Games Looking for Host Families
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:02 — 6.9MB)
The International Children’s Games are coming to Kelowna in less than two months. Hundreds of athletes and coaches will be arriving in town for the 5th International Children’s Winter Games – the dates are January 26 through 31.
Cross country skiing is one of the sports of the International Children's Winter Games
The organizing committee is looking for residents in the Kelowna area to get become a “Host Family” and billet some of the international guests coming to town.
These athletes are ages 11 to 15, and each represent a city, worldwide. So we have representatives coming from far-flung places like Maroondah, Australia; and Lausanne, Switzerland; and Innbruck, Austria – and a bunch of other cities all around the world.
Hockey is a sport of the International Children's Winter Games
This is a big deal for Kelowna, and in fact for Canada, because this is the first time that the Games have been held outside of Europe. It also gives Kelowna residents a chance to get to know the next “batch” of Olympians, because these are the individuals who we will see in years to come standing on the Podiums with medals around their necks.
The billet program requires all host families to provide five nights for a minimum of two athletes or one coach, five breakfasts, transportation to respective venue or pick-up location and pick-up at days end.
In exchange, Host Families will receive invitations to a number of the Games official events including opening ceremonies.
This is be an amazing opportunity to show off Kelowna to an international group of athletes, and to generate that golden “word of mouth” advertising for all the great activities we have in Kelowna as a destination. Don’t miss the opportunity to give your budding-athlete an adventure: if you have a child who is really keen on a certain winter sport, wouldn’t it be fun to host young athletes from around to world and create that connection for them?