Based on the past, some of the kids who compete in the Maple Ridge 2024 BC Games will go on to become great athletes.
One of the best examples is Maple Ridge's own Karina LeBlanc. Before she was a Canadian women's soccer team keeper winning an Olympic bronze medal in 2012, Leblanc was a teen with all sorts of natural athletic abilities. She competed in the 1993 and 1994 BC Summer Games in basketball, but switched sports and became one of the country's best on the soccer pitch. She played in four FIFA Women's World Cups and two Olympic Games.
The Karina LeBlanc Game Changer Award is a legacy award that has been established for an athlete who is a game changer both on and off the field. The first winner was Maple Ridge's Anna Huber.
The celebrated LeBlanc was at the original announcement that Maple Ridge would host the 2020 BC Summer Games, but those Games were derailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and rescheduled for July 18 to 21.
LeBlanc joins the likes of former Toronto Blue Jays baseball player Brett Lawrie and NHL goaltender Carey Price as Games alumni who reached the peak of their sport.
Another local sports celebrity was Pitt Meadows' Monika Eggens, who was in the BC Summer Games in water polo in 2004, and went on to play internationally, including the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Larissa Franklin is a Canadian national softball team outfielder who is now working with young players. Although she did not attend the Games, she is delighted to see it in her hometown. Now working with the next generation of young stars, Franklin said the Games are an important rung on the ladder these athletes are climbing.
A kid who wants to play for Team Canada in their sport will need a starting point, and that's making their regional team and competing in the BC Games.
"That ladder and stepping stone is really important to their development," she said. "Those goals are in reach, and they [the Games] make an athlete see what they can achieve."
"It's neat to see it all coming to Maple Ridge, and the community coming together," added Franklin.
She has travelled the world playing ball, and will soon pack her bags for the Women's Softball World Cup in Italy on July 15 to 20. But seeing a lot of the planet makes it more special to come home and look out at the skyline to see the Golden Ears Mountains, and she wants to share the community.
"I appreciate Maple Ridge so much more," she said.
Andrew Lenton is a well respected Maple Ridge track and field coach, but in 1983 he was a teen from Coquitlam coming to the BC Summer Games in Maple Ridge. He won gold in the 3,000m race and steeplechase, and silver in the 1,500m.
It inspired him.
"I set higher goals and newer goals," said Lenton. "I really enjoyed the competitive nature of the Games, and the higher level of competition. I've got really fond memories."
He would go on to compete on the track teams at SFU and the University of Tennessee, and was ranked ninth in the world in the 1,500m for under-20 runners.
Both his daughter Jade and son Jorrin would compete in the BC Games, en route to becoming collegiate track and field scholar-athletes.
"The Games are great for the province," Lenton said. "It's really the first big team a lot of the athletes will make, and it's a stepping stone from their regional team to a provincial team. It's a really important stepping stone."
He said most of the athletes at 14 or 15 are early in their development, and have yet to specialize in one sport. The Games can help set them on a path.
That said, in the sport of track and field, the competition is stiff, and the Games' all-time records are tough to break.
"These are the best athletes in the province at a young age," he said.
At a time when sports can put a financial strain on families, the Games provides a great experience for little cost, Lenton added.
"These Games are very accessible."