Photo: Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection Facebook

By Shane Clausing

try-it day

Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection announces online Try-It Day in June

May 5, 2020 | 1:17 PM

The Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection’s annual summer Try-It Day on June 6 is going to look a little different this year.

Because of COVID-19, the Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection has been forced to move it’s popular day to an online format because of public gathering restrictions laid out by the province.

The Sport Connection hosts annual Try-It Days in both the winter and summer in order to give kids aged 6-17 a chance to try out different seasonal sports for free.

The day normally gives kids the opportunity to try more than 30 different sports and will regularly see between 500-600 kids participating in the days activities.

With this year’s Try-It Day moving online, different sporting organizations throughout the Peace Region that are participating in the day will all make video tutorials on their sports while encouraging people at home to follow along.

Karna Germsheid with the Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection says that they didn’t want to risk cancelling the day that so many people look forward to and it’s a great opportunity for sporting organizations in the city to get involved in the community.

“Before June 6 we are going to be promoting what the different sporting organizations are and what they’re going to offer. We thought there are a lot of organizations out there that are continuing their service to their members and I’m sure that they can really benefit in increasing exposure to other families, kids and homes that might be looking for new opportunities right now and certainly when things open up again.”

Just over a month out from Try-It Day, Germsheid tells EverythingGP that there have already been more than ten organizations that have reached out to her and her team about putting something together for the day.

Some sports included in the day are soccer, basketball, disc golf and jujitsu. Some local gyms have also offered to put together some workout programs that kids can try and follow along to.

One perk of this year’s Try-It Day is that kids will be able to try more than one sport. Normally because the demand is so high, registrations fill up fast and there isn’t enough room for kids to try more than one different sport.

However, because everything is online and there are no registrations, kids are encouraged to try multiple sports throughout the day.

Germshied says that she doesn’t know what to expect from the public but hopes this can keep people busy and get them thinking.

“We really don’t know what to expect. We’re hoping to engage with the community and have something that’s available for people to really see what’s out there.”

Adults are also being encouraged to follow along with the videos and also try something new.

Videos for the day will bet posted on the Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection’s website on June 6 at 9:00 a.m.

More information on the day can be found here.