NAIG 2014 Profiles: Sydney McIntyre
- Jeanelle Mandes | July 25, 2014
SYDNEY MCINTYRE
AGE: 17
HOMETOWN: PATUANAK
TEAM SASK
SPORT: WRESTLING
Sydney McIntyre won a gold medal in wrestling at the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) held in Regina.
"It wasn't easy; I had three girls to go against. It was nerve-racking, too, because everyone was counting on me and my teammates. But after the gold medal match, I was so happy. It was hard to believe."
She says she always had to work out to train herself for NAIG. She wrestled with other people to prepare herself for the competitions. McIntyre took a training camp in North Dakota, which really helped prep her wrestling techniques.
When she heard that she was accepted as a competitor for NAIG, she was very excited to be a part of the games.
"I was really happy but I kind of knew I would be able to, because they needed to fill in all the weight categories. But I was really happy and it was my first time coming to NAIG.
"I'm enjoying it; it's a great experience to have. Meeting all different people, I've made a lot of friends already everywhere," she adds. She says she's going to be using social media to keep in touch with new friends that she gained at NAIG.
She's wrestled since she was seven-years-old, which was one of the extracurricular activities held at her school.
Her coach, Gary Fry, is one of her inspirations to play the sport. She says he always pushed her to continue in her passion with wrestling.
"There are a couple of times that I wanted to give up, the training was too hard. But he inspired me to keep going, to keep trying and not to give up."
McIntyre's advice to the youth who would like to participate as an athlete in NAIG is never doubt your skills.
"Just try it. You may not think you're good enough but just try because you never know. And it's really fun."
During her wrestling matches, one of the University of Regina (U of R) wrestling coaches watched her performance and approached her to attend the school and to partake in the wrestling team. He also was one of the coaches that took her to compete in North Dakota.
She'll be attending university in the fall to continue on with her education.