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Castlegar will be well represented at BC Summer Games

Profiles of some of Castlegar's athletes who will be heading to the games.
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Swimmers Gabrielle Hanvold (left) and Tenysha Ross-Van Mierlo are excited about going to the BC Summer Games.

SOCCER - Castlegar’s John Fogal was thrilled when he found out he made the Kootenay summer games boys soccer team. With 65 players trying out, the competition for spots was very tough. In fact, Josh was the only player to make it from either Castlegar or Trail.

Josh has been playing in the Castlegar Minor Soccer Association and with the Kootenay South Youth Soccer Association (KSYSA) for several years now. For the past two years,he has been an integral part of the KSYSA U12 Select team.

“I’m really excited about participating in the summer games,” says Josh, who has been travelling to Nelson and Cranbrook for practices.

The BC Summer Games starts July 19 and runs until July 22 in Surrey, B.C.

BASEBALL - Drake Voykin practices his swing with his teammates. Voykin and the Kootenay team were practicing Saturday at Kinnaird Park in Castlegar.

SWIMMING - Castlegar natives Gabrielle Hanvold and Tenysha Ross-Van Mierlo (below - from left) will be representing the Kootenay in the pool.

For both girls, this will be there first time at the summer games and they’re both excited.

“Getting to go with a bunch of other people from Castlegar is cool,” said Hanvold. “It’s supposed to be really fun,” said Ross-Van Mierlo. “I have a friend who plays basketball and she says it’s fun.”

The girls will have to pick seven events out of 12 to swim in.

“We get to choose which events we want to do,” said Ross-Van Mierlo.

Hanvold specializes in 100 and 200M butterfly, while Ross-Van Mierlo prefers 100 and 400M freestyle.

Both girls swim with the Kootenay Swim Club from out of Nelson.

Both are hoping to improve on their best swim times in Surrey.

BASKETBALL -  Alyssa Christianson and Michelle Matson from Castlegar, and Sian Nielsen from South Slocan are part of the Kootenay Girls team. Coaching the Kootenay team is Kim Matson, also of Castlegar.

The Kootenay team held a mini-camp last week at Selkirk College in Castlegar.

LACROSSE - The Kootenay Summer Games lacrosse team will have plenty of local faces and will also have one of the only female coaches in the male dominated sport.

For Castlegar’s Maria Chirdaris , coaching was a natural progression after being a trainer for the local midget lacrosse team.

“I’ve been the trainer for my son’s team over the years,” she said. “This year there was a lack of volunteers and I said I would step up and expand my duties and help Trevor (Balyk) out.”

Chirdaris took her level one coaching certification and stepped behind the bench and has been loving it ever since.