“It’s a great way to go meet friends, right? I think that’s one of the best benefits we get from sports, is the new social connections.”
He also says that sports are a productive use of time for youths because the experiences gained will always be worthwhile.
“Being able to provide different levels of those experiences is so important for the community,” says Parker. “I think we sometimes lose sight of grassroots sports [and] focus on high performance. It’s more impressive when people are competing at the highest level, but there will always, always, always be an important place for grassroots sports and fun competition.”
A report to the European Commission defines grassroots sport as a “physical leisure activity, organized and non-organized, practised regularly at non-professional level for health, educational or social purposes.” The 2016 report was a proposal to the European Commission to promote grassroots sport in Europe.
In Canada, the Southern Alberta Recreation Association (SARA) annually organizes a sporting event that shares that same idea.
According to the SARA website, the annual Southern Alberta Summer Games (SASG) provides people of various ages, and skill levels in different sports the opportunity to compete in a regional competition. It was last held in 2019 for SASG’s 50th anniversary and has not run since then to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
In a news release from April 19, 2022, SARA noted that it was postponing the 51st annual SASG, which would have been hosted by the Town of Raymond, due to ongoing pandemic restrictions. The postponement was announced before the provincial government lifted the remaining COVID-19 health restrictions on June 15, 2022.
READ MORE: Lethbridge and Alberta lift remaining COVID-19 restrictions
Despite SASG’s postponement, SARA stated that the 2022 summer season would have sporting events hosted by 13 regions across southern Alberta, under the 2022 Southern Alberta Regional Events banner.
“We are excited to keep regional events going in 2022 and look forward to bringing back a full Southern Alberta Summer Games event in 2023,” the organization stated in the same news release.
To register and find out more, visit the Southern Alberta Regional Events registration webpage.
