Canada Games Daily

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015

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CANADA GAMES

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015

DAILY

THE SECRETS OF SOLO SYNCHRO AND TABLE TENNIS PAGE 8-9

VETERAN VOLUNTEER

FOLLOWS

GAMES PAGE 7

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015

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Medal standings

As of 5 p.m., Feb. 27

Team

Gold

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Silver Bronze Total

Quebec

58 35

Ontario

37 37 22 96

British Columbia

20 27 29 76

Alberta

12 21 32 65

Saskatchewan

6 8

Manitoba

6 3 6 15

New Brunswick

3 4 6 13

Yukon

3 1 3 7

Newfoundland and Labrador

2 2 - 4

Nova Scotia

- 1 1 2

Northwest Territories

- 1 - 1

Prince Edward Island Nunavut

- - 1 1

37 130

13 27

- - - -

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What’s on

SATURDAY 9 a.m.

Badminton

Mixed team competition, 5th vs. 6th Mixed team competition, 7th vs. 8th

1 p.m.

Mixed team competition, 9th vs. 10th Mixed team competition - finals, bronze Mixed team competition - finals, gold Northern Sports Centre

9 a.m.

Women’s Curling

5th place match Cross over, A5 vs. A4 Cross over, A7 vs. A6 Cross over, B5 vs. B4 Finals - Bronze 5 p.m.

Finals - Gold Prince George Golf and Curling Club

Squash

Women’s team, 11th vs. 12th Women’s team, 5th vs. 6th Women’s team, 7th vs. 8th Women’s team, 9th vs. 10th

12 p.m.

1 p.m.

Northern Sports Centre

Women’s team - finals, bronze Women’s team - finals, gold

2 p.m.

4 p.m.

3:30 p.m.

Women’s singles - final, bronze Women’s singles - final, gold

6:30 p.m.

Men’s singles - final, bronze Men’s singles - final, gold Duchess Park Secondary School

Men’s team - finals, bronze Men’s team - finals, gold UNBC

Synchronized swimming

9:30 a.m.

Solo women - finals b

11:30 a.m.

Solo women - finals a Prince George Aquatic Centre

10 a.m.

1 p.m.

9 a.m.

Men’s team, 7th vs. 8th Men’s team, 9th vs. 10th

Men’s team, 11th vs. 12th Men’s team, 5th vs. 6th

Cross Country Skiing

Women’s relay, 4 x 3.75-km - final

11:15 a.m.

Men’s relay, 4 x 5-km - final Otway Nordic Centre

Table Tennis

10:45 a.m.

Snowboard

Women’s snowboard cross - qualification Men’s snowboard cross - qualification

2 p.m.

Women’s snowboard cross - quarter-finals Women’s snowboard cross - semifinals Women’s snowboard cross - Big Final Women’s snowboard cross - Small Final Men’s snowboard cross - quarter-finals Men’s snowboard cross - semifinals Men’s snowboard cross - Big Final Men’s snowboard cross - Small Final Tabor Mountain Ski Resort

12 p.m.

Judo

Women’s doubles - final, bronze Women’s doubles - final, gold

Women’s team competition - quarter-finals Women’s team competition - semifinals Men’s team competition - quarter-finals Men’s team competition - semifinals

Men’s doubles - final, bronze Men’s doubles - final, gold

Women’s team competition - finals, bronze Women’s team competition - finals, gold

10 a.m.

11 a.m.

12 p.m.

Mixed doubles - final, bronze Mixed doubles - final, gold

4 p.m.

5 p.m.

Men’s team competition - finals, bronze Men’s team competition - finals, gold

Men’s hockey

Relegation Kin 2 Arena Complex

7:30 p.m.

Relegation Kin 2 Arena Complex Finals - Bronze CN Centre

2 p.m.

Entertainment

Jake’s Gift (one person play) performs at Royal Canadian Legion

5 p.m.

DJ Ant performs on the BCLC Centre Stage, Canada Games Plaza.

5:30 p.m.

Doug Koyama (pop rock) performs on the BCLC Centre Stage, Canada Games Plaza.

6:45 p.m.

