Nerves, drive, excitement: How 5 N.B. athletes prepared for their Canada Games debuts

Every athlete has a story. 

And the next chapter in the stories of hundreds of New Brunswick athletes will unfold in St. John's for two weeks this month at the Canada Summer Games.

The Canada Games are held every two years, alternating between summer and winter and spanning 30 different sports.

More than 4,000 athletes, coaches and support staff from across the country will participate in the Games in St. John's starting Friday.

New Brunswick is sending 355 athletes.

For some athletes over the years — sprinter Andre De Grasse, mountain biker Catharine Pendrel, Boston Red Sox player Abraham Toro and tennis player Eugenie Bouchard, to name just four — the Canada Summer Games have been a step on the way to international or professional competition.  

But for most who participate, the Canada Games are the highest level of competition in their sports careers. 

Here is an introduction to five New Brunswick competitors this year:

Grace Matchett, baseball

Grace Matchett, 16, of Riverview had a broken ankle when she found out she was on the women's baseball team. She did tryouts all winter but then broke her ankle playing school volleyball.

It took a lot of positive thinking and physiotherapy to recover.

"It was a lot about really strengthening my foot and getting back up to speed with everyone," Grace said. 

"But then also improving to be where everyone else was because they've improved longer than I had been on the field."

 Women's baseball is making its debut at the Summer Games.

"They've started to view baseball how my team and me and my coaches have viewed it for quite a while. … It's finally being given the recognition it deserves."

Finlay McSporran, rugby 7s

Rugby sevens, a shorter game featuring fewer players than rugby, is also making its debut at this Canada Summer Games.

Finlay McSporran of Fredericton said he had to fix his diet and do a lot of running and sprinting to improve his fitness and make the New Brunswick team.

He has been playing rugby since he was five years old but only recently switched from that form of rugby, with 15 players on each side, to rugby sevens, which has seven per side. 

"Sevens is a much faster-paced game, a lot more space open on the field," Finlay said.  

"The games are shorter, but it's quick bursts, and you've always got to be ready to just go for a run, get with the ball and support it." 

Maryn Mombourquette, basketball

Maryn Mombourquette of Fredericton was with her mother when she got the news she'd be going to the Canada Games, just as her older brother and sister, Lance and Addie, did before her.

"We were very excited," Maryn said. "Just I was very nervous waiting for it, but lots of excitement when it happened."

Maryn is on the basketball team, and this time will be on the court instead of watching her siblings from the sidelines, as she did at the last Canada Summer Games in the Niagara Region of Ontario.

And while some siblings who tag along to every court and gym might pick a different sport, this wasn't the case for Maryn.

 "Not me, I was dragged to every game, and I'm still standing," she said.

Cédric Bourgeois and Léanne Bourgeois, soccer

It will be an exciting Canada Games for the Bourgeois family of Moncton.

Cédric, 17, and his sister Léanne, 16, of Moncton are on the men's and women's soccer teams, competing the first and second weeks respectively.

They've been playing soccer since they were little and see being part of Team New Brunswick as an honour for their dedication to the sport.

Cédric found out during a soccer practice that he made the team. 

He was checking his phone every 10 to 15 minutes on the sidelines until practice ended. That's when he got a personal email saying he made the team.

"It was like all those hours of hard work and dedication to the sport, not missing practice because even if I'm tired or whatnot," he said. "It was so satisfying."

Léanne was with a friend when she got a phone call with the news.

"We didn't really know if it was a good call or a bad call. But as soon as she said it was good news, then we were all very excited."

Cédric said his parents were excited too because they had already booked their trip to Newfoundland and were hoping both children would make Team New Brunswick.

"I think they were more stressed than we were, like leading up to that," he said. "But once they got confirmation that both of us made it, they were very, very happy."

For Cédric, it's a reward for all the hours he's spent on the soccer pitch.   

"It's really awesome to be representing Team New Brunswick at the Canada Games level. It really means a lot wearing that crest on my chest."