October 2012

On behalf of the Northern BC Winter Games Society, I am posting this letter to outline the future of the Northern BC Winter Games and how sport delivery in the North is changing.  

The changes in the Games hosting landscape prompted the Society to examine our sport delivery model to ensure it was meeting the needs of sport in Northern BC. After thorough, in depth discussion over the course of the last two years, we realized that Games were no longer viable and the Board made the difficult decision to move away from hosting Games.  

Past Northern BC Winter Games provided an opportunity for athletes to compete in what would likely be "their Olympic games” and the Board is saddened that this opportunity will no longer be available. The reality is that you cannot run the Games without the volunteer base, and as we discovered, the core group of community volunteers are exhausted and new volunteers aren’t coming forward. Statistics also showed that in recent years larger communities were actually sending fewer athletes to the Games as their sports have access to more events and competition.  

As part of the discussions on the future of the Games, we identified that there was still a need for development opportunities for coaches, officials and volunteers in the North. The Society knew that with our history, resources and established contacts throughout the North we could deliver these needed development opportunities.  

With government’s endorsement, we have pursued an alternate delivery model for sport development.  Instead of hosting Games, we will work with northern communities to build sport by training community coaches and officials, volunteer enhancement, and athlete development.  In 2011, we offered coaching development sessions in Fort St. John, Smithers and Prince George.  In 2012, we offered similar sessions in four communities - Fort Nelson, Fort St John, 100 Mile House and Smithers. These highly successful sessions will become a springboard for future events.   

As a result of these changes, the society name will be changed to mirror our new our sport delivery model. Our society will become the ‘Northern BC Community Sport Development Society’.                             

The purposes of the Society are:
    (a)    To promote awareness of good health, physical fitness, individual achievement, community pride, and sport in the northern communities of British Columbia.
    (b)    To encourage grassroots sport development programs involving the greatest number of people possible participating in their own community.
    (c)    To provide a stimulating opportunity for officials and coaches to receive further training and experience.

Please feel free to contact me by email president@northernbcwintergames.org if you need any further information on this topic.  As we transition our sport delivery model, we look forward to working with northern communities in our future endeavors.  

Yours Truly,        

Wade Loukes
President
Northern BC Winter Games Society