Skratch Bastid (dj) performs on the BCLC Centre Stage, Canada Games Plaza.

7:30 p.m.

Jake’s Gift (one person play) performs at Royal Canadian Legion

8 p.m.

Classified (hip hop) performs on the BCLC Centre Stage, Canada Games Plaza.

9 p.m.

The Gaff (hip hop, dance, dj) performs at Cariboo House

SUNDAY 11:35 a.m.

Finals - Gold

8 p.m.

Jessey DaCosta (folk) performs at ArtSpace

8:30 p.m.

King Crow and the Ladies From Hell (gypsy punk) perform at ArtSpace

COVER PHOTO: Brendan Grosjean from Team Saskatchewan in the Slope Style Board Compition at Tabor Mountain Friday ABOVE: Emily Suchy from Team B.C. winning the Womens 5km sit-ski. Brent Braaten, photographer.

Men’s Hockey

4 p.m.

Entertainment

Closing ceremonies, featuring Jerusha White, Out of Alba and King Crow and the Ladies from Hell at UNBC

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015

Glass courts give new view of squash Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca Squash has always been a unfriendly spectator sport.

Most squash courts are in club facilities and have solid white walls on three sides and a glass enclosure at one end, which includes the doorway entrance.

And once the crowd congregates at that one end to see the matches, the fight for unobstructed viewing positions begins.

That hasn’t been a problem at the Canada Winter Games.

The unique setup of two portable courts with Plexiglas walls on all four sides assembled at the Northern Sport Centre fieldhouse has allowed unprecedented views of the action on the courts for spectators, photographers and videographers, who can capture the expressions on the faces of the players as they watch the ball coming at them.

There are head-on views of the court from the front and rows of seats set up along the sides of the courts and in the back where the referees sit, and those stands have been full most of the week.

The Games have attracted Canada’s best under-19 women and the top under-23 men and the level of play the past few days has been off the charts. Prince George has never seen squash played at such a high calibre and having the excitement of the matches showcased in a state-of-the art

facility has left a huge impression on the fans, players, coaches and officials.

The city’s only other squash facilities are the two courts located on the second floor of the Northern Sport Centre, also used for the Games. Matches played in the two upper courts were shown live on two large video screens adjacent to the glass courts.

The glass courts were installed by a crew from Manta World Sport of Kamloops. Both courts were made in Germany and have been used at several high-profile tournaments in North America.

The bluish glass court, in which the gold-medal matches were decided, will be shipped to Toronto this July as one of the four courts to be used for the Pan Am Games.

The other court will be sent to Barbados after the Games for an international tournament.

“We helped them assemble this and one of the guys (from Manta) is quite involved in squash worldwide and he thinks there has only been two or three times in the world where there’s been two glass courts set up in one spot,” said Reg Foot, Canada Winter Games co-sport leader for squash.

The walls are tinted with blue or grey dots and while players can see people outside of the court, their eyes are focused on the ball and everything else becomes a blur.

Unlike conventional whitepainted courts where a black ball

is used, a white ball is used in the glass courts.

“We were itching to play after we got it all set up Saturday and for the first little bit it’s weird but after a while you get the hang of it,” said Foot.

Sometimes players temporarily lose track of the ball on a high shot because it’s a white object passing in front of a white light, but they otherwise gave the glass courts rave reviews.

“This is the first time I’ve ever played in a glass court and it takes a while to get adjusted to it because when the ball comes near the glass wall it’s hard to see and when you look up for lobs and stuff the lights really blind you,” said Team B.C. player Nic Vincent of Victoria. “But I really like

it more with the stands and the people cheering you. You barely see them when you’re playing and it’s the best way to show squash.”

“I was really nervous at first because I’d never played on glass before but after a couple times I got used to it,” said Andrea Toth of Vancouver. “Just the way the ball bounces is different and sometimes when you swing, you get too close or too far. The colour of the ball and the lights is different. But now that I’ve adapted to it, I like it.”

B.C. team coach Benjamin Uliana of Victoria wishes all squash courts were made of glass.

“It’s the best thing we could have,” he said. “It’s a tougher way to play but once you get used to it, spectator-wise it’s going to sell the

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game. Even the pros, when they play professional tournaments, only have one glass court set up.

