The 2015 Canada Winter Games may still be a long way out on Prince George's sporting horizon but they were part of the reason Sandy Kent was in town on the weekend.
Kent, president of Judo B.C., was here for Saturday's Prince George Open tournament and also took the time to meet with Phil Beaulieu, director of sport and venues for the Games.
"We're very interested in working with [Canada Winter Games organizers] to build an excellent tournament up here," said Kent, who lives in Surrey.
"We talked about the organization, we talked about what legacies the Games can leave for the community and the sport of judo and how we can best promote it within the community and across the country and involve all types of media as the event is going on -- things like webcasting and television and keeping things accessible for all the provinces to see when they can't specifically be here."
The Games are scheduled for Feb. 12 to March 1. The four-day judo competition, which will unfold at Prince George secondary school, will bring together more than 150 athletes. Kent said there's a "good possibility" some of them will be future Olympians.
In judo, the traditional powerhouse provinces are Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. But, with the continued development of the sport in B.C., Kent has high expectations for the host province at the Games.
"Absolutely we'll be top-three," he said. "We can aim for No. 1. We've started early -- we've got support from the province already to start developing our team, our coaches are already identifying talent to start bringing them together.
"It's nice in a national event like that because the whole province comes together," Kent added. "It's not club versus club, it's how do we build our team as one large group and everybody's working toward that goal."
Bruce Kamstra and Aline Strasdin of Prince George are on the Team B.C. coaching staff.
Kent, who was a three-time national champion as a judo athlete and a bronze-medalist at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, sees the 2015 Games as an opportunity to grow the sport in this part of the province.
"That's one of the main legacies we want to see out of it -- exposure to what judo is and how it works and hopefully build a lot of interest within the community and surrounding communities as well," he said.
The 2015 Games will be the largest multi-sport and cultural event ever to be held in Prince George and northern B.C. More than 3,600 athletes, coaches and officials -- as well as thousands of visitors -- will be here for the Games.
