Camaraderie and Competition

Enbridge sponsorship helps energize the Saskatchewan Summer Games

On competition day, Abby Goddard is up before the sun and in the pen, bonding with her horse and partner, Kitty Star. Still in her pajamas, she gives the dark brown mare hay and cleans out the stall before trotting around the arena for a light warm up.

The extra effort Goddard puts into caring for Kitty strengthens their bond, which becomes evident in competition. The 12-year-old from Swift Current, Sask., says she and Kitty “have the same mind. I don’t even have to move one inch of my body; (Kitty) knows what I want to do.”

The current provincial equestrian champion for her age group, Goddard will be competing with Kitty in the reining event at the Saskatchewan Summer Games held from July 24 to 30 in Estevan.

“It’s like the Olympics for kids,” says Goddard, adding she’s “super duper excited.”

Goddard is one of 64 competitors in the equestrian events, which will take place in a venue named for Enbridge, in recognition of a $60,000 sponsorship of the Games.

More than 1800 athletes and coaches will be participating in a number of sports including basketball, swimming, archery, triathlon and golf.

The Games’ slogan is “Energize the Games,” an appropriate catchphrase given Estevan’s moniker as the “energy city.”

“We wanted to have a positive, lively, energetic brand to create a ripple of positive feeling going through the community,” says Brenda Lyons, the Games’ co-chair of marketing and promotion.

Lyons’s son played baseball in the Games in 2008, and she attended as a synchronized swimming coach in 2014. The experiences inspired Lyons to become involved with Estevan’s bid to get the Games and volunteer on the planning committee.

“It’s such a memorable event, I wanted to give that opportunity to other athletes,” she explains by phone from the car. She and other volunteers are travelling the province, attending pep rallies in different communities to spread enthusiasm for the Games.

“It’s nice to get out and about and meet people in their communities. It means a lot to them that we’re making the effort to go and share the excitement with them.”

After months of physical training and bonding with Kitty, Goddard is spending the last few days before the Games concentrating on her mental game. Once in the saddle, donning riding boots and helmet, her hair pulled back with a black bow, her goal is to stay focused and “do what I’m supposed to do, ride how I know.”

More than winning a first-place ribbon, she wants to take everything in, enjoy the atmosphere, meet other athletes and perform her best.

Says Lyons, “I hope (the athletes) go home thinking it was the best games of their life.”