On a warm, cloudy day, figures in black and red sped across a football pitch, onlookers’ heads turning back-and-forth eagerly, yells and cheers at the players as they attempted to kick the ball into the opposing goal. Read More
On a warm, cloudy day, figures in black and red sped across a football pitch, onlookers’ heads turning back-and-forth eagerly, yells and cheers at the players as they attempted to kick the ball into the opposing goal. Despite a half hour having passed, the game was tight, the score nil-nil for each side. For Gurpartik,
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On a warm, cloudy day, figures in black and red sped across a football pitch, onlookers’ heads turning back-and-forth eagerly, yells and cheers at the players as they attempted to kick the ball into the opposing goal.
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Despite a half hour having passed, the game was tight, the score nil-nil for each side.
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For Gurpartik, 17, this is one of the biggest events he’s gotten to play at.
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He plays in high school and with a local club, but heard about the Sikh games through his dad, who he said, used to join practices for the team playing in the games.
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“I was really excited,” he said, about hearing about the games.
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According to Gurjit Singh Sindhu, chairman of the Dashmesh Culture Centre, when the centre’s committee first proposed the idea of hosting an annual Sikh Games to the community, “there was not a single individual who opposed it,” he said.
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The event began with Friday’s inauguration ceremony and continues through the weekend, ending at 6 p.m. Sunday, with opportunities to compete in soccer, field hockey, volleyball, basketball and football.
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The event may be the first of its kind in Alberta, but it has already been in action for decades around the world, in New Zealand, India, Australia, and elsewhere, according to Sindhu.
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The history of the games go back to the preachings of the sixth Guru of the Sikh religion, Guru Hargobind, who ideated the games to “keep the community physically and mentally healthy,” he said.
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First proposed in December 2024, the idea was discussed as a way to encourage kids to be more involved in the community, and step away from screen time as a hobby. “We want to take them to the grounds,” Sindhu said. “We want them to be involved in the games, to be physically and mentally strong and want them to represent Calgary, maybe Canada, in the national games.”
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The magnitude of the event may be a first, but the community has a long history of encouraging children to play outside, in myriad smaller events, community games and club tournaments.
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With barely four months to plan the weekend, the community had to get to work fast. Speedily, they organized into subcommittees, each focusing on a specific sport and leaving all the technicalities of the planning — i.e., game schedule, teams, prizes for the winners — up to the group in charge.
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Almost everyone involved in planning the events and running the games are volunteers, Sindhu said, with the exception of the basketball referees, who have been paid for their involvement.
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