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CANADA GAMESDAILYSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015

THE

VETERAN VOLUNTEERFOLLOWSGAMES

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Yukon

Nunavut

British Columbia

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

Ontario

Quebec

Newfoundland and Labrador

New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

Medal standingsAs of 5 p.m., Feb. 27

Team TotalBronzeSilverGold58 35 37 130

37 37 22 96

20 27 29 76

12 21 32 65

6 8 13 27

6 3 6 15

3 4 6 13

3 1 3 7

2 2 - 4

- 1 1 2

- 1 - 1

- - 1 1

- - - -

Northwest Territories

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What’s onSATURDAY

Badminton9 a.m.Mixed team competition, 5th vs. 6thMixed team competition, 7th vs. 8th1 p.m.Mixed team competition, 9th vs. 10thMixed team competition - finals, bronzeMixed team competition - finals, goldNorthern Sports Centre

Women’s Curling9 a.m.5th place matchCross over, A5 vs. A4Cross over, A7 vs. A6Cross over, B5 vs. B41 p.m.Finals - Bronze5 p.m.Finals - GoldPrince George Golf and Curling Club

Squash9 a.m.Women’s team, 11th vs. 12thWomen’s team, 5th vs. 6thWomen’s team, 7th vs. 8thWomen’s team, 9th vs. 10th12 p.m.Men’s team, 11th vs. 12thMen’s team, 5th vs. 6th

Men’s team, 7th vs. 8thMen’s team, 9th vs. 10th3:30 p.m.Women’s team - finals, bronzeWomen’s team - finals, gold6:30 p.m.Men’s team - finals, bronzeMen’s team - finals, goldUNBC

Synchronized swimming9:30 a.m.Solo women - finals b11:30 a.m.Solo women - finals aPrince George Aquatic Centre

Cross Country Skiing10 a.m.Women’s relay, 4 x 3.75-km - final11:15 a.m.Men’s relay, 4 x 5-km - finalOtway Nordic Centre

Table Tennis10 a.m.Women’s doubles - final, bronzeWomen’s doubles - final, gold11 a.m.Men’s doubles - final, bronzeMen’s doubles - final, gold12 p.m.Mixed doubles - final, bronzeMixed doubles - final, gold

1 p.m.Women’s singles - final, bronzeWomen’s singles - final, gold2 p.m.Men’s singles - final, bronzeMen’s singles - final, goldDuchess Park Secondary School

Snowboard10:45 a.m.Women’s snowboard cross - qualificationMen’s snowboard cross - qualification2 p.m.Women’s snowboard cross - quarter-finalsWomen’s snowboard cross - semifinalsWomen’s snowboard cross - Big FinalWomen’s snowboard cross - Small FinalMen’s snowboard cross - quarter-finalsMen’s snowboard cross - semifinalsMen’s snowboard cross - Big FinalMen’s snowboard cross - Small FinalTabor Mountain Ski Resort

Judo12 p.m.Women’s team competition - quarter-finalsWomen’s team competition - semifinalsMen’s team competition - quarter-finalsMen’s team competition - semifinals4 p.m.Women’s team competition - finals, bronzeWomen’s team competition - finals, gold5 p.m.Men’s team competition - finals, bronzeMen’s team competition - finals, gold

Northern Sports Centre

Men’s hockey4 p.m.RelegationKin 2 Arena Complex7:30 p.m.RelegationKin 2 Arena ComplexFinals - BronzeCN Centre

Entertainment2 p.m.Jake’s Gift (one person play) performs at Royal Canadian Legion 5 p.m.DJ Ant performs on the BCLC Centre Stage, Canada Games Plaza.5:30 p.m.Doug Koyama (pop rock) performs on the BCLC Centre Stage, Canada Games Plaza.6:45 p.m.Skratch Bastid (dj) performs on the BCLC Centre Stage, Canada Games Plaza.7:30 p.m.Jake’s Gift (one person play) performs at Royal Canadian Legion 8 p.m.Classified (hip hop) performs on the BCLC Centre Stage, Canada Games Plaza.8 p.m.Jessey DaCosta (folk) performs at ArtSpace8:30 p.m.King Crow and the Ladies From Hell (gypsy punk) perform at ArtSpace

