WEYBURN - South East Sport, Culture and Recreation District has chosen many of the teams and mission staff for the upcoming 2023 Saskatchewan Winter Games, which will take place in Regina from February 19-25, 2023.
The purpose of the Saskatchewan Games Program is to provide an opportunity for the province’s developing athletes, coaches and officials to participate in a multi-sport event in preparation for a higher level of competition.
The Games were first held in Moose Jaw in 1972 and have been a strong developmental force for all sport within the province. Estevan hosted the Saskatchewan Games in 2016 and 1980 and Weyburn in 2004.
The following sports will be included on the sport calendar at the 2023 Saskatchewan Winter Games in Regina.
In the first half of the games, from Feb. 19-23, will be alpine skiing, artistic swimming, biathlon, badminton, Special Olympics bowling, curling, gymnastics, speed skating, table tennis and weightlifting. In the second half, from Feb. 22-25, will be cross-country and para-nordic skiing, figure skating, male and female Futsal, judo, target shooting and wrestling.
Team South East announced the Team South East mission staff who will lead the athletes, coaches and managers at the Games.
They include Tara-Leigh Heslip, Chef de Mission, Indian Head; Sandra Lee Brown, Montmartre; Kathy Erickson, Weyburn; Vickie Procyk, Fillmore; Dan Heslip, Indian Head; Ryan Reiss, Vibank; Jacquie Van De Woestyne, Weyburn; Tina Clay, Weyburn; Joni Hagen, Weyburn, and Dallas Cossar, Weyburn.
Team South East announced the following athletes who will be competing at the upcoming Games.
For Special Olympics bowling, team members are Robin Stelter, Antonius Quist, Shane Tegart and Vernon Ernst, all of Weyburn, and Sarah Henry of Estevan, with Jo-Ann Paxman of Weyburn as coach, and Blaine Boyle as manager.
Competing in Artistic Swimming will be Payton Caldwell, Marley Kradovill, Ella Leko and Lily Popescu, all of Weyburn, and Ava Allen, Sasha Mantei, Sierra Mantei and Rowyn Shier of Estevan. Kimberley Neithercut is the coach, and team manager is Meagan Rothwell, both of Weyburn.
For the sport of Futsal, the athletes include Emmanuel Pallarca and Tace Odima of Weyburn; Gradyn Brown, Brent McNish and Sebastien Giroux of Montmartre; Indiana Froese, Estevan; Ethan Snider, Torsten Reinkens and Austin Brown, White City; Abdeta Landega, Pilot Butte; Alex Slinn, Davin; and Morgan Ede of Indian Head. The head coach is Jason Roy of Weyburn, with assistant coach Brennan Roy, and manager Krista Brown.
The Weyburn Wrestling Club held a series of wrestle-offs on Saturday, along with wrestlers from the Manor club, and Weyburn will be sending Avlyn Drake, Khloe Higgins, Chris Dayan and Keran Seitz to the Games.
The Games will require the assistance of more than 1,000 local volunteers throughout the week-long event. To learn more about volunteer roles or to sign up to volunteer, visit https://saskgames.ca/winter/volunteer.
