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The oval has become a community focus since it was opened to the public in December. (Marti Marien Photo)

Did someone whisper, 鈥淏uild it and they will come鈥� in Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly鈥檚 ear? Hard to say.

But when the city opened a temporary skating track for Canada Games competition, it invited the public to try it out in advance of the athletes. Did they come? Did they ever!

People have turned out by the thousands鈥擠al students between classes, professionals on their lunch hour and families with kids鈥攖o skate on the 400-metre refrigerated loop in the open air. Skates are flying off the shelves at sporting stores; companies have made offers of corporate donations before being asked; and the city is pumped for the Canada Games which will see 3,000 athletes and coaches converging on the province from February 11 to 27.

Making sure everything runs as smoothly as the ice behind the Zamboni is a team of more than 5,000 volunteers.

David Westwood, associate professor of kinesiology with Dalhousie鈥檚 School of Health and Human Performance, and Asa Kachan, Dalhousie registrar, are some of those volunteers. Pumped about the games because of its focus on physical fitness and the new and revitalized facilities it will leave behind, Dr. Westwood鈥攁n avid squash player and expert in hand-eye coordination鈥攊s overseeing squash competition at the games. As for Ms. Kachan, she signed up to help organize the long track speed skating competitions at the Canada Games Oval before anyone really knew how much of a community focal point it would become.

鈥淲hen the organizing committee began its work a year ago, we did so with the belief that the oval would be temporary. To now imagine that it might stay is very exciting,鈥� says Ms. Kachan. Hosting the Canadian Masters Championship and a Canada Games test event in January gave the volunteer crew an idea of what to expect and now they鈥檙e keen to get rolling.

鈥淟ots of us have busy jobs and busy families, but finding time to volunteer is important in building a strong and vibrant community. Seeing skaters on the oval, and hearing the participants and officials from the test event praising Halifax鈥攊t feels very rewarding.鈥�

Ringette player Lauren Morse is one of the Dalhousie students on Team Nova Scotia. (Nick Pearce Photo)

Dal student Evan Taras got a taste of that excitement too during the recent trials to pick Nova Scotia鈥檚 speed skating team for the games.

鈥淲ith fans in the stands, you automatically want to go faster,鈥� says Mr. Taras, a first-year student from Waverley, N.S. He hadn鈥檛 tried long track speed skating until the oval opened in December and made the team a month later.

鈥淚 think if the oval stays we鈥檒l be able to develop the sport. I mean, you look at the times the athletes from Alberta are doing ... and that鈥檚 because they have the Olympic Oval where they can train and improve.鈥�

Meanwhile, Dal students Allison Balan and Mallory Coughlin are among the first to dip their toes in the competition pool at the Canada Games Centre, a $45-million athletic complex which also includes a field house, three full-sized gymnasiums and a 200-metre indoor track. The centre has been long awaited by people who live near the Mainland Common and hundreds turned out for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. During the games, the centre will be the venue for artistic gymnastics, badminton and synchronized swimming.

The chance to compete in front of a hometown crowd was what brought the two Halifax students, partners in the duet, back to synchronized swimming.

鈥淚 thought I was done,鈥� says Ms. Balan, a second-year kinesiology student, as Ms. Coughlin, who is studying neuroscience, nods in agreement. 鈥淲e鈥檇 competed at the 2007 games in Whitehorse and that was an awesome experience, so we thought, 鈥榳ell wouldn鈥檛 it be amazing to have that experience right here in our hometown?鈥欌��

The Canada Games promises to bring prominence to sports like synchronized swimming, archery, badminton and ringette that don鈥檛 often get the spotlight. In the case of ringette, Dal students Lily Barton, Krista Vey and Lauren Morse are thrilled to bring their sport on a national stage as part of Nova Scotia鈥檚 ringette team.

With its equipment and player numbers, ringette may look like hockey on the surface, but the similarities end there. Ringette players tend to compare their sport to lacrosse or basketball鈥攕ports where possession is key.

鈥淧eople think it鈥檚 hockey for girls, but it鈥檚 faster, more technical,鈥� says Ms. Vey, a first-year engineering student from Sackville, N.S. 鈥淲e play it because we grew up with it and we play it because we love it.鈥�

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