9 p.m.The Gaff (hip hop, dance, dj) performs at Cariboo House

SUNDAY

Men’s Hockey11:35 a.m.Finals - Gold

Entertainment4 p.m.Closing ceremonies, featuring Jerusha White, Out of Alba and King Crow and the Ladies from Hell at UNBC

COVER PHOTO: Brendan Grosjean from Team Saskatchewan in the Slope Style Board Compition at Tabor Mountain Friday ABOVE: Emily Suchy from Team B.C. winning the Womens 5km sit-ski. Brent Braaten, photographer.

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Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca

Squash has always been a un-friendly spectator sport.

Most squash courts are in club facilities and have solid white walls on three sides and a glass enclosure at one end, which in-cludes the doorway entrance.

And once the crowd congregates at that one end to see the matches, the fight for unobstructed viewing positions begins.

That hasn’t been a problem at the Canada Winter Games.

The unique setup of two por-table courts with Plexiglas walls on all four sides assembled at the Northern Sport Centre fieldhouse has allowed unprecedented views of the action on the courts for spectators, photographers and videographers, who can capture the expressions on the faces of the players as they watch the ball coming at them.

There are head-on views of the court from the front and rows of seats set up along the sides of the courts and in the back where the referees sit, and those stands have been full most of the week.

The Games have attracted Canada’s best under-19 women and the top under-23 men and the level of play the past few days has been off the charts. Prince George has never seen squash played at such a high calibre and having the excitement of the matches showcased in a state-of-the art

facility has left a huge impression on the fans, players, coaches and officials.

The city’s only other squash fa-cilities are the two courts located on the second floor of the North-ern Sport Centre, also used for the Games. Matches played in the two upper courts were shown live on two large video screens adjacent to the glass courts.

The glass courts were installed by a crew from Manta World Sport of Kamloops. Both courts were made in Germany and have been used at several high-profile tournaments in North America.

The bluish glass court, in which the gold-medal matches were de-cided, will be shipped to Toronto this July as one of the four courts to be used for the Pan Am Games. The other court will be sent to Barbados after the Games for an international tournament.

“We helped them assemble this and one of the guys (from Manta) is quite involved in squash worldwide and he thinks there has only been two or three times in the world where there’s been two glass courts set up in one spot,” said Reg Foot, Canada Winter Games co-sport leader for squash.

The walls are tinted with blue or grey dots and while players can see people outside of the court, their eyes are focused on the ball and everything else becomes a blur.

Unlike conventional white-painted courts where a black ball

Glass courts give new view of squashis used, a white ball is used in the glass courts.

“We were itching to play after we got it all set up Saturday and for the first little bit it’s weird but after a while you get the hang of it,” said Foot.

Sometimes players temporar-ily lose track of the ball on a high shot because it’s a white object passing in front of a white light, but they otherwise gave the glass courts rave reviews.

“This is the first time I’ve ever played in a glass court and it takes a while to get adjusted to it because when the ball comes near the glass wall it’s hard to see and when you look up for lobs and stuff the lights really blind you,” said Team B.C. player Nic Vin-cent of Victoria. “But I really like

it more with the stands and the people cheering you. You barely see them when you’re playing and it’s the best way to show squash.”

“I was really nervous at first because I’d never played on glass before but after a couple times I got used to it,” said Andrea Toth of Vancouver. “Just the way the ball bounces is different and sometimes when you swing, you get too close or too far. The colour of the ball and the lights is differ-ent. But now that I’ve adapted to it, I like it.”

B.C. team coach Benjamin Uli-ana of Victoria wishes all squash courts were made of glass.

“It’s the best thing we could have,” he said. “It’s a tougher way to play but once you get used to it, spectator-wise it’s going to sell the

game. Even the pros, when they play professional tournaments, only have one glass court set up. Having two set up side-by-side is unbelievable.”

The Prince George Squash As-sociation inquired about keep-ing one of the glass courts as a possible legacy of the Games but was turned down in its request because the NSC is used for other sports and there is no suitable alternate space for it.

