While people in Calgary are following the Milano-Cortina Winter Games, they can also take part in the Good Games. The festival offers dozens of different sports, including freestyle soccer, pickleball and wheelchair rugby, all in the same room at the BMO Centre from Feb 13 to 15. You can watch world champions, compete in a sport yourself or try something out for the first time. “(It’s) a smorgasbord of sports that everyone can come experience,” said Helen Stoumbos, Good Games festival organizer. “Athletes that have competed in the Olympics say this feels like an Olympic Games; it feels like an athletes’ village.” Some sports are likely to end up in the Olympics. “Teqball, which is soccer played on a ping pong table,” said Stoumbos. “We were really close to getting into the LA Olympics, but they chose flag football, so hopefully this year the international Olympic community recognizes the sport,” said Akos Prekop, Teqball Canada president. Meanwhile, Team Canada is drawing crowds to pubs at unconventional hours. Bars can apply for extended liquor service for Olympic medal events and non-medal Team Canada hockey games. “We’re telling the staff to take naps or sleep when they can because some of those games are pretty dang early,” said Geoff Allan, Bottlescrew Bill’s manager. It’s the first time in more than a decade NHL stars are competing at the Olympics, which is a big draw, even early in the morning. “We opened at 8 a.m. yesterday, and we had people knocking on the door at 7:45, so it’s good,” said Allan. Some are paying attention to the Milano-Cortina Games while also keeping an eye on the ball at the Good Games festival. “I actually take inspiration from some of the winter Olympic sports like snowboarding—their flips and spins and how they construct their runs,” said Andrew Henderson from the United Kingdom, who is a five-time freestyle football world champ. The event started in Guelph, but this is the first time it’s been in another city and the very first indoor version. Organizers say the goal is to make it an annual Calgary winter tradition.
