Shared experiences, simple moments, and the quiet power of coming together in the North.
A few days ago, we spoke about belonging. About how sport, at its best, creates spaces where people feel seen, welcomed, and part of something.
This past week, that idea came to life in a small Hamlet in the Northwest Territories, where Team NT Table Tennis athletes from Yellowknife and Fort Providence came together for a training camp. Hours were spent in the gym, working, learning, and preparing for the Arctic Winter Games. Alongside them was National Team athlete Ivy Liao, sharing her experience, her presence, and her ability to connect with everyone in the room.
But what stayed with us most did not only happen at the tables. They happen outside. In the cold. In laughter. And not just here, not just this moment. These kinds of moments can happen anywhere.
Stepping outside after long training sessions, athletes and coaches found themselves trying something simple, throwing hot water into the freezing air and watching it transform into a burst of crystals. A small act, but one that quickly turned into shared laughter, curiosity, and connection. There were no drills. No results. No expectations.
And yet, in a way, there was still coaching. Where to start the throw. How to move fully through the motion to create the arc. Watching the shape of the water in the air. Reviewing photos and videos together, adjusting, trying again. A high performance version of boiling water throwing, but always grounded in fun, curiosity, and sharing the moment.
What this reminds us is that physical literacy is not only about developing skills or improving performance. It is about connection. It is about feeling comfortable in your environment, with others, and within yourself. It is about creating spaces where people can try something new, laugh, and simply be.
Yes, the training camp was about getting better. About preparing, improving, and pushing forward as athletes. But beyond the gym, beyond the structure, something just as important was happening.People were bonding.
In conversations between sessions. In shared meals. In moments outside under the northern sky. In small experiences that, on the surface, might seem unrelated to sport, but in reality, are at the heart of it. Because sport is not only about performance. It is about people. It is about community.
And sometimes, it is about something as simple as stepping outside together, trying something new, and realizing that the moment you are in, the laughter, the connection, the shared experience, is just as important as anything that happens inside the gym.
And who knows, maybe we are onto something bigger here. A new Northern movement. A perfect blend of sport, art, and community. The first ever Non-Profit Organization for Professional Boiling Water Throwing. A true hybrid between a Territorial Sport Organization and an art form.
World Championships in the Northwest Territories… coming soon. Who’s in?