Wendy Plandowski, right, and Aaron Rawlake, centre left, co-chairs of the 2024 Sask Summer Games host organizing committee, were all smiles during a June cheque presentation as Teine Energy announced a $100K partnering sponsorship for the 2024 Sask Summer Games. Source File Photo
This past weekend’s U17B girls softball provincials offered sports fans a taste of what’s to come when Lloydminster hosts the 2024 Saskatchewan Summer Games.
Those Games will be held the week of July 21-27, a year from now, and will involve competition among upwards of 1,800 participants from across Saskatchewan in 15 different sports.
These include archery, athletics, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, canoe kayak, golf, soccer, softball, Special Olympics – bocce, swimming, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, and wheelchair basketball.
The biennial multi-sport event, to be presented by Teine Energy, will involve competitors from 11 to 18 years of age.
It’s especially exciting for Summer Games host organizing committee co-chairs Wendy Plandowski and Aaron Rawlake since Lloydminster was previously set to host the Games in 2020, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
“We are very excited for the province to visit Lloydminster in one year’s time to celebrate the province’s top young athletes and to showcase our city and all it has to offer,” said Rawlake.
Plandowski added, “The 2024 Games will be a true community celebration. We are so fortunate to have such an engaged community and the support of local businesses who are eager to invest in our province’s future.”
Athletes can qualify for the Games through a tryout process, taking place in spring 2024 and managed by each sport’s Provincial Sport Organization (PSO).
Coaches and managers can take part in an application process managed by each PSO.
More than 1,000 community volunteers will be recruited to help stage the Games and showcase Lloydminster to the entire province.
The volunteer drive is expected to get underway in early 2024.
These will be the first Saskatchewan Summer Games to take place since the 2016 Summer Games in Estevan.
The most recent Saskatchewan Winter Games were held in Regina in February 2023 and marked the 50th anniversary of the provincial games program, which alternates between summer and winter events every two years.
