Next week marks the beginning of the 2017 Canada Summer Games, and the 50^th anniversary of the event’s inception. Over 4,000 athletes and coaches in 16 sports will descend on Winnipeg, Manitoba, the host for this year’s event. Forty-seven of them (38 athletes and nine coaches) are current or incoming Tigers who will be representing their home provinces during the two-week event.

Cindy Tye, the Tigers current women’s soccer coach will lead Nova Scotia’s women’s soccer team to the pitch along with Tigers assistant coach Gary Carter. The 18-person squad boasts four incoming Tiger recruits including Haley Birrell, Katelynn Fines, Alyssa Hartlen and Olivia MacIntyre. Sara Pitman was named as an alternate to the squad.

Tye, a silver medallist in soccer at the 1993 event in Kamloops, B.C. has been leading the team for a number of years and is looking forward to the event.

“It is always exciting to represent Team NS and Soccer Nova Scotia at the Canada Games,” she says. “As staff and players, we know it is a privilege to wear blue and white and look forward to making Nova Scotia proud."

Fellow soccer recruit Julie Cormier will also be making the trek west with her home province of New Brunswick.

The men’s soccer team has two incoming athletes who will also be heading to the Games in week two. Enrico Rodriguez (Halifax, N.S.) and Skylar Bryant (Whitehorse, Y.K.) will both be representing their respective province/territory with Andrew MacDonald (Tigers women’s soccer video coach) serving as team manager for Team Nova Scotia.

The Tigers track and field teams have 19 athletes representing four provinces at the Games this year. Shannay Beals, Heather Beaton, Elizabeth Comeau, Matthew Coolen, Hudson Grimshaw-Surette, Shiloh Johnson, Josh Lunda, Jenna MacDonald, Anna McCrea, Will Russell, Kaelan Schmidt, Shaylynn Tell, Mike Van Der Poel and Graeme Wach will all suit up for Nova Scotia at the Games with Tigers head coach Rich Lehman on the coaching staff. Mike Rogers and Michaela Walker will run for their home province of Prince Edward Island, while Hannah Cormier and Angus MacIntosh will suit up for New Brunswick. Incoming runner Savanna Jordan will race for team Alberta.

Beals, Beaton, Lunda and Walker will all be making their second appearances at a Canada Games after competing at the 2013 event in Sherbrooke, Q.C.

“I’m very happy to be able to attend a second Canada Games,” says Beaton. “Having attended the 2013 event just before I started at Dalhousie has better prepared me with what to expect. I can’t wait to showcase what my four years at Dal and training with my coaches have helped me achieve!”

A U SPORTS bronze medallist in the 300m last March, sprinter Mike Van Der Poel is a medal favourite at the games and will be competing in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m events.

“I am looking forward to the experience and I am extremely proud to represent Nova Scotia,” says Van Der Poel. “My preparation started as soon as I finished school for the year. I have been trying to give it my all on every workout and hopefully it will pay off.”

Volleyball is another sport the Tigers will be well-represented in at the Games in the next two weeks.

Long-time women’s volleyball assistant coach Jon Elliott will lead Nova Scotia’s women’s volleyball team to Winnipeg this summer. This will be Elliott’s fourth Canada Games, having served as an assistant coach with the men’s teams in 2005 and 2009 and again with the women’s squad in 2013.

“I'm looking forward to our group of talented and dedicated Nova Scotian athletes and coaches achieving their best performance at the 2017 games in Winnipeg,” says Elliott. “I'm equally excited for everyone to experience that electric feeling of participating in a multi-sport games. There is no better feeling then being a part of an opening or closing ceremonies, and to be able to support and cheer for athletes in different sports makes wearing the Blue and White that much more special.”

Fellow Tigers assistant coach Megan Conroy will serve as his assistant, while Sam Sanders (also a Tigers women’s volleyball assistant coach) and U SPORTS second team all-Canadian Jonathan Macdonald have been working with the team in advance of the Games. Tigers newcomers Catherine Callaghan, Julie Moore, Victoria Turcot and Hannah Wilkie are all part of the roster that will look to improve upon Nova Scotia’s quarter-final loss in 2013.

On the men’s side, four incoming Tigers will also be competing in Winnipeg. Malachy Shannon and Nicholas Faulkner will compete for Nova Scotia, while Justin Drapeau and Mathieu Lavoie will play for New Brunswick and Manitoba, respectively.

Three of the four players competing in beach volleyball for Nova Scotia are current Tigers players. Christian Fricke and Kobe Shannon will pair up to compete in the men’s competition, while veteran Victoria Haworth and her partner Micaela Sabean will play on the women’s side.

Swim head coach Lance Cansdale will lead Nova Scotia’s teams to the Games in the second week, with recent Tigers grad Tony Liew serving as a team manager. The team is comprised of athletes aged 16 and under so there aren’t any university-aged swimmers on the roster.

It should be an exciting two weeks of competition. Be sure to cheer for the Tigers and stay up to date with all the action!

Official website

Twitter @2017CanadaGames

The Tigers competition schedule

Week One (July 28-August 4)

Week Two (August 5 - 13)

For more information on the history of the Games: 50 years of Canada Games