Having two set up side-by-side is unbelievable.”

The Prince George Squash Association inquired about keeping one of the glass courts as a possible legacy of the Games but was turned down in its request because the NSC is used for other sports and there is no suitable alternate space for it.

“It would be very nice to have more than two courts, and some viewing space to get people involved in the sport,” said CWG squash co-sport leader Barry Hirtz. “We used to have six courts in the city but now we’re down to just the two up here and it makes it difficult to run a tournament.”

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

The squash courts that were installed in the Northern Sport Centre for the Canada Winter Games.

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WWW.PGCITIZEN.CA | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015

Athletes Village a focal point of the Games Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN Citizen staff sallen@pgcitizen.ca At the heart of the Canada Winter Games Athletes Village, competitors loll on couches or bean bags, some listening to music but most deep into video games on one of the 65-inch TV screens.

At the entrance to the Prince George Public Library’s top floor, they’re greeted with dozens of board games to play, stacks of free comic books, and – as they wend their way through the rows of library books – table tennis and several life-sized Jenga sets.

The idea said Adam Spurrell, coordinator of the village services, was to create a space where athletes could escape.

“Whether it’s pre-competition where they need to just shut down for a bit or it’s postcompetition and they need to reflect, it’s hard to do that in a hotel room or out at the Plaza,” said Spurrell, adding that the UNBC Residence Life team was the key coordinator of the space. “So what we wanted to do, and make sure that we had, is just a sanctuary for these athletes to escape to.”

The space is quiet during the day – there were about 50 kids in the upstairs enclave Thursday afternoon – but it picks up to several hundred at night, Spurrell said.

Spurrell said they borrowed ideas from past Games venues, but that there were still hiccoughs along the way: some equipment, for example didn’t come in time.

“I thought we had planned for everything,” he said.

The advice he’d give to the event’s next organizers?

“It’s impossible to over-plan and over-

SPURRELL prepare,” he said. “Be flexible and be ready that things aren’t going to go your way and that’s fine. At the end of the day as long as the athletes and participants are having a great time and they’re safe and they’re healthy, that’s all that matters.”

Just next door at the bottom of the Civic Centre is perhaps the most important room to energetic young athletes: the place where they get their food.

Volunteers scan each person’s Games ID upon entrance.

At its peak, 1,650 athletes were fed in one hour on the day of the opening ceremony.

“They’re a very efficient operation,” said Lana Keim, chair for the Athletes Village.

It’s run by 72 staff members, 22 of whom are Red Seal Chefs preparing meals that are typically decided ahead of time by teams.

There’s a cereal, fruit and bagel and bread station on one side of the room, and rows and rows of 700 seats on the other.

Athletes can drop in any time from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Upstairs at the Civic Centre, the Poly

Clinic is a quiet space for the treatment of minor injuries and illness, as well as therapy – as a way to relieve any pressure on the hospital by the influx of athletes.

Despite the calm, the clinic has had a flurry of activity over two weeks, having just treated patient 1,000 on Wednesday.

For the most part, doctors treat between 50 to 75 patients a day for soft tissue injuries and pulled muscles, but they have also seen a case of acute respiratory distress.

Robert Stewart, the chair of the medical centre, said there have been 11 ambulance calls for athletes.

The area has two examination rooms, a therapy room, an observation room and medical communications centre that also serves as headquarters for St. John Ambu-

lance and BC Ambulance.

Athlete Nathan Shuh spends most of his time in the training hall at the College of New Caledonia, but said the volunteers at all the venues, including the Athletes Village, have made a difference.

“All the little things that they do have really made our week wonderful,” said the 17-year-old from Ontario, who competes in trampoline.

“The people in Prince George, I’m blown away by how friendly they’ve been.

They’ve been so hospitable and everyone’s been involved in the pin trading so it’s kind of been a catalyst for all the people connecting with other people and making new friends.

“It’s just been such a good experience.”

