Summer Games will rely on teamwork

When Doug Hamilton led a Niagara delegation that visited Red Deer earlier last year to get a behind-the-scenes peek at how organizers present a Canada Games, he had two immediate thoughts.

“The first thing that happens is your jaw drops when you realize how much work there is,” said the chair of the 2021 Canada Summer Games in Niagara.

“The second thing is the importance of the volunteers. Recruiting quality leaders from across Niagara is crucial. Unlike bigger games, like the Olympics, which run with a huge staff, we have a small staff team. Our games will be delivered by our volunteers.”

Niagara was selected in 2017 to host the Games.

The 2021 event will run for 16 days in August and attract more than 5,000 athletes and coaches in 18 different sports, which include everything from track and field to baseball and basketball, beach volleyball and box lacrosse. Some of the volunteers are already hard at work at the Games headquarters, on the third-floor of an office building just off the QEW near Martindale Pond.

“We are recruiting our planning volunteers,” Hamilton said. “We will need about 250 people. They will form each of the venue teams that will be responsible for the events. We are bringing them in and getting them up to speed, and, in turn, they are helping us plan the two weeks of the Games.

“We are already up to about 80 to 100 planning volunteers, and they come in during the evenings. There is a lot going on.”

The Niagara Games crew has helped host what they refer to as “test events” including the Women’s IIHF Hockey Championships and the FIBA Under-18 Americas Basketball Championship in St. Catharines, and the Canadian Wrestling Trials in Niagara Falls.

This summer, they will turn their attention to lacrosse with two St. Catharines events; Canada’s Jr. A lacrosse championship Minto Cup and the 2020 Under-16 Box Lacrosse National Championship at Meridian Centre and the Seymour-Hannah arena complex, respectively.

“The test events serve multiple purposes,” Hamilton said. “They provide some community engagement, and they also allow our volunteer and staff teams to learn about the venues and how to work together. It is also an opportunity to get to know the different national sports federations, and what they need for each event.

“It’s something we are happy to do on an event-by-event basis before we get into 2021 — and are responsible for 18 sports.”