Ponoka’s talented athletes are gearing up to attend the 2012 Alberta Summer Games, July 26 to 29 in Lethbridge.
Up-and-coming triathlon star Zoe McCormick is going to the Games for the first time this year.
McCormick grew up watching her sister have a lot of success in the sport and four years ago she put on her swim suit, donned her helmet, and laced her shoes for the first time.
When McCormick came in second at the Sylvan Lake Triathlon she knew she was going to be heading south this summer.
“I was happy. I was surprised,” McCormick said.
McCormick loved the sport from the beginning. “It challenges me a lot.” But she didn’t always have the success she’s now achieving. In the beginning McCormick didn’t train much.
“I wasn’t placing really well. It just hurt a lot more because I wasn’t training.”
In March McCormick joined the True North Triathlon club in Red Deer to help her train for the Summer Games. She attends the club twice a week. “It’s really fun. There’s really good people involved.”
Now McCormick swims five times a week and goes for either a run or biking too.
McCormick usually races against around 40 girls, there will be about 20 in her only race during the Summer Games.
“I’m more nervous because the people are better. It’s more competitive,” McCormick said.
McCormick isn’t the only one excited for her upcoming race, her mother is too. “I’m excited for her to be a part of it. It’s neat to see her having success in it.”
Now that the Games are approaching, McCormick feels she needs to train even more. “I don’t know how good the people are,” McCormick stated.
Lacrosse player heads south for summer
Lacrosse player Carter Makofka will also be going to the Games for the first time.
Makofka started playing lacrosse seven years ago after attending a Calgary Roughnecks game. “It just seemed like a fun sport to play,” Makofka said. “I like the intensity of it.”
Makofka was told he was going to the Summer Games after a game in Didsbury. “I’m so excited.”
“I think it’s quite an honour to go play at the summer games.” And Makofka isn’t the only one from his team going south this summer.
“The team’s very proud,” Makofka said.
Softball player slides into Summer Games
Zone 4 softball player Carmen Lomas will attend her first Summer Game; she went to the Winter Games for volleyball.
Lomas has been playing softball since she was five or six. “I enjoy the competition of it.”
During her first year Lomas played on a boys’ team. “They liked to bug me a lot,” she said, chuckling.
Lomas’s mother signed her up for Summer Game tryouts. Her first one was in March and her second in June. Lomas knew the night of her second tryout that she was heading to the Games. “I was really excited, I couldn’t stop smiling.”
Lomas has already hit two home runs this season, but when it comes to the Games her stomach isn’t always as steady as her bat. “Sometimes there are butterflies. I try to calm myself down but is doesn’t always work.”
But not knowing about the competition is something that excites Lomas and she can’t wait to meet new people there.
Hector Ibarra of Ponoka is attending the Alberta Summer Games for soccer. Nicole Dupuis, James Wood and Mikayla Tolsma, all from Clive, will also compete in the Summer Games.