CITIZEN PHOTO BY CHRISTINE HINZMANN

Team Nova Scotia playing video games Thursday morning at the Athletes Lounge on the upper floor of the Prince George Public Library.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015

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Cushing has followed Games trail as volunteer Jason PETERS Citizen Sports Editor jpeters@pgcitizen.ca

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ost athletes consider themselves fortunate to qualify for one or two Canada Winter Games.

These are John Cushing’s fifth.

Cushing, a 68-year-old from Edmonton, is in Prince George as a volunteer. He arrived in early February and helped with the setup at Tabor Mountain, host venue for freestyle skiing.

Once the Games started, he shifted his focus to media services.

He has spent time at Tabor, the Otway Nordic Centre and the Northern Sport Centre, assisting various media outlets in the gathering of their stories.

For Cushing – who holds a Masters degree in recreation administration and sport studies – being involved in the Canada Winter Games over the years has been his way of staying close to sport and lending his expertise to the organizing committees.

“You are doing something for the enjoyment of others,” Cushing said. “There’s a real positive vibe with these Games and they always have been that way.

“When we do cross country ski events or biathlon events in Canmore – usually at the international level – it’s the same thing. You get return thanks and gratitude from

CITIZEN STAFF PHOTO

John Cushing, a resident of Edmonton, is in Prince George as a volunteer for the Canada Winter Games. the athletes and coaches and so on.”

Cushing loves being around high-level athletes and seeing them compete at events like the Canada Winter Games.

“It’s just their enthusiasm, and

that they’ve trained so hard for this moment,” he said.

“This is their moment and it doesn’t matter how you compare to another athlete from another province or territory.”

The positive energy of the ath-

letes, he added, is contagious.

“Definitely, and I can see it in other volunteers here,” he said.

“That’s why they love being a part of the Games. And it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you get those vibes.”

Cushing’s first Canada Winter Games was in Grande Prairie, Alta., in 1995. Leading up to Prince George, his others were in Campbellton and Bathurst, N.B. (2003), Whitehorse, Yukon (2007) and Halifax, N.S. (2011).

Cushing was also on staff for the 1997 Canada Summer Games in Brandon, Man. As well as working at international competitions in places like Canmore and nearby Lake Louise, Alta., Cushing was a volunteer during the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in VancouverWhistler.

For the Olympics, he worked at Cyprus Mountain, which was the venue for freestyle skiing and snowboarding. And, at the Paralympics, he was stationed at Whistler for the para-alpine events.

Cushing is passionate about sport, and not just the various ski disciplines. His other loves include squash (he is a nationallevel official and has worked at previous Canada Winter Games in that capacity) and triathlon.

His volunteer involvement in triathlon has included multiple world championships in Edmonton and the Kelowna Apple

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Triathlon.

Cushing is single and semi-retired so he has a certain degree of freedom to travel to events.

While Cushing said he doesn’t like to compare any one Games with another, he had nothing but positive comments about the 2015 edition.

“It’s excellent – there are some really good attributes here,” he said. “Your venues are excellent, the opening ceremonies were excellent. I think your transportation is very good – you seem to have three systems in place.

“And the advantage is that your venues are concentrated so it’s not difficult to get around.

Transportation is always difficult at any Games and I think you’ve done it very well. I don’t know the insides and outs but that’s a cursory, outside perspective. And Canada Games Plaza is an excellent setup.”

Cushing is also a big fan of having athlete accommodations in the downtown.

“It allows the athletes and support groups to be downtown, taking in all the activities and entertainment.”

The next Canada Winter Games will be in 2019 in Red Deer, practically in Cushing’s back yard. He said he hopes to be a part of them.

“I can’t guarantee anything but yes, it would certainly be a good opportunity,” he said. “I’m getting older, so we’ll see.”

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Going solo in synchro

Q: How can there be a solo competition in synchronized swimming? Who or what are solo competitors synchronizing with?

Arthur WILLIAMS Citizen staff awilliams@pgcitizen.ca

A:

The Canada Winter Games will feature figures, solo, duet and team events in synchronized swimming.

Synchronized swimming is a mix of swimming, dance and gymnastics. Swimmers perform a series of movements and poses to music – called figures.

Every competitor, including members of teams and duets, in synchronized swimming at the Games will have to compete in an individual competition: the figures competition.

