It was an exhilarating weekend for the athletes who participated in the B.C. Summer Games, which wrapped up on Sunday.
Although she had competed in BC Winter Games for Judo previously, this was 13-year-old Lily McCullough's first B.C. Summer Games, where she was the youngest player on the U16 girls Cariboo Northeast softball team.
“We all combined from different towns and everything and we had a great time working together and making friends and our coaches helped a lot,” said McCullough, who is from Prince George, of her experience at the Games.
McCullough said she made good catches in the outfield, once catching a high ball when it was almost to the fence, and had some big hits against some pretty good pitches.
Her team came in sixth place but she said she was glad she was able to work together as a team and make some good plays.
“We all had seemingly different talents, but we could all work together, with them and put it all together, and we were playing against the better teams,” said McCullough, adding that the older girls on her team were all like big sisters to her.
She said it was a good experience also meeting the other players from around the province and learning about their different paths to the BC Games.
“In Prince George, there’s not a lot of big opportunities and all of the academies for ball, where in other places there is, so it was kind of cool to see how we get our talent, and how we work hard in other ways.”
MuCullough said she really liked her experience at the B.C. Summer Games and was thankful for the coaches, teammates and all of the volunteers who made the event possible.
She also wants to continue to compete at a high level for softball.
“I would like to keep working and playing up if I can and probably going to college for softball — that’s my dream.”
The BC Games saw more than 2,800 athletes and their coaches come to the city to participate in 18 sports at various venues throughout the city - made possible by a volunteer force of nearly 2,000 people who worked hard to help make the BC Games a success.
These volunteers included a handful of community photographers who captures the spirit of the games on its official flicker account, which you can access online for free.
The games concluded on Sunday with a special closing ceremony event with food trucks for athletes, coaches, and volunteers.
