There is no doubt that we support our Olympic athletes.
We cheered our hearts out when Humboldt heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton took to the track in 2016 in her last Olympics as a competitive athlete.
The Town of Wakaw is going hard for Linden Vey as he works the ice on the Canadian Men’s Hockey Team.
Seven athletes from Saskatchewan are representing Canada at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, and we are proud of every single one of them. Earning a berth in the Olympics is no small feat and every athlete worked hard to get there.
But their journey started long before the opening ceremonies or the qualifying round.
Their journey started the first time they laced up their skates and took those first wobbly steps, or the first time they slid out of the hack and threw their first curling rock, or the first time they put on that snowboard and took to the ski hill.
But that did not just take them putting on those skates or boots.
It took coaches and parents and family members backing them up, encouraging them to continue on with their practices and games.
It took volunteers running operations and getting the sport into their communities.
When we look at Olympic athletes, we don’t see all the hours of training that led to their Olympic moment – except that we do. We see them in the athlete’s performance, and we see them in their results. By the same token, we see the hours donated by parents, volunteers and coaches.
According to Statistics Canada, there were 13.3 million Canadians, or 47 per cent of the population age 15 and over, who volunteered in 2010. And that number continues to rise.
So many help bring sports, non-profits and arts programs to communities, and every one of them should be proud of the work they do.
And then there is community support. Without it, our athletes may not have become Olympians.
From the people in the stands supporting the team to the people who bought tickets to fundraisers to those who chipped in by donating money to equipment and fees to help out the players, those people do incredible work as well.
We should all be proud of our Olympic athletes, because we have all contributed in some way to getting them there.
Next time anyone watches Mark McMorris head down the slope, or Linden Vey and Emily Clarke take to the ice, or Ben Coakwell hop into his bobsled, all of us who volunteered, and coached, and fundraised, and donated have helped them get there.
Cheer on Canada, but know that we played our own part.
