KAMSACK — A Kamsack athlete is bringing home two medals from the 2022 Canada Summer Games that were played in Niagara, Ont.
The games took place Aug. 6 to 21.
Teddy Hudye, 23, placed second in the Shot Put Para-Male event, earning the silver medal at the games on Aug. 16. He received 357 points, while Jesse Zesseu of Toronto, who received the gold medal, received 569 points.
And then on Saturday, Hudye earned his second medal of the Games; a bronze medal in the Discus Para-Male event.
Speaking to the Kamsack Times by phone on Aug. 18, Hudye said his had expected that his chances were “pretty good” for that second medal.
“Hudye put together a successful string of throws on the first day of Week 2 competition, which resulted in a suspenseful wait for a podium finish,” Ashley Dennison, Games Services and Communication Lead for the Saskatchewan Games Council, said in a release. Hudye earned the silver medal for Team Sask at the newly-built Canada Games Park in St. Catharine’s, Ont.
“Hudye is new to Shot Put Para, having trained and competed in the sport for only one year,” Dennison said.
“I’ve been trying to convince Teddy to do throws for three years and this year… he finally committed to it,” said Jen Wood, his coach. “He’s put in a ton of time, and it’s been just around a year since we’ve been working together, and he’s totally committed to it.”
“Woods is his coach back in Saskatchewan and at the 2022 Canada Summer Games,” Dennison explained. Hudye competes in Yorkton and Saskatoon on the Cyclones Track and Field Club Team.
“You know when you see someone’s potential and you know they’re going to do well… it’s what I knew about Teddy,” Wood said.
Before the Games Hudye had high expectations for himself, Dennison said. His main goal was to win a medal and that he did.
When asked how he felt winning a silver medal, Hudye said “It felt pretty good, it made all the training worth it!”
Hudye, who lives in Yorkton where he works at SecurTek Monitoring Solutions in tech support, said he began training in shot put and discus after having attended a symposium in 2015.
“I tried it in therapy and was good at it,” he said. “I liked lifting weights and throwing goes with that.”
His coaches said that Hudye attended the Parasport Training Program in Saskatchewan and then competed at the Canada Games Team Sask trials, where he did very well, and was named to the team in early June.
Hudye said he also enjoys water skiing and sledge hockey, also known as Para ice hockey, which is an adaptation of ice hockey designed for players who have a physical disability.
Hudye said that attending the Canada Games is “pretty cool.” He said he enjoys seeing all the athletes and watching the sports.
He said that in preparation for the Games, he trained twice a week in Yorkton, while also working out five days a week.
“I plan to keep on training and hopefully one day make the para-Olympic team.”
Last month, Hudye and Adrian Pearson began Parkland Custom Cleaning Solutions, a mobile pressure washing and detailing business that deals with vehicles and farm equipment.
Hudye was to fly back to Saskatchewan on Aug. 22.
More than 5,000 young athletes and their coaches were expected to gather to compete for the podium in Canada’s largest multi-sport event, the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games, which were designed to celebrate the wonder of sport alongside arts and culture, said information on the Games.
Including Hudye’s two medals, it brings Team Sask’s medal count to two gold; 13 silver and 13 bronze for a total of 28.
The Games honoured Indigenous communities and showcase a remarkable heritage of hard work and innovation in one of the world’s most awe-inspiring destinations, the information said.
Spirited events, spectacular entertainment, and the theatre of elite competition were organized to spark new energy in the region as the community’s streets, skies, and waterways were expected to shimmer with ceremony and celebration that is befitting of Canada’s best young athletes.
