When Whitehorse hosts the Arctic Winter Games for a sixth time beginning this weekend, Team Yukon athletes will have the hometown advantage. However, with many of the athletes competing in their first major Games, it will be a learning experience for some.
It would be a Herculean task to determine Team Yukon’s average age for these Games and the past few, but it does seem like the territory has a younger squad of athletes competing next week.
“It’s not scientifically proven, but it seems it is one of the youngest teams we’ve had in years,” said Yukon Chef de Mission Tracey Bilsky. “All the superstars are gone so this is an opportunity for all the younger athletes to come up.
“(Curlers) Thomas Scoffin and Sarah Koltun are not going to be there so this is an opportunity for the younger teams to come up. They’ve been waiting in the wings for a while and this is their chance.
“It feels like a bit of a rookie team, which is awesome.”
Curling is an excellent example of the passing-of-the-torch the Yukon is seeing in numerous sports. Both Team Scoffin and Team Koltun have represented the Yukon at the last three Arctic Winter Games, going back to 2006, and the last two Canada Winter Games in 2007 and 2011. Scoffin and Koltun won silver and gold respectively in 2010.
This year the Yukon will be represented by first-time rinks skipped by Kelly Mahoney and David Aho.
Yukon’s snowboard team is another great example. At the 2010 Arctic Games, the snowboard team won 10 of the Yukon’s 101 medals, but this year’s team is a completely fresh crop. In fact, all but one of the six boarders is in the juvenile age range.
Though seemingly younger, the team is empirically larger.
Next week the Yukon will be represented by 272 athletes, with 46 coaches and six cultural component participants. At the 2010 Arctic Winter Games in Grande Prairie, Alta., the Yukon had 238 athletes, 43 coaches and four cultural component participants. Those numbers dwarf Yukon’s contingent at the Canada Winter Games a year ago in Halifax, with 107 athletes sent to compete.
There are some easy-to-spot sources of the growth in athletes.
The Yukon has five soccer teams competing next week, up from four in 2010.
The territory is entering a wrestling team in the Games for the first time since 2002.
The Yukon’s cross-country ski team has grown to 22 athletes from 16 in 2010. The territory had no juniors level skiers, male or female, compete at the last Arctic Games.
The Yukon’s freestyle ski team got the shaft for these Games with the sport getting pulled. But the drop in those numbers is countered by the Yukon’s alpine ski team, which did not compete at the Canada Games a year ago.
The Yukon did not have a single female table tennis player at the 2010 Games, but has four this time, bringing the size of the team to eight.
For the first time since the 2006 Games, the Yukon will also have enough female speed skaters to field a relay team.
Perhaps most significant, the Yukon will have its largest arctic sports team since the sport became a competitive event in 1978, with 12 athletes competing. On board for her third Games - second in arctic sports - is Anna Rivard. At the 2010 Games, Rivard drew on her gymnastics background to win more medals than any other Yukon athlete with eight. She even set a Games record in the triple jump event.
The Yukon’s arctic sports coach, Teena Dickson, though only 41, is the veteran of the team. Next week will be Dickson’s 10th Arctic Games, having participated as an athlete, mission staff and coach. In fact, she competed in five different sports in the Games including figure skating, snowshoeing, volleyball, speed skating and, of course, arctic sports.
“I think I won six or seven medals, mostly in snowshoeing and speed skating,” said Dickson. “It’s an exciting Games. And for young people to have this opportunity is definitely a stepping stone for them in sports.
“Being a home Games, it’s a little bit different. But I think we have a very supportive sports community that will only make our athletes do better in competition.”
