Both local residents and the Saskatchewan synchronized swimming team got a taste Sunday night of what the Canada Winter Games will be like.
The 10-member team performed a 20-minute routine before packed bleachers filled with appreciative local residents at the Prince George Aquatic Centre. Thrilled to be performing in front of a audience, the team, made up of athletes from 13 to 17 years old, weren't faking those smiles in the water. To prove it, they stood together on the side of the pool after their performance and as the audience members filed past them on the way out, they thanked everyone for coming to see them.
"See you in February," was a common response.
The squad held its eight-day training camp in Prince George as a team-building exercise, since four members of the team are from Regina, another four are from Saskatoon with the other two hailing from Yorkton and Estevan. The camaraderie was clear Sunday night with the loud encouragement coming from the sidelines as their fellow teammates performed in the diving tank.
During their stay, the team, which returns home today, spent five hours in the pool each day for two-hour and three-hour training stints. When they weren't in the water, the girls stayed in the student residences at CNC and ate in the school cafeteria. For the past week, they became a familiar sight, walking back and forth between the college and the pool twice each day, their lime-green backpacks hanging off their shoulders.
Training in the same venue that they will be competing in just seven months from now is important for the team but their performance Sunday night bodes well for all of the visiting athletes once the Games are underway.
While some of the test events that occurred last winter gave the local population a sample of the athletic calibre that will be on display during the Canada Winter Games, there was no way of knowing which of those athletes will actually be competing in Prince George during the Games. Saskatchewan named its 10-member synchronized swimming team last month. Even though Sunday wasn't a competitive event, it was an excellent welcome from the community for these athletes who will be here in February.
The value of that welcome can't be overstated.
"The girls really like Prince George," coach Natalie Good said Friday. "Everyone has been super friendly and helpful. And there's been a lot of people who've come by and watched us practise. Everyone has said they've seen nothing like it. People walking by said it's awesome."
If the faces of the team members was any indication, Prince George is their new favourite place and they can't wait to get back here and go for gold. They'll return to their homes with nothing but good feelings for this city and its residents.
Perhaps the best benefit from having the Saskatchewan team in Prince George this week is they weren't invited. They called ahead to book accommodations and meals at the college and training access at the pool. Great job by the staff at the college and the pool at making that happen and making their stay so productive. That's Prince George hospitality at work.
And great job by the residents who came out Sunday to see these talented young women show off their incredible athleticism. For anyone who's only seen synchronized swimming on TV, it doesn't capture the intense physical and mental effort needed to tread water upside down while performing complicated dance movements to music. Like figure skating, the judging of the synchronized swimming may be on points and somewhat subjective but there is no doubt they are athletes to do what they can do in the water.
If the 2015 Canada Winter Games organizers were in the least way worried about community enthusiasm for the visiting athletes next February, those concerns were dismissed entirely Sunday night. Local residents obviously can't wait to welcome the nation and cheer on Canada's best young athletes and future Olympians.