“It would be very nice to have more than two courts, and some viewing space to get people involved in the sport,” said CWG squash co-sport leader Barry Hirtz. “We used to have six courts in the city but now we’re down to just the two up here and it makes it difficult to run a tournament.”

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

The squash courts that were installed in the Northern Sport Centre for the Canada Winter Games.

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Athletes Village a focal point of the Games Samantha WRIGHT ALLEN Citizen staff sallen@pgcitizen.ca

At the heart of the Canada Winter Games Athletes Village, competitors loll on couch-es or bean bags, some listening to music but most deep into video games on one of the 65-inch TV screens.

At the entrance to the Prince George Public Library’s top floor, they’re greeted with dozens of board games to play, stacks of free comic books, and – as they wend their way through the rows of library books – table tennis and several life-sized Jenga sets.

The idea said Adam Spurrell, coordinator of the village services, was to create a space where athletes could escape.

“Whether it’s pre-competition where they need to just shut down for a bit or it’s post-competition and they need to reflect, it’s hard to do that in a hotel room or out at the Plaza,” said Spurrell, adding that the UNBC Residence Life team was the key coordina-tor of the space. “So what we wanted to do, and make sure that we had, is just a sanctu-ary for these athletes to escape to.”

The space is quiet during the day – there were about 50 kids in the upstairs enclave Thursday afternoon – but it picks up to several hundred at night, Spurrell said.

Spurrell said they borrowed ideas from past Games venues, but that there were still hiccoughs along the way: some equipment, for example didn’t come in time.

“I thought we had planned for every-thing,” he said.

The advice he’d give to the event’s next organizers?

“It’s impossible to over-plan and over-

prepare,” he said. “Be flexible and be ready that things aren’t going to go your way and that’s fine. At the end of the day as long as the athletes and participants are having a great time and they’re safe and they’re healthy, that’s all that matters.”

Just next door at the bottom of the Civic Centre is perhaps the most important room to energetic young athletes: the place where they get their food.

Volunteers scan each person’s Games ID upon entrance.

At its peak, 1,650 athletes were fed in one hour on the day of the opening ceremony.

“They’re a very efficient operation,” said Lana Keim, chair for the Athletes Village.

It’s run by 72 staff members, 22 of whom are Red Seal Chefs preparing meals that are typically decided ahead of time by teams.

There’s a cereal, fruit and bagel and bread station on one side of the room, and rows and rows of 700 seats on the other. Athletes can drop in any time from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Upstairs at the Civic Centre, the Poly

SPURRELL

Clinic is a quiet space for the treatment of minor injuries and illness, as well as therapy – as a way to relieve any pressure on the hospital by the influx of athletes.

Despite the calm, the clinic has had a flurry of activity over two weeks, having just treated patient 1,000 on Wednesday.

For the most part, doctors treat between 50 to 75 patients a day for soft tissue inju-ries and pulled muscles, but they have also seen a case of acute respiratory distress. Robert Stewart, the chair of the medical centre, said there have been 11 ambulance calls for athletes.

The area has two examination rooms, a therapy room, an observation room and medical communications centre that also serves as headquarters for St. John Ambu-

lance and BC Ambulance.Athlete Nathan Shuh spends most of his

time in the training hall at the College of New Caledonia, but said the volunteers at all the venues, including the Athletes Vil-lage, have made a difference.

“All the little things that they do have really made our week wonderful,” said the 17-year-old from Ontario, who competes in trampoline.

“The people in Prince George, I’m blown away by how friendly they’ve been. They’ve been so hospitable and everyone’s been involved in the pin trading so it’s kind of been a catalyst for all the people connecting with other people and making new friends.

“It’s just been such a good experience.”

CITIZEN PHOTO BY CHRISTINE HINZMANN

Team Nova Scotia playing video games Thursday morning at the Athletes Lounge on the upper floor of the Prince George Public Library.

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Cushing has followed Games trail as volunteerJason PETERS Citizen Sports Editor jpeters@pgcitizen.ca

Most athletes consider themselves fortu-nate to qualify for one or two Canada Winter Games.

