March 14, 2007

2007 Canada Winter Games Team in Whitehorse

Eight lucky players and two great coaches made the trip up to Whitehorse last week to compete against teams from across Canada in the first Canada Winter Games held north or the 60th parallel. We stepped off the plane at 2 am to the warm welcome of -30 Yukon weather. After a first look at the Athlete's Village and a breakfast from the cafeteria we checked out the squash venues. Better Bodies, the only squash club in the Yukon, had made room for a full set of bleachers where fans and team-mates cheered each other on. We also got a chance to hit on the glass court that had been set up at a school in town. We made use of the viewing angles by playing an entertaining game of lives.

The host society put on an impressive event. In between matches and trips to the cafeteria, we had the opportunity to check out a few other sports including boxing, wheelchair basketball, gymnastics, and table tennis. A Team BC pep rally got us pumped for our first match against the home team. After beating the Yukon, BC breezed through the next three rounds before coming up against a tough Alberta team. Despite a strong effort from all the girls, we were taken down 3-1 with Sarah beating the Alberta #1 Jackie Moss 3-0. Finishing second in our pool put us up against a powerhouse team from Ontario in the semi-finals. We fought hard but went down 4-0. Determined to take home bronze, we played Manitoba on the final day. Nikki started us off strong with a 3-0 win over Manitoba #2 Elise-Marie Jacobs. Kristen had a challenging match against Chelsea Clarke and went down 3-0 but managed to keep us ahead by one point. Sarah was up next and faced a fired up Alix Younger who battled hard but couldn't take down our BC #1. We were unable to tell what was on Rachel's mind as she walked on the court with a straight face, but clearly she was in the zone to win and took down her opponent 3-0, securing the bronze medal. After both the Ontario boys' and girls' teams took down Alberta in the finals, we all took to the podium.

With the squash all wrapped up it was time to have some fun. Rebecca did an awesome job of finding us an adventure for our last day in Whitehorse. In our full Team BC snowsuits we were ready for a true northern experience. We enjoyed a scenic horse drawn sleigh ride through a snow-covered forest overlooking the spectacular Yukon river and surrounding mountains. The fun didn't stop as we went snow tubing, snowmobiling, horseback riding and dog sledding. We warmed up with some hot chocolate by the fire before heading to the clothing ceremonies. An energetic Yukon crowd showed their incredible hospitality to all teams one last time. The entertainment was creative to say the least, we experienced throat singing for the first time and watched the torch being passed to PEI for the 2009 Summer Games. After a quick clothing swap we were bussed to the airport and on our way home with bronze medals and memories from an amazing trip.

We’d like to thank Jeff and Rebecca for all of their hard work, and Squash BC and all of it’s supporters for helping to develop our junior program.

By Sarah Parsons, Nikki Sequeira and Kristen Iverson

Click here to view Scenes from Whitehorse