BC Summer Games Report
BC ATHLETICS AGM - January 2005

This year the Summer Games were a challenge for all concerned. With the loss of Jane Swan's leadership early in the process, it was not the smooth planning and preparation for the Games that I had intended. Nevertheless the eight Zone Representatives, our BC Athletics Officials and the Abbotsford track and field volunteers did an exceptional job in pulling together to make this a successful Summer Games from the athletes' perspective.

My final report to the Board of Directors and to the Summer Games office staff listed 11 pages of problems many of which have already been addressed by Brian McCalder in negotiating the athletics' section of the new bid document which is circulated to communities wishing to host future games. In addition the BC Games office staff have carefully gone over my numerous recommendations and have promised to incorporate them into the planning for future events.

My sincere and belated thanks go to the following people and groups for all of their hard work:

• Shirley Young the Assistant Sports Advisor for her work of results and her never-ending support and suggestions.
• The eight Zone Representatives from around the province who had a very difficult time pulling together the zone teams two weeks earlier than usual: Dan Horan Zone 1; Heather Baptie Zone 2; Brad Wallbank Zone 3; Kathy Terlicher Zone 4; Dawn Copping Zone 5; Tom Dingle Zone 6; Joe Galvin Zone 7; and Bill Masich Zone 8. All worked around the clock to put together the most competitive team possible for their zones.
• BC Athletics Officials under the direction of Carol Cull. Comments were received that this group of individuals was the best team ever assembled for a Summer Games and were praised for the extremely high level of officiating at the competition.
• Gerry Swan, Larry Nielsen, Barb Vida and Ron Bunting for their work on the facility preparation and equipment. Everything was well prepared and ready for the competition.
• Jason Swan and Kevin Kydd for their work with the cameras that made the results effortless!
• Jennifer [Gerry's assistant from the Valley Royals] who endured a trial by fire during the event but came out with a new sense of what can go wrong at an event.
• Sue Northey who prepared all of the great food for the officials.
• All of the community volunteers too numerous to mention.

TEAM SELECTION

This was very difficult this year due to the early deadline for selection that is set by the Summer Games office. With the use of e-mail this process is much simpler as communication was ongoing until the final deadline. Starting in 2006 all BC Summer Games will be held on the final weekend in July.

WILD CARD SELECTION

After initial selections were made by the zone reps based on the zone trials, additional athletes were placed on the zone teams based on ranked performances from all zones. The JD Scoring Tables are used to rank all performances so that the best athletes were added to the teams. For example, while it appears that there is only 1 space for a pole vaulter per zone, in reality zones which have superior performances in an event will have additional athletes added to the team. An example is Zone 7 were the female pole vaulters swept the medals!

TRAINING AND CLINICS

A new feature at the Games this year saw the track facility opened up early on the first day for a series of clinics and training sessions offered by coaches from the Valley Royals and PacificSport Fraser Valley. This was a huge success and the clinics were supported and appreciated by athletes from all zones. Clinics featured High Jump Fundamentals with Jas Gill, Starting Blocks with Barb Vida, Throwing Event Drills with Ron Bunting and Warm-up for Middle Distance with Gerry Swan and Sue Northey.

MAJOR PROBLEMS

I will not elaborate on the many problems encountered this year. All of the issues have been addressed with those involved and the problems will be modified, corrected, amended, or replaced for the next Games in 2006. Major problems occurred with heat, water, transportation, food services, lunch delivery, photographs, closing ceremonies, weather conditions, competition shirts, awards presentations, and meet stationery supplies. The greatest impact on the athletes, officials, volunteers and coaches was the extreme heat in the Fraser Valley so we have arranged to hold the next Games in the cool climate of Kamloops!

COACHES

This year we had an amazing group of volunteer coaches working with the athletes and I cannot thank them enough for all of their hard work. With the Games being held in the Lower Mainland it was possible for many local coaches to attend and while there several of them interfered with the competition and created problems for volunteer coaches, the event organizers and the officials. It is important to remember that one of the main purposes of the Summer Games is to serve as a training event for our athletes who will advance on to further multi-sport competitions in other parts of the country. In a different location our athletes will need to rely on the coaching provided by volunteers as it will not be possible for club coaches to attend out-of-province events. The Summer Games also serves as a training session for our Level 2 coaches and it is important that they too learn to work with a variety of new athletes in an unfamiliar setting.

RECORDS

The following records were set in Abbotsford at the 2004 Games.

Diana Hollefreund
Provincial Sport Advisor
BC Summer Games 2004

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