These are John Cushing’s fifth.Cushing, a 68-year-old from

Edmonton, is in Prince George as a volunteer. He arrived in early February and helped with the setup at Tabor Mountain, host venue for freestyle skiing.

Once the Games started, he shifted his focus to media services. He has spent time at Tabor, the Otway Nordic Centre and the Northern Sport Centre, assisting various media outlets in the gath-ering of their stories.

For Cushing – who holds a Mas-ters degree in recreation adminis-tration and sport studies – being involved in the Canada Winter Games over the years has been his way of staying close to sport and lending his expertise to the organizing committees.

“You are doing something for the enjoyment of others,” Cushing said. “There’s a real positive vibe with these Games and they always have been that way.

“When we do cross country ski events or biathlon events in Can-more – usually at the international level – it’s the same thing. You get return thanks and gratitude from

the athletes and coaches and so on.”

Cushing loves being around high-level athletes and seeing them compete at events like the Canada Winter Games.

“It’s just their enthusiasm, and

that they’ve trained so hard for this moment,” he said.

“This is their moment and it doesn’t matter how you compare to another athlete from another province or territory.”

The positive energy of the ath-

letes, he added, is contagious.“Definitely, and I can see it in

other volunteers here,” he said. “That’s why they love being a part of the Games. And it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you get those vibes.”

Cushing’s first Canada Winter Games was in Grande Prairie, Alta., in 1995. Leading up to Prince George, his others were in Campbellton and Bathurst, N.B. (2003), Whitehorse, Yukon (2007) and Halifax, N.S. (2011). Cushing was also on staff for the 1997 Canada Summer Games in Brandon, Man.

As well as working at interna-tional competitions in places like Canmore and nearby Lake Louise, Alta., Cushing was a volunteer during the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver-Whistler.

For the Olympics, he worked at Cyprus Mountain, which was the venue for freestyle skiing and snowboarding. And, at the Para-lympics, he was stationed at Whis-tler for the para-alpine events.

Cushing is passionate about sport, and not just the various ski disciplines. His other loves include squash (he is a national-level official and has worked at previous Canada Winter Games in that capacity) and triathlon.

His volunteer involvement in triathlon has included multiple world championships in Ed-monton and the Kelowna Apple

Triathlon.Cushing is single and semi-re-

tired so he has a certain degree of freedom to travel to events.

While Cushing said he doesn’t like to compare any one Games with another, he had nothing but positive comments about the 2015 edition.

“It’s excellent – there are some really good attributes here,” he said. “Your venues are excellent, the opening ceremonies were excellent. I think your transporta-tion is very good – you seem to have three systems in place.

“And the advantage is that your venues are concentrated so it’s not difficult to get around. Transportation is always difficult at any Games and I think you’ve done it very well. I don’t know the insides and outs but that’s a cursory, outside perspective. And Canada Games Plaza is an excel-lent setup.”

Cushing is also a big fan of hav-ing athlete accommodations in the downtown.

“It allows the athletes and support groups to be downtown, taking in all the activities and entertainment.”

The next Canada Winter Games will be in 2019 in Red Deer, prac-tically in Cushing’s back yard. He said he hopes to be a part of them.

“I can’t guarantee anything but yes, it would certainly be a good opportunity,” he said. “I’m getting

CITIZEN STAFF PHOTO

John Cushing, a resident of Edmonton, is in Prince George as a volunteer for the Canada Winter Games.

older, so we’ll see.”

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Arthur WILLIAMS Citizen staff awilliams@pgcitizen.ca

The Canada Winter Games will feature figures, solo, duet and team events in synchronized swimming.

Synchronized swimming is a mix of swimming, dance and gymnastics. Swimmers perform a series of movements and poses to music – called figures.

Every competitor, including members of teams and duets, in synchronized swimming at the Games will have to compete in an individual competition: the figures competition.

Each competitor in the figures competition must swim two com-pulsory figures, plus two additional figures from one of four optional figures groups.

In the figures competition, each swimmer is judged only on the ex-ecution and difficulty of the figures they perform – there is no synchro- nization element.

However, synchronization becomes a factor in judging the free and technical routines performed by solos, duets and teams.

According to the Federation Interna-tionale de Natation general rules book for 2013 to 2017, judging is performed by three panels of five judges.