Team Yukon roster
Alpine skiing
Kaitlynn Mitchell
Tayler Mitchell
Samantha Richardson
Lyndsey Boorse
Josephine Storey
Charlie Hawes
Marek Henderson-Pekarik
Sam Schimer
Coach: Yves Titley
Arctic sports
Megan Banks
Foreste Martin
Robyn Poulter
Luke Londero
Duran Simon
Jesse Whalen
Ben Wright
Anna Rivard
Allen Evenson
Tom Fulop
Seo Juhyun
Josh Carr
Coaches:
Teena Dickson
Josh Carr
Badminton
Montong Javannatum
Afsal Djearam
Casey Parker
Shermaine Chua
Emily Knickle
Peter Jensen
Mustafa Syed
Coaches:
Ken Frankish
Abbie Rotondi
Female Basketball
Jenna Blanchette
Teah Dickson
Robyn Fortune
Shakiba Kazemi
Mikaela Lane
Amanda Mervyn
Quynh Nguyen
Colleen Prensolo
Galena Roots
Jacy Sam
Coach: Sarah Crane
Male basketball
Christian Carino
Joshua Hansen
Peter Hanson
Bryan Hermosa
Rowan Huggard
Jake Jacobs
Gerard New
Brian Prenoslo
Soleil Stimson
Will Thomson
Coach: Tim Brady
Ski biathlon
Olivia Findlay
Ale Peters
Will Rees
Nadia Moser
Tristan Sparks
Jakov Tokic
Coaches:
Dennis Peters
Laurie Jacobsen
Snowshoe biathlon
Kieran Halliday
Sam Rees
Erin Hoehn
Francis Reid
Pelly Vincent-Braun
Coaches:
Jim Boyde
Jane Vincent
Cross-country skiing
Holly Bull
Adrenne Hynes
Katie Peters
Nahanni Sagar
Trevor Bray
Fabian Brook
Reid Seal
Cambria Fuerstner
Zoe Painter
Eliza Paul
Heather Thomson
Marcus Deuling
Caelan Mclean
Andrew Seal
Maggie Brook
Alexis Gee
Natalie Hynes
Hannah Schier
Simon Cash
Ian Hogeboom-Burr
Michael Kishchuck
Elias Sagar
Coaches:
Alain Masson
Amanda Deuling
Nick Stratis
Culture
Odessa Beatty
Mairi Fraser
Breagha Fraser
Kate Power
Tessa Rittel
Grayson Vanderbyl
Manager:
Breanne Leschert
Curling
Bailey Horte
Kelsey Meger
Kelly Mahoney
Sian Molloy
Coach: Rhonda Horte
David Aho
Ryan Burke
Kurt Hills
Spencer Wallace
Coach: Wade Scoffin
Dene games
Brittney Brown
Andria Mayes
Charissa Tizya
Tayler Vallevand
Matthew Brown
Terrence O’Brien
Anthony Primozic
Taylor Sembsmoen
Percilla Charlie-Tizya
Jasmine Johnson
Sarina Primozic
Tora-Lee Williams
Dustin Blackjack
Doronn Fox
Justin Smith
Coaches:
Jonah Caeser
Kristel Vance
Dog mushing
Rachel Kinvig
Kat Atmanspacher
Coaches:
Stephan Atmanspacher
Darren Kinvig
Figure skating
Kelcy Armstrong
Maya Austin
Bryn Hoffman
Marika Kitchen
Kristen LeGrow
Maria Peters
Rachel Pettitt
Taylor Schneider
Coaches:
Lori Austin
Michelle Gorczyca
Gymnastics
Reena Coyne
Fayne O’Donovan
Kendra Peters
Caitlyn Venasse
Coach: Catherine O’Donovan
Junior female hockey
Adrianne Dewhurst LW
Linsey Eby C
Madison Logan C
Tshayla Nothstein C
Sierra Oakley LW
Ashtyn Sandulak RW
Chyanne Spenner RW
Dana van Vliet RW
Hannah Wood-Walker LW
Natalja Blanchard D
Tamara Greek D
Lynsey Keaton D
Emilie Nugent D
Jolene Pitts D
Savannah van Vliet D
Teneesha Merkel G
Jocelyn Wynnyk G
Coaches:
