into publicizing and making these games as good as they can be.

The food is good which is always important but this obviously makes it difficult for our younger athletes who are cutting weight. As wrestlers, we have all gone through the hard cut and with Canada Games, it is especially hard seeing as between the time they qualify and the the time they compete, some will experience a growth spurt. This makes maintaining the weight very difficult and I applaud the efforts and discipline of our Boys and Girls Teams.

The competition venue of which those of you who are able to find the webcasts (I believe that it will be broadcasted on the Canada Games website. If not, then Google it) is truly looking like a world class event. World class Dollamur Mats, and large view screens make the venue one of, if not the nicest I've seen since the Olympic Games. Hopefully you can catch some live matches on the webcasts. I expect to see some high quality and competitive matches in the following days.

All that remains now is for the athletes to make weight. To all of you who read these blogs, wish us luck.