Each competitor in the figures competition must swim two compulsory figures, plus two additional figures from one of four optional figures groups.

In the figures competition, each swimmer is judged only on the execution and difficulty of the figures

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Team of Stefanie Dickson and Katherine Stirrat from B.C. in synchronized swimming pairs. they perform – there is no synchro-

nization element.

However, synchronization becomes a factor in judging the free and technical routines performed by solos, duets and teams.

According to the Federation Internationale de Natation general rules book for 2013 to 2017, judging is performed by three panels of five judges.

In free routines the first panel decided the execution score (worth 30 per cent of the total score), the second panel awards the artistic impression score (worth 40 per cent) and the final panel decides the difficulty score (worth 30 per cent.)

In technical routines the judging is similar, except the artistic impression score is only worth 30 per cent and the third panel awards an elements score (worth 40 per cent of the total score), instead based on difficulty.

In both routines, the execution panel awards points based on synchronization and execution.

According to FINA, synchronization scores should be awarded

based on “the precision of in unison, one with the other, and the accompaniment above, at and below the surface synchronization of timing of one with another and with music.”

So synchronized swimmers are judged not just on their synchronization with each other, but also with the music accompanying their routine.

Because solo swimmers only need to synchronize themselves with their music, the synchronization portion of the score is only worth 10 per cent of the total execution score – or three per cent of the final score.

For duets and teams, synchronization is worth half the execution score, making it worth 15 per cent of the final score.

While one often thinks of teams of swimmers moving together in simultaneous, graceful motion as what synchronized swimming is all about, solo competitions play a key role in the sport.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015

The tale of table tennis Q: When did table tennis become a sport? Why isn’t it called Ping-Pong anymore?

Arthur WILLIAMS Citizen staff awilliams@pgcitizen.ca

A:

The Canada Winter Games will feature men’s and women’s singles and doubles competition, as well as the mixed doubles competition.

But when did the popular parlour game of table tennis – familiar to many from rec rooms and dorm rooms around the world – become a competitive sport?

According to the International Table Tennis Federation, several attempts were made in the 19th century to bring the fun of lawn tennis to a smaller, indoor playing surface.

In 1890 David Foster introduced Parlour Table Games in England.

The game set included tabletop versions of cricket, football and tennis.

It is the first known game that brought the action of outdoor tennis to life on a tabletop with stringed rackets, 30 mm clothcovered rubber balls and a net.

The game included a wooden perimeter fence and side nets to catch stray balls.

Other game makers followed suite with games called Gossima, whiff-whaff and ping-pong (which was trademarked as Ping-Pong

by J. Jaques & Son Ltd. in 1901, which later sold the trademark to Parker Brothers).

Because the name Ping-Pong is trademarked, the generic term for the game table tennis.

The game grew in popularity during the early 1900s and people began to organize tournaments and consolidate the rules of the game.

In 1921 the British Table Tennis

Association was formed, and in 1926 the International Table Tennis Federation was founded – with Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, India, Sweden and Wales being the founding members.

In December 1926 the first official World Table Tennis Championships were held in London.

One could argue that was the moment table tennis transformed from a parlour amusement to a true competitive sport.

Table tennis debuted as an Olympic sport at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, Korea – sealing table tennis’ place as an international sport played at the highest level.

So, just because you first played it in a basement rec room on a rainy afternoon doesn’t mean that table tennis isn’t a serious sport.

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Games gab Here’s what people are saying online about the Canada Winter Games: Over 900 hours of #2015CanGames action webcasting! Watch live or catch up here: http://www.canadagamestv.ca — @2015CanadaGames The #UNBC campus is looking great in advance of the #2015CanGames closing ceremony. Watch 4 pm PT on Sunday on TSN2! #cityofPG — @pjames

Come by Dutchess Park #CGTableTennis and play some Mini Table Table Tennis!!! #2015CanGames — @thor_ttcan

If you’re in downtown #cityofPG, keep an eye out for our street team, a #RandomActsOfPizza could pop up ;) #2015CanGames — @Panago_Pizza

Someone was very excited to see Nanguz! #CanadaGames #2015 CanGames #Nanguz — @Col_Rae

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