Sask. Summer Games coach reflects on time as an athlete

It’s about to be a big week for Lloydminster.

The Saskatchewan Summer Games kick off in the Border City, with it’s opening ceremonies today.

The summer games haven’t been held since 2016, with the previous games in 2020 being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Former athlete turned coach Greg Hetterley is excited for his athletes to see what the games are all about.

“It’ll be a very new experience for most of the athletes competing,” he said. “I think they’re just going to be blown away by all that goes into it.”

Hetterley is coaching athletics, also known as track and field.

The games run from July 21-July 27 and will showcase 1,504 athletes competing in 14 different sports from 221 communities.

“It is a big deal,” Hetterley said. “It’s pretty much a mock Olympics, just here in Saskatchewan. There is an opening ceremony and a closing ceremony that depending on what week your sport is in that you’ll be a part of. It has the same medal kind of system: gold, silver, bronze.”

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Hetterley is coaching about 25 kids from Team Regina, and they’re all pumped to get competing.

“Most of them are feeling a little anxious, you know the normal excitement that comes before a big meet,” Hetterley said. “But most of them know deep down that they’re ready, and on race day or jump day it’ll all come out.”

Hetterley has been coaching for three years, but long before that, he was an athlete himself.

He competed in track and field at the 2012 Saskatchewan Summer Games in Meadow Lake as a distance runner. Hetterley later went on to compete at the 2013 and 2017 Canada Summer Games and has represented Team Canada four times internationally.

He said the journey from athlete to coach has been a mix of emotions.

“It’s been bittersweet to be honest because at the same time, I’d really like to be out there running,” he said. “But I just still like to be part of the community and feel the joy that it brings the kids, and I still want to be part of the community and contribute in some way even though I can no longer compete.”

Hetterley said sports gave him a sense of direction in life.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to go when I was older,” he said. “Sports gave me something to focus on and opened up a lot of avenues for myself. I was fortunate enough that I was good enough at my sport that it allowed me to go to university and pursue and education.”

Greg Hetterley competed in track and field at the 2012 Saskatchewan Summer Games in Meadow Lake as a distance runner. (Supplied/Greg Hetterley)

As a coach he hopes to provide the same opportunities he had as a kid to his athletes.

“There are many kids that I coach that are in that similar situation where it could even provide them the opportunity to go to university if they never thought that that was possible before,” he said.

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