Nunavik fields volleyball teams for Quebec Games

The 2010 Quebec Games will face competition from a Nunavik delegation for the first time in the sporting event’s history.

Two regional volleyball teams – one male, one female – will participate in this year’s summer edition of the Games in Gatineau.

Although athletes from one community have participated in the games in the past, this is the first time Nunavik plans to send a regional team, said Jennifer Matchett, a recreational development coordinator at the Kativik Regional Government.

“It goes to show Sports Quebec that our region can come together to produce quality athletes and compete at the provincial level,” Matchett said. “This is a milestone for us.”

Between July 29 and August 6, the Quebec Games, or Jeux du Québec, will welcome 4,000 athletes from the province’s 19 regions.

Nunavik’s men’s team will include athletes 17 years and under, while the women’s team is open to athletes 16 and under.

Nunavik’s young athletes will get to participate thanks to the efforts of Salluit social worker Philippe Paradis, who has coached volleyball in his community for two years.

Paradis got in touch with the province’s sporting agency Sports Québec to request that Nunavik was included in the Games this year.

Salluit was already a “core” for volleyball in the region, he said and athletes there have had experience in competition.

Paradis worked with the KRG to recruit players from across the region, who gathered for official tryouts at the end of June.

“This will give a chance to youth that don’t necessarily have a lot of experience,” he said. “We’re also looking for athletes with a good attitude.”

Paradis thinks Nunavimmiut youth will benefit from competing at the provincial level against such high-performance athletes.

“This is a huge tournament,” Paradis said. “It will show them a model for sports competition.”

Once 24 athletes have been selected for both volleyball teams, Paradis and other coaches will hold an intensive training camp in Nunavik and then in southern Quebec leading up to the start of the Games.

Quebec games organizers have offered to house the athletes during the event as well as the use of their transportation and eating areas.

“They’ll be very much a part of the event this way,” Matchett said.

Visit www.jeuxduquebec.com for more information.