The Kamloops 2018 BC Winter Games Society contributed to the local steering committee, PLAYKamloops, in supporting its journey through the Physical Literacy for Communities initiative. The PLAYKamloops committee believes that the development of a strong skill set across the spectrum of fundamental movement skills in a variety of environments while building confidence, increasing motivation, and facilitating competence creates a platform for young athletes to go from “playground to podium.” The BC Games targets athletes in the Learn to Train and Train to Train stages of Long-Term Athlete Development, and highlights the work PLAYKamloops is doing to build a physically literate community.

In the build-up to the games, the BC Games Society, in partnership with PacificSport Interior BC, supported a variety of local community events. In November, Kamloops was the first city outside of Richmond to host Olympic Day, a celebration of the spirit of multisport games. In collaboration with community partners, this event provided the opportunity for over 1500 students from School District 73 to experience the energy and excitement of a multisport event. Students were encouraged to participate in a variety of active stations, including winter sport stations in bobsled and biathlon from the Whistler Sports Legacy Group for example, that showcased a variety of sports and highlighted the diversity of skills required in the journey towards physical literacy. Additionally, the BC Games Society was able to support local sport development workshops in a range of topics including leadership, inclusivity, and coach development. During these workshops, the BC Games Community Development program was able to present to coaches, parents and community leaders on the significance of physical literacy in sport and its role in the Long-Term Athlete Development Framework, and to introduce the work of PLAYKamloops in the community area.

Over 300 athletes participated in sport development workshops during the games. Partnered with Canadian Sport Institute Pacific, Kamloops 2018 BC Winter Games provided workshops that combined PODIUM SEARCH™, and physical literacy fundamental movement skill–based activities. The standardized fitness-testing program for athletes, PODIUM SEARCH™, offered an opportunity to assess BC Games athletes against tests, and targeted national sport organizations’ benchmarks, providing data that offers insight for fitness evaluation compared across sports, developmental standards and provincial and national sport organization alignment. The community development arm of the sport directorate hosted physical literacy and fundamental movement skill sessions led by locally trained physical literacy experts offering fun, active and developmentally appropriate physical challenges aligning with physical literacy objectives. The focus was to provide fun activities in a spectrum of skills for different environments and various abilities.