The Saskatchewan Games Council announced that Team Southeast has captured the Joe Griffith Trophy as a result of their performance at the 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games in Estevan.
Team Southeast athletes Lais Lindquist (volleyball), Ethan Bill (basketball), and Zach Ashworth (basketball) as well as Chef de Mission, Helen Fornwald, accepted the trophy in Estevan on August 4.
The Joe Griffith Trophy is awarded to the district team showing the greatest percentage improvement from their final standing at the previous Games. Comparison is made on a summer-to-summer and winter-to-winter basis. The final flag point standings from the 2012 Saskatchewan Summer Games in Meadow Lake were used as the comparison.
“The Joe Griffith Trophy is an exciting award because it goes beyond the medal count, and really rewards district teams for their overall performance improvement from the previous games,” said Mark Bracken, executive director of the Saskatchewan Games Council.
“Congratulations to Team Southeast for their success at the 2016 Games. As the hosting team they really stepped up and had some great performances.”
Team Southeast had an overall improvement of 9.6 per cent from the 2012 Summer Games. Team Saskatoon was a close second, with an improvement of 8.2 per cent. In third place was Team Parkland Valley with an improvement of 4.8 per cent.
The Joe Griffith Trophy was designed and created by sculptor Douglas Bentham and is named after Joe Griffith a long time Physical Educator at the University of Saskatchewan and Athletics and Swimming coach. Griffith has earned many honors, was a two-time Canadian Olympic Coach and is a member of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.
The 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games took place in Estevan from July 24 to 30. The Games were a huge success, with the approximate 2,000 athletes, coaches, and mission staff making these Games the largest in Saskatchewan Games history. Team Saskatoon captured the Games Flag for the best overall performance at the Games and topped the medal count with a total of 114 medals.
