Sydney Irving scored a goal this week she'd been working toward for the last six months.
Irving, a forward with the Prince George 18-plus ringette squad, found out on Wednesday she made the cut for Team B.C. that will take to the ice at the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
The squad will compete at the 2015 Games in Prince George at the Elksentre and Coliseum, Feb. 14-20.
"I couldn't believe it [when Team B.C.] called, it's something I'd been working towards for so many months," said Irving. "To compete in front of family and friends and to share it with everyone... to represent Prince George in ringette is awesome."
Irving's journey to the team began six months ago, in November, when her Prince George squad competed at a tournament in Burnaby and she realized she had a shot at making the 2015 Games team.
The first set of tryouts in Burnaby were the weekend after the tournament. She, along with her Prince George teammate Justine Lamothe, made the first cut as the roster was whittled down to 30. The B.C. team returned to the ice in December in Salmon Arm and it was trimmed to 25 girls.
In February in Kelowna, the team held an evaluation camp and played games against Canada Winter Games alumni.
The camp was held in conjunction with the annual Sweethearts tournament at which all the club teams competed.
They were also given advice on what to work on leading up to the final tryout on the May long weekend at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
Between February and May, Irving and Lamothe trained hard. Their days included attending high school, strength-training in the weight room at Pacific Sport Northern B.C. at the Northern Sport Centre, power skating and ringette practice while the ice was still in.
They also had the expertise of sports psychologist Ann Holmes who helped them stay focused.
"She [Ann] said we had to stay in the moment and helped us focus on the tryout and not to think about the outcome," said Irving. "Because why stress yourself out since you can't control it."
That camp at the U of S involved B.C. battling Manitoba's and Saskatchewan's 2015 Games teams as they too were in the final stages of the evaluation process. The three teams were split into two squads each and competed in a six-team tournament.
Irving received the phone call Wednesday night she was selected as one of 18 players for the provincial team. Lamothe did not make the team.
Irving said that was tough news to take.
"It's upsetting because she [Justine]worked so hard," said Irving. "It was a journey. We pushed each other to try and reach our goals. It was a team effort. It's hard to make the team because we're best friends.
"It was a close competition, everybody knew what was at stake. We all could've made the team."
Through the entire process, everyone in the Prince George ringette community was so supportive, said Irving, a Grade 11 student at College Heights secondary.
"At the Kelowna tryouts, the Prince George under-12 and under-10 teams came out and made posters for us," she said. "They [PG Ringette] helped us with ice time and practice. And my parents were great too."
Team B.C. also features three players from Quesnel - Colleen Moorhouse, Hannah Young and Jessica MacDonald.
Between now and the 2015 Games, Irving will continue to train and she also has high school finals to write next month.
The squad will get together in August for a training camp and compete in a tournament in Manitoba in August.