Louis Bouchard
Susan Roy
Natasha Dunmell
Bantam male hockey
Kole Comin F
Bodhi Elias F
Chance Goodman F
Alex Hanson F
Levi Johnson F
Karter Kazakoff F
Kadin Kormendy F
Malachi Lavallee F
Dylan McQuaig F
Jack Blisner D
Nick Dobush D
Tyson Hope F/D
Nick Light D
Ben McClelland D
Marcus McLeod D
Josh Tetlichi G
Devon Troke G
Coaches:
Barry Blisner
Jamie Cairns
Midget male hockey
Mike Arnold F
Wyatt Gale F
Tyson Glass F
Mike Hare F
Tyrell Hope F
Brayden Kulych F
Matt McCarthy F
Cole Morris F
Tyler Weins F
Craig Berube D
Graham Close D
Chase Hobbis D
Brad Koprowsky D
Isaac Moses D
Mike Skookum D
Nigel Sinclair-Eckert G
Patrick Soprovich G
Coaches:
Jay Glass
Kirk Gale
Juvenile female soccer
Avery Bramadat
Anna Janowicz
Jamie Joe-Hudson
Jamie McLeisch
Hannah Milner
Aimee Parker
Mikaela Ponsioen
Teaghan Wilson
Samantha Wintemute
Coach: Arnold Headstrom
Juvenile male soccer
Brendan Irish
Trygg Jensen
Sam Lee
Allan Mark
Malcolm Muir
Timber Schroff
Kieran Stacey
Chris Torgerson
Luka van Randen
Coach: Ed van Randen
Junior female soccer
Samantha Burgis
Emily Dorosz
Camille Galloway
Jaylene Kelly
Megan Lanigan
Carolyn Miller
Brittany Milner
Morgan Paul
Emily Wilson
Coach: Charly Kelly
Junior male soccer
Mike Amirault
Travis Banks
Ali Khodakarami
Dominic Korn
Tristen Olynyk
Jonathan Runions
Andrew Scoffin
Martin Sealy
Mike Wintemute
Coach: Derrick Lewis
Intermediate female soccer
Nicole Bendera
Micah Copland
Avery Enzenauer
Jesse Hudson
Claire Lindsey
Ella Parler
Terri Publicover
Odette Rivard
Hanna Val
Coach: River Walton
Snowboarding
Lara Bellon
Francis Bouffard
Haylie Grant
Alidas Jamnicky
Tim Schirmer
Adam Waddington
Coaches:
Katrina Couch
Gabriel Rivest
Snowshoeing
Sara Burke-Forsyth
Kate Londero
Aidan Bradley
Logan Roots
Sophie Rees
Sam Bonar
Tomas Tokic
Coach: Don White
Speed skating
Heather Clarke
Emily Klassen
Rasheeda Slater
Donald Fortune
Shea Hoffman
Kathryn Fortune
Hanna Wirth
Daryn Lovell
Michael Ritchie
Christopher Ritchie
Coaches:
Phil Hoffman
Stacey Pennington
Table tennis
Alysha Gullison
Whitney Musil
Kyle Gonder
Alex Zheng
Grace-Anne Janssen
Sana Syed
Abed Al-Rammahi
Ehsan Idrees
Coaches:
Kevin Murphy
Zara Bachli
Junior female volleyball
Corey Baxter
Rowan Brown
Courtney Greenway
Samantha Henney
Erika New
Brooke Nielsen
Kiana Palamar
Kelsey Smeeton
Anna Smith
Patty Wallingham
Coach: Natasha Bilodeau
Junior male volleyball
Brady Bonnycastle
Justin Dragoman
Mason Gray
Michael Hunter
Charles Kedziora
Henry Kedziora
Jeremy Mann
Daniel Naef
Albert Spycher
Lowell Tait
Coach: Shaun McLoughlin
Wrestling
Kim Cleveland
Kelly Glada
Tanisha Leas
Antoine Broeckx
Kieran Charron-Ohagan
Terry Dick
Coaches:
Mary Jane Allison
Bruce Ross
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com