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Castlegar woman coaches players to podium

Rebecca Vassilakakis back from Canada Winter Games

Chris Stedile

 

Castlegar News

 

The 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George have drawn to a close and Castlegar’s Rebecca Vassilakakis coached her players to several victories.

Vassilakakis has been the coach for BC’s squash team for 12 years and loves her position more with each event.

Michele Mariko Garceau took the gold medal in the individual female category and Matt Toth won bronze for individual male.

Team BC also won silver in the female team category. Vassilakakis says she’s proud of all her players and hasn’t seen so much community involvement in any of the other games she’s attended.

“It was probably the best games I’ve been to in terms of  the venue; and the community really embraced it,” she said. “The whole city was on board and everybody was just so positive all the time. It was unbelievable, really.”

While the official Team BC announcements for the next games in 2019 won’t be made for another year, Vassilakakis is hopeful she’ll be chosen once again.

“I’m really proud of our team. Everyone did an amazing job and played to their fullest. It was a really great experience.”

The Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development called this year’s games  “a landmark event for the province,” as the largest multi-sport and cultural event ever held in northern BC and the first Canada Winter Games in BC.

The City of Prince George and the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation hosted more than 15,000 visitors and participants from Feb. 13 to March 1.

There were 2,400 athletes from across the nation competing in 19 sports ranging from hockey to judo to archery.

Team BC had an impressive performance, earning 88 medals — 21 gold, 34 silver and 33 bronze. BC came in third, behind first-place Quebec and second-place Ontario.