The Countdown To The Start Of Niverville's 2022 Winter Games

The 365-day countdown to the start of the 2022 Manitoba Winter Games in Niverville began this past Saturday.

"It's incredibly exciting what this does for our town and for the athletes in our province, bringing them all to Niverville so we can provide them with this event," said Host Society co-chair Angela Janz. "With this announcement it adds another level of excitement that we are one year out and we are getting into the nitty gritty of the planning process and starting to really look at how things are actually going to roll out."

It was just over one year ago Janz and co-chair Chantel Todd celebrated the announcement by Sport Manitoba confirming Niverville's bid for the 2022 Games.

"Basically we've been meeting with our executive level since November and that was probably a bit of a delay just due to COVID," Janz said. "We had to move everything virtually which is not typical of Games planning but we rolled with the punches and got everything set up. We've had our monthly meetings, we've got our divisional chairs set up and they've got their volunteers for all their sub-committees. I think we just have a couple of sub-committees that are still waiting for chairs or co-chairs to be filled. Our divisional chairs have been working real hard at connecting with the various venues and Provincial Sport Organizations and other stakeholders that are involved. It's been all hands on deck. They've been working really hard at getting all those connections and getting the framework laid out."

1,800 athletes and coaches will attend the 2022 Winter Games from February 27th - March 5th and take part in alpine ski, archery, badminton, curling, cross country, figure skating, gymnastics, hockey, ringette, futsal, speed skating and wrestling.

"We are going to need over 800 volunteers total for the week," noted Janz. "We are definitely taking volunteers from outside the community of Niverville. We are counting on those that have special interest in sport that just want to be a part of an amazing event. We launched our Volunteer Recruitement Drive on Monday. That's online through Sport Manitoba's website. There's a voluteer recruitement page. We can hopefully get those people coming in and getting them divided up into different divisions depending on their interest. Looking for a lot of people to step up, not just the week of but also leading up to it."

The futsal competition will be held at Niverville High School which opened in September of 2019.

Men's hockey, figure skating, speed skating, badminton and gymnastics will take place in the brand new Niverville Community Resource and Recreation Centre.

"It's been so exciting just watching that building go up and seeing all that it can offer," said Janz. "Without that we obviously wouldn't be able to accommodate this type of event but with that building and our amazing community volunteer base and those around us, we know we are going to put on an amazing event."

Janz says the community understands just how big an undertaking it is to host the Manitoba Games.

"I think it's starting to really hit home because as the media posts start coming out and we start really making the public aware of what is coming - there are a lot of enquiries starting to roll in. We have a great group of divisional chairs that are very connected to the community and that is the key I believe to really get the word out and get people involved."

2022 Manitoba Winter Games Recruitment Drive