The sendoff
Pictou County being represented by 16 athletes at Canada Games
Kaelan Schmidt walks back to his seat after singing O Canada during a sendoff for Pictou County’s Canada Games athletes this week at the Pictou County Wellness Centre. Schmidt is one of 16 athletes competing from Pictou County for Team Nova Scotia in Winnipeg. He will compete in high jump, triple jump and long jump.
They were led in with bagpipes, asked to stand as their name was announced and applauded by all in attendance. Pictou County will be well represented at the Canada Games in Winnipeg with 16 athletes playing for Team Nova Scotia. While they won’t actually be leaving until later this week, on Monday night those athletes got a proper sendoff with a special event in their honour at the Pictou County Wellness Centre where family and friends celebrated their achievement of making it to this level of competition. The sendoff was hosted by Pictou County’s three MLAs with the help of others in the community. “It was important to me that we show the athletes that their community supports them, respects them and is proud of their accomplishments,” said Pictou East MLA Tim Houston. “We did that and it was obvious that it meant something to the athletes.” Cindy MacKinnon, who works for Destination Eastern and Northumberland Shores and has been active in Pictou County’s sports community for years, helped with some of the behind the scenes work for the event. She said it’s exciting to see so many young athletes from Pictou County who will have this opportunity. She said track in particular seems to have grown in the county with the creation of the Pioneer Track in Stellarton and it’s starting to play a large role in the county. What’s nice this year is that the Games are in Winnipeg, a place where many of the athletes probably haven’t had a chance to travel yet. “There’s a lot of excitement,” she said. “It’s a nice trip for them.” MacKinnon remembers back when her brother went to the Canada Games in the 1980s and came home with a gold medal. She hopes that some of the athletes will get to experience that same thrill of success. This year she’ll be going as a spectator to cheer on the local athletes, particularly those she knows on the softball team. In addition to seeing a new part of Canada and the excitement of taking part in this calibre of an event she said it’s a great opportunity for the athletes to meet and talk with other athletes from across the country. She knows they’ll do the county proud.