Nunavut to send its first team to the Canada Winter Games

KIRSTEN MURPHY

Nine speedskaters and eight badminton players have been chosen to represent Nunavut next month at the Canada Winter Games in Bathurst, New Brunswick.

In being chosen, the young athletes have made history without leaving home.

“We get to represent our territory at the games for the first time,” said Ashley Tufts, 15, between breaths after speedskating practice at the Arctic Winter Games complex in Iqaluit.

“It’s more about the experience than anything else and I know people will be watching us and cheering us on.”

The teams were chosen after qualification rounds held in mid-December. Manitok Thompson, minister of community government and transportation, announced the names on Dec. 18.

Athletes heading to the Maritimes for the event, which takes place Feb. 22 to March 8, hail from Coral Harbour, Repulse Bay, Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet Kugluktuk, Taloyaok, Cape Dorset and Iqaluit.

The speedskaters are: Luc Peter, Peter Gilhuly, Aqpik Peter, Nick Dunphy, Kyle St. Laurent, Ashley Tufts, Corenna Nuyalia, June Pangon and Megan Pizzo-Lyall. The badminton players are: Jonathan Eder, Mathewsie Ashevak, David Joanasie, Michael Putulik, Solomon Malliki, Julie Ann Langill, Tap Friesen and Tina Campbell.

Nunavut was invited to send other sporting contingents to the prestigious games, said Marilyn Neily, senior advisor for the department of community government and transportation’s sport and recreation division. But for many sporting associations in the territory, the cost of training just one team from a group of willing participants was prohibitive.

Iqaluit’s amateur hockey association decided several years ago that the money required to train and coach one team could be better spent.

“They decided they’d rather have more money to encourage hockey at a grassroots level and have more kids involved than have money funneled for an elite group of athletes,” Neily said.

The badminton players and speedskaters have had three years of after-school coaching, summer camps and southern competitions to prepare them for the national event, held every two years.

At the Arctic Winter Games last March, Nunavut’s speedskaters finished with eight medals. After the AWG, coaches John Maurice and Ashley White kept their sites set on the 2003 Canada Winter Games.

Unlike competitors in the south, Nunavut speedskaters do not have year-round ice time. The AWG complex surface is drained in April to accommodate summer events. This shorter training schedule means athletes must cross train, playing soccer and baseball in the summer, White said.

In addition, some athletes must practise in isolation, miles away from their teammates. Two speedskaters live outside Iqaluit: June Pangon is from Kugluktuk and Megan Pizzo-Lyall lives in Taloyoak.

And the badminton players are from as far away as Cambridge Bay and Repulse Bay.

Even so, White is confidant Team Nunavut will make the territory proud.

“We have some terrific athletes. Maybe we’re not going to get gold but we’ll be making our presence known,” she said. “You never know, anything can happen. This is a great opportunity for our athletes.”

Sport Nunavut is covering all costs to send the two teams, including coaches and chaperones, to the games. And it’s worth it, especially as Nunavut is earning a reputation for producing elite competitors.

Most recently, Rankin Inlet hockey star Jordin Tootoo became a household name during Team Canada’s rise to fame at the world junior championship.

“I’m excited and nervous because a lot of the other skaters will have more experience than us,” said Corenna Nuyalia, 16, before disappearing into the dressing room.

Even a veteran athlete like badminton player Tina Campbell, 16, is excited. Campbell picked up a racquet when she was seven years old. A year later she was hooked and playing competitively in local tournaments in and around Ottawa. In 1997, she won one gold and two bronze medals at the North American Indigenous Games in Victoria, British Columbia.

Her love for the sport runs in the family. Not only did her father, Alex Campbell, introduce her to it, he’s also the badminton coach for Team Nunavut.

“I really like the way I feel after a competition,” she said. “You get so much exercise running around and playing in tournaments is a great way to meet new people.”