In free routines the first panel decided the execution score (worth 30 per cent of the total score), the second panel awards the artistic im-pression score (worth 40 per cent) and the final panel decides the dif-ficulty score (worth 30 per cent.)

In technical routines the judging is similar, except the artistic impression score is only worth 30 per cent and the third panel awards an elements score (worth 40 per cent of the total score), instead based on difficulty.

In both routines, the execution panel awards points based on syn-chronization and execution.

According to FINA, synchroni-zation scores should be awarded

based on “the precision of in unison, one with the other, and the accom-paniment above, at and below the surface synchronization of timing of one with another and with music.”

So synchronized swimmers are judged not just on their synchro-nization with each other, but also with the music accompanying their routine.

Because solo swimmers only need to synchronize themselves with their music, the synchronization portion of the score is only worth 10 per cent of the total execution score – or three per cent of the final score. For duets and teams, synchroniza-tion is worth half the execution score, making it worth 15 per cent of the final score.

While one often thinks of teams of swimmers moving together in simultaneous, graceful motion as what synchronized swimming is all about, solo competitions play a key role in the sport.

Going solo in synchro

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Team of Stefanie Dickson and Katherine Stirrat from B.C. in syn-chronized swimming pairs.

A:

Q: How can there be a solo competition in synchronized swimming? Who or what are solo competitors synchronizing with?

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Arthur WILLIAMS Citizen staff awilliams@pgcitizen.ca

The Canada Winter Games will feature men’s and women’s singles and doubles competition, as

well as the mixed doubles compe-tition.

But when did the popular par-lour game of table tennis – famil-iar to many from rec rooms and dorm rooms around the world – become a competitive sport?

According to the International Table Tennis Federation, several attempts were made in the 19th century to bring the fun of lawn tennis to a smaller, indoor playing surface.

In 1890 David Foster introduced Parlour Table Games in England.

The game set included tabletop versions of cricket, football and tennis.

It is the first known game that brought the action of outdoor tennis to life on a tabletop with stringed rackets, 30 mm cloth-covered rubber balls and a net.

The game included a wooden perimeter fence and side nets to catch stray balls.

Other game makers followed suite with games called Gossima, whiff-whaff and ping-pong (which was trademarked as Ping-Pong by J. Jaques & Son Ltd. in 1901, which later sold the trademark to Parker Brothers).

Because the name Ping-Pong is trademarked, the generic term for the game table tennis.

The game grew in popularity during the early 1900s and people began to organize tournaments and consolidate the rules of the game.

In 1921 the British Table Tennis

Association was formed, and in 1926 the International Table Ten-nis Federation was founded – with Austria, Czechoslovakia, Den-mark, England, Germany, Hun-gary, India, Sweden and Wales being the founding members.

In December 1926 the first of-ficial World Table Tennis Champi-onships were held in London.

One could argue that was the moment table tennis transformed from a parlour amusement to a true competitive sport.

Table tennis debuted as an Olympic sport at the 1988 Sum-mer Games in Seoul, Korea – sealing table tennis’ place as an international sport played at the highest level.

So, just because you first played it in a basement rec room on a rainy afternoon doesn’t mean that table tennis isn’t a serious sport.

Q: When did table tennis become a sport? Why isn’t it called Ping-Pong anymore?

A:

The tale of table tennis

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Games gab

Someone was very excited to see Nanguz! #CanadaGames #2015 CanGames #Nanguz

— @Col_Rae

Here’s what people are saying online about the Canada Winter Games:

Come by Dutchess Park #CGTableTennis and play some Mini Table Table Tennis!!! #2015CanGames

— @thor_ttcan

Over 900 hours of #2015Can-Games action webcasting! Watch live or catch up here: http://www.canadagamestv.ca

— @2015CanadaGames

The #UNBC campus is looking great in advance of the #2015Can-Games closing ceremony. Watch 4 pm PT on Sunday on TSN2! #cityofPG — @pjames

If you’re in downtown #cityofPG, keep an eye out for our street team, a #RandomActsOfPizza could pop up ;) #2015CanGames

— @Panago_Pizza

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