2012 Saskatchewan First Nation Winter Games

Yes, yes, yes.  I am aware of how woefully behind I am in posting this.

We had a good time.  I was there to be a gopher for the Director of Education at BATC Ed who was the hockey guy at the Jemini Arenas for the Games.  What ended up happening instead was that I ended up being food delivery for everyone.  It was sort of awesome.

My daughter also got to play on the actual badminton mats used in the Olympic Games or something like that.  It was pretty cool for her.  She almost made it to the playoffs, but got distracted in the last game.  Ah well … she made me so proud.  XD

My boy did awesome as an aide to my sister who was a chaperon for Thunderchild.  He even got a security badge with his name and picture that listed him as a chaperon.  It was so cute.

The games brought a LOT of people to the City of Saskatoon: something like 6000 athletes + their coaches + their chaperons + their friends and families.  Pretty sure most of the hotels in Saskatoon were booked for the 5 days the games were on.  It was really exciting to see all these kids get so excited about their respective sports, participate and hang out. Some of them were from really far up north, and since this was a strictly First Nations event, some of these kids don’t get off the rez too often.  Some of them got to see cousins they haven’t seen in years, or ever.

The games also brought in some serious entertainment!  For the opening ceremonies we had Joey Stylez and Fighting Gravity, AND we had a HUGE round dance where literally thousands of people participated!  During the games, the ACTUAL Hockey Hall of Fame brought the biggest ever travelling display to Saskatoon just for the games.  They had the Stanley Cup, the Conn Smyth Trophy, and tons more!  It was aaaaawesome.  At the closing ceremony, over 300 pizzas were ordered and given away!

Also, I have to say, the volunteers at the Alliance Churches who fed us were sooooooo awesome!  They fed 2000 people per day and were so nice and friendly.  I heard next to no complaints about them and I can’t say enough good things about them.  :D

So … uh … I guess I should hit post on this now …

EDIT:  I FORGOT!  BATC posted some video of the games to YouTube courtesy of Objectified Software:

http://www.youtube.com/user/batcwintergames/