SASKATOON—Being invited to speak in the World Urban Games years ago gave Michael Linklater the idea of making it a regular summer event, which mixes sports and art in a weekend spectacle for all ages.
Linklater is the co-chair of the YXE Urban Games, now in its second year, which opened on Friday night, July 18, at Victoria Park, where hundreds of athletes will be competing for prizes and bragging rights.
“I met with Discover Saskatoon and pitched them the idea. They fell in love with it. We hope to grow this every year, bigger and better. But this was something I was looking at and thinking, this is built for the community,” said Linklater in his opening remarks.
“It's an honour to see all of this come to fruition, and to the organizing committee that made this happen. We have high-level and beginner athletes, there are a lot of different sports, and we want to continue to grow this and make this bigger and better.”
Aside from 3X3 basketball, organizers this year added the Urban Games, which included the Olympic sports of breaking, skateboarding, and sports climbing. Breaking made its Olympic debut last year in Paris, while skateboarding and sports climbing were added to the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
Disc golf, dodgeball, futsal, parkour, pickleball, roundnet (spikeball), rowing, table tennis (ping pong), ultimate frisbee, and wakeboarding were added as the new sports this year.
Linklater is one of the province’s celebrated athletes, representing Team Canada three times in the FIBA 3X3 World Cup. He led the Huskies men’s basketball team to the national title and the Saskatchewan Rattlers to the Canadian Elite Basketball League Championship in 2019.
He has also been busy with community work, founding the Boys With Braids organization, which promotes the cultural significance of braids for Indigenous boys and men internationally. He also co-founded business consulting services Sôhkisiwin Solutions.
