(Submitted photo/Team Saskatchewan)

By Ben Tompkins

Team Saskatchewan

Northeast to be well represented at 2023 Canada Winter Games

Feb 15, 2023 | 5:09 PM

Team Saskatchewan has announced its rosters for the upcoming 2023 Canada Winter Games, and it features a handful of northeast representatives.

Athletes and support members from Melfort, Nipawin, and Humboldt, will all attend when the games kickoff, this Saturday (Feb. 18).

A total of four people (used to be five, before Wayde Yaworski from Humboldt had to withdraw from Archery, due to personal reasons), will be competing in alpine skiing, gymnastics, and karate.

One of those members is a Grade 11 student from Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate, Taylor Downey.

She told northeastNOW she’s excited to head down to Prince Edward Island for a national competition.

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“It’s my first time flying ever, and my first time going to PEI or competing nationally at this level, so I’m super grateful for the opportunity and excited to meet other people and just have a lot of fun and learn from it.”

Downey will be taking part in kumite (sparring), which falls under the karate category, a sport she began at the age of 10.

Being the only athlete from Melfort for Team Sask, this go around, she feels particularly honoured about the opportunity.

“It means a lot because you don’t see it very often from a small town, especially in the northeast. In general, you don’t see a lot of that at these national events, so it feels really special to be able to be someone who can represent the northeast.”

Downey trains out of both the Melfort Karate Club and the Saskatchewan High Performance Karate Association in Saskatoon.

She’s been ramping up that training process recently, as she hopes to be at her best when the time comes.

“I’ve been going back and forth from Melfort to Saskatoon for training camp, and I’ve also been Zooming into classes, so over video chat. Also just building cardio and strength workouts to physically prepare myself and focusing on what I’ve improved on from when I first started training to where I am now has helped with the mental part.”

Downey is set to have her competition day on Feb. 22, where she will endure a total of four matches.

She added the local support has been a huge factor, and that she knows it will carry with her for that day.

“Support locally is great, my club has been a big part of supporting me and teachers as well at my school, there’s been lots of people wishing me good luck. Definitely support from my family too, with getting me to the training camps and making sure I have all that I need to get to be my very best.”

As for the rest of the northeast, it will be Marrie Millette from Humboldt for gymnastics, and Ty Annand for alpine skiing, with Wade Annand on technical support, both from Nipawin.

Millette, who started at three years old, said she’s confident everyone has pretty similar goals.

“My goals are to hopefully make the all around final and to also just have a great experience with my teammates… I’m just super excited to go and have fun, I hope everyone else has fun and stays safe, and I hope to meet new people along the way as well,” she said.

The 2023 Canada Winter Games will end on March 5.

Sports included in the event are alpine skiing, archery, badminton, biathlon, boxing, cross country skiing, curling, fencing, figure skating, freestyle skiing, gymnastics, hockey, judo, karate, ringette, snowboard, speed skating, squash, table tennis, and wheelchair basketball.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8