We’ve heard about the generosity of folks at the Arctic Winter Games in Fort McMurray, Alta., when it comes to helping out athletes from the NWT.
There’s been Bradley Bartlett from the U19 boys hockey team and his equipment dilemma — it didn’t arrive with him when he flew in for the Games, so the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League set him up with gear.
There’s another story that has emerged about a young table tennis player and his pins. They didn’t show up with him when he arrived, but Carter Sadowick found out that when you’re good to others, they’ll be good to you.
The 11-year-old table tennis player from Fort Providence was all set to take in the unofficial 21st sport of the Arctic Winter Games, pin trading, but he couldn’t because his collection got lost in transit.
“They got lost on the plane,” he said on Thursday. “I had three bags of pins, over 50 of them.”
He still had a couple of pins in his pocket and was determined to wheel and deal. Then he passed by someone standing at a bus stop and saw that she only had one pin on her lanyard.
That’s when Sadowick decided to help her fill it up.
“I offered her a pin. She asked if I wanted to trade, but I told her she could have it,” he said.
Instead, the lady in question ended up giving back three pins. Turned out she only had one on her lanyard because there were a bunch in her pocket.
“I only thought she had one because that’s all I saw,” said Sadowick. “She gave me a small Canadian flag one and a couple of others, I can’t remember what they are right now.”
His thoughtful gesture didn’t go unnoticed and he ended up receiving fair play pins from the Nunavut and Greenland delegations.
As of Thursday afternoon, Sadowick’s pin collection still hadn’t shown up.
As for his table tennis matches, Sadowick said he didn’t win at all, but he’s having the time of his life.
“I’m having fun here,” he said. “Maybe I’ll try out for the team next year because (the Games are) in Alaska and I’ve never been to Alaska.”