Earlier this summer, eight young local athletes received the opportunity of a lifetime when they traveled to the 2012 Acadian Games in Argyle, Nova Scotia from June 29 to July 3.
The Games are held each year in eastern Canada and invite some of the best young Francophone (French speaking) high school athletes to test their skills against each other.
It’s seldom that a team west of Quebec is able to take part in the Games, so the French Immersion students from Edwin Parr Composite and Landing Trail Intermediate School were in for a rare treat.
Among the local athletes to make the trip were Thomas Weber, Jesse Weber, Michael MacIsaac-Jones, Jacob Leblanc, Laurissa Tangedal, Kailey Maston, Taylor Garratt and Cameron Hutchison. And all of them made their home community proud while competing and exploring another culture, according to coach Andre Cottreau.
“I’m extremely proud of the team we took to the Games,” he said. “They had a very good time, and they made a lot of new friends.”
That’s because the event isn’t just an athletic competition; it’s a cultural event. At night, the athletes would go to different social events to learn more about the Acadian culture.
The local students took part in badminton as well as track and field events.
“They were in tough competition in badminton, but they improved immensely by the end,” said the coach. “A lot of these guys and girls, (this year) was the first time they had played badminton, compared to players from out there that were provincially ranked. They even pushed a few players to third sets.”
The biggest local success came from Thomas Weber, who continued to excel at the 800-metre race by winning gold.
“To bring a gold home was a huge achievement,” noted Cottreau.
Weber, of course, was equally thrilled with his accomplishment.
“I haven’t really done much in terms of individual athletics. I’ve stuck to team sports, so winning something individually was cool,” he said. “We were getting down in the dumps when we were getting close to last in most of the stuff, so (winning the gold) was kind of exciting for the whole team.”
A skilled runner, Weber was able to come out on top by giving it his all throughout the race and sticking to his plan.
“It was the first time I’d actually ran on a track instead of around the soccer field, but other than that it was pretty much the same,” he said. “I was obviously hoping for (gold) but I didn’t really think I would win. I didn’t really focus on where the competition was around me, I was just focusing on the piece of the ground ahead of me and getting there as quick as I could.”
With so much emphasis on culture and socializing, the event proved to be a memorable one for all of the local students.
“We got to learn a bunch of different stuff about eastern Canada that we didn’t really know about, and it was the same for them,” said Weber. “The people were extremely friendly and everybody was very inviting.”
As a result, the local athletes got their summer off to a unique start.
