While the medal haul wasn’t there, it was definitely an experience of a lifetime for Ponoka area athletes.
In total, there were seven Ponoka girls that competed at the 2018 Alberta Winter Games in Fort McMurray, held recently.
The Zone 4 female volleyball teams came the closest to a medal, winding up fourth after losing two close sets in the bronze medal match against Zone 6. Central Rage players Cassandra Klinger, Autumn Roos and Kayla Vreugdenhil were joined on the team by Tiffany Ronald from the Ponoka Warriors.
The team managed to win its quarterfinal to make the medal round, but fell in straight sets in its last two matches.
“The games were such an amazing experience from the time we arrived in Fort McMurray until the moment I left,” explained Klinger.
“I got the chance to meet multitudes of new people and improved throughout each match. The competition had been at a high level and with each game being so close, any of the eight teams could have won gold.”
For Vreugdenhil, the Games were fun and a great chance to bond with new friends.
“Most of the girls on our team I didn’t know very well before hand, so we all got to know each other a lot better because we were together so much,” she said, adding the festivities, food and volunteers were all great.
And it will be something Roos will never forget, “I made lots of memories on and off the court, had lots of fun and the ceremonies were very well done — from the fireworks to the performances, it was truly amazing,” she stated.
For Ponoka being a hockey town, there was one lone player at the games — Kylie Perry, whose Zone 5 squad ended up in fifth place in the six-team event.
Perry, who plays with the female bantam elite club in Red Deer but lives just outside Ponoka, explained the whole experience — from the tryouts in St. Albert to the Games — was a blast.
“The tryout was open to any female registered north of the boundary near Red Deer and there were about 192 girls for 60 positions on the three zone teams in the north. When I got the phone call, I was surprised and thrilled to be a part of Zone 5,” she stated.
Perry added the experience will only help her in the future as she continues to gel with her club in Red Deer as she strives toward her goal of playing at the Olympics.
Ponoka also had a pair of figure skaters — Mallory McNalley and Bailey Rush. Rush, in her second trip to the event, finished the novice women’s combined program with score of 72.67 to put her in sixth place while McNalley ended up her first games with a 13th place finish in the Star 5 women’s freeskate.
“It was really amazing. The people are so sweet and it was all so crazy, so intoxicating,” said McNalley. “Even the seven-hour bus ride up, it was all just like a huge party.”
Meanwhile, Rush’s second time around was better than the first, “I just had so much fun and also met my goal as I put up two new personal best skates at the competition.”