Wildfire smoke scrubs beach volleyball play at Canada Summer Games

Smoke from wildfires near St. John’s N.L., gave Nunavut’s men’s and women’s beach volleyball duos an unscheduled day of rest Tuesday at the Canada Summer Games.

Organizers announced Monday that scheduled games for men’s and women’s beach volleyball were postponed until further notice.

“They have to find a new location because of the wildfires, so there are no beach volleyball events today,” Andrea Anderson, a staff member for Nunavut’s beach volleyball team, said Tuesday.

Postponing the competition is intended to reduce athletes’ and spectators’ exposure to smoke from nearby wildfires. Two fires that broke out Monday near St. John’s prompted nearby towns of Paradise and Conception Bay South to issue evacuation preparedness alerts Monday evening.

Beach volleyball’s original venue was in Paradise Park, just west of St. John’s.

The nearest fire to St. John’s is burning out of control just a few kilometres southwest of Paradise and the St. John’s suburb of Mount Pearl.

Sailing was also postponed and lacrosse and soccer events were relocated, a Canada Summer Games news release issued Monday said.

The players haven’t complained about air quality, said Nunavut men’s beach volleyball coach Rob Tomyn.

“It’s fine where we are,” he said. “It’s just a precautionary measure for the volunteers, I believe.”

Team Nunavut’s chances of advancing to the beach volleyball championships are just beyond reach based on their standings, Tomyn said.

“We more than likely won’t make the championship side of the event,” he said.

The men’s team had a record of no wins and three losses before the smoke forced Tuesday’s postponement of play. The women’s team had a 0-2 record.

Nunavut’s men’s team was scheduled to play the Yukon, with a 1-1 record, on Tuesday. The women’s team was supposed to play Newfoundland and Labrador, the leader in their five-team pool for the preliminary round of competition.

Athletes have enjoyed breaking down other team’s assumptions about what a Nunavut team brings to the net, said men’s beach volleyball player Mathieu Baillargeon, of Iqaluit.

“Whenever teams see us, they don’t really expect anything great, but I feel like we’ve been putting up great fights against the people we’ve played,” he said.

The scoreboard is not the only measure of success, as athletes enjoy exploring new sights and experiences.

“I’ve been around watching some of the indoor basketball games,” Baillargeon said of his afternoon off. “My teammates are enjoying some of the festivities.”

Meeting new people is one of the highlights of the trip, he said.

“It’s a great collection of great athletes with great energy,” he said.

In addition to beach volleyball, Team Nunavut is competing in indoor volleyball, basketball, and wrestling. Those sports were not affected by schedule changes Tuesday.