So far, it’s been a Winnipeg whitewash
One week into the Summer Games, Newfoundland and Labrador is being shut out when it comes to podium finishes
There was a text message on my phone the other day, from a friend with a three-word question: “Worst Games ever?”
Don’t quite know how to answer that one, but on the basis of wins and losses, these 2017 Summer Games in Winnipeg are shaping up to be a dismal display by Newfoundland and Labrador teams.
Through Week 1, this province had zero medals, bringing up the rear with P.E.I, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon.
Oh boy.
There’s a downward trend with the Canada Summer Games in terms of medals won by Newfoundland and Labrador. Back in 2001, in London, Ont., this province came away with eight. In the three summer events since then, we’ve seen seven medals, six and two won four years ago in Sherbrooke, Que.
Is there a chance, when these Games are in the books next week, Newfoundland and Labrador will have but one medal, or worse, is shut out?
Success, I read in a Tweet this week, is not always solely based on victories and defeats. Perhaps, but in an event such as Canada Games, that belief borders on naiveté.
To be fair to our athletes, they are behind the eight-ball from the get-go. There is not a lot of money for training, our facilities pale greatly in comparison to others across the country, we lack quality, professional coaching, and the weather is awful.
While most outdoor sports across Canada were on the field in April, we were still donning our winter coats in June on Canada’s mostly easterly coast.
Indoor facilities would allow our athletics teams more work on the track, our soccer teams to get more touches on the ball, our baseball and softball teams more work in the batting cage and more ground balls.
In a province such as Newfoundland, indoor, multi-purpose facilities and the necessary equipment are essential, yet there is not a single structure owned by the people of the province.
Private enterprise saw a need and opportunity. Hence, the Techniplex is going great guns.
Good thing it’s there. Regrettably, there will be no re-write to this story. So it’s up to the sports to figure out a way.
Athlete development, in comparison to the rest of Canada, is stagnant, and there is evidence to suggest it’s regressing (we can’t even beat P.E.I. in some core sports.).
Provincial sports governing bodies can’t sit idly by and think all is hunky dory.
The athletes deserve better.
And this is sportsmanship?
Last Saturday night on the University of Winnipeg campus, Alberta and the Yukon met in a women’s basketball game. The final score was 126-2 for Alberta.
Yes. 126-2.
One hundred and twenty-six points for, two against.
I was not at the game. But the scoresheet shows the Yukon had a full contingent of 12 players.
I don’t know if the Albertans pressed early and often, and I don’t know if they were told to start moving the ball around and shoot less.
I do know the Alberta coaches shared the minutes equally up and down the bench.
I’m not sure how you tell your team not to score or rebound, or deliberately crack one off the rim, but I am quite certain the score didn’t need to be racked up by 124 points.
Nobody asked me, but …
Nice little gesture by the Newfoundland baseball team to take in, as a group, their Winnipeg batboy’s minor baseball provincial tournament game Friday …
Shaw Ball Park is home to the Independent league’s Winnipeg Goldeyes and the medal round of the Canada Games baseball competition. It’s the nicest little ball park I’ve seen. The Goldeyes have a healthy following in Winnipeg, and most fans at a game last week – a couple or 3,000 – were wearing a Goldeyes hat or shirt. They love their Jets and Blue Bombers in Winnipeg, but, then again, affection for sports teams is found in a lot of places across Canada. Except St. John’s, which was never a sports town. There was always an underlying feeling of resentment and jealousy by some for the Icecaps, hence the stale yearning for senior hockey which still exists 30 years later … If I was the Newfoundland and Labrador baseball/softball teams, I’d have maroon and white pinstripe uniforms, and the NL stylized like the Yankees’ NY … Winnipeg, with a population of just over 700,000, is the largest city to play host to the Canada Games, but it sure has embraced the Games. Signage is everywhere, over 5,000 people have enlisted themselves as volunteers and just about everyone is aware of the Games. They’ve so far done a bang-up job … The Niagara region is playing host to the 2021 Canada Summer Games. Those were the Games Newfoundland was slated to stage, until the province switched with Ontario. Newfoundland will now play host to the 2025 Summer Games, allegedly. Wonder where the money’s coming from to build a new track and field facility, which will also be used for opening and closing ceremonies, and a swimming pool? Don’t say we’ve got Pearlgate track and the Aquarena … The next Games are the 2019 Canada Winter Games set for Red Deer, Alta. …