WILKIE — One Wilkie teen is living a dream through sport as she sets off for the 2025 Canada Summer Games, held from Aug. 8 to 25 in St. John’s, N.L.
Avi’endha Beaugrand, who will start Grade 11 at McLurg in September, will be hitting the wrestling mats on the East Coast as she represents the province of Saskatchewan. Beaugrand has only been competing for two years, but has already shown her passion for the sport.
“My cousin wrestled in high school and it interested me. When I started Grade 9, Coach Chris Kent knew I was interested in the sport and encouraged me to join,” said the teen. She joined the team, taking in only two tournaments in her inaugural year. Last season, she came back and competed in her first full season, where she claimed a gold medal at the SHSAA Provincial Wrestling Championships in her weight division.
That was the added spark that encouraged her to pursue wrestling even further. She showed interest in going further and asked for some help from her high school coach.
“There are two categories when wrestling: high school and club. In order to go to the Team Sask. trials, I had to belong to a club. Since my school no longer had a club, I had to join one. Coach Kent reached out to some wrestling clubs he knew where the coaches would be willing to take me on,” said Beaugrand.
The teen was able to connect with Coach Chris Brownrigg at the Pikes Wrestling Club from Meadow Lake, and then the real work began. With the guidance of the two coaches and two of her high school wrestling teammates, Kylie and Ashton Weber, Beaugrand started training to get herself ready for the trials, which ran similarly to most tournaments she has competed in. On May 10, Beaugrand attended the trials, where she secured a spot on Team Sask.
Not long after the school year ended, Beaugrand was on her way to Montana for additional training. While she admits that training with the provincial team has been much more intense and frequent, she has enjoyed every moment of it.
“Training with Team Sask has been great. The rules are different from high school, allowing athletes to do more moves and the team is much bigger than I am used to, since our high school team is only eight to 12 people. The input from other coaches that have a lot of knowledge and being able to practice with other people with more experience has been fantastic.” Beaugrand also said that team bonding and new friendships have been one of the best things from being on the provincial team.
With all the support she has been given, she continues to heed the advice from her two coaches who helped her get to where she is now.
“Coach Kent likes to say, ‘But did you die?!’ and reminds me I am an assassin before or after a match. Coach Brownrigg always told me to ‘turn it off and be savage’, but both of them have always told me to ‘always stay humble’. It really goes a long way having such good coaches in your corner. They have had a lot of patience with me as I learn and work on my skills,” added Beaugrand.
The wrestling team competitions will take place Aug. 21 and 22, followed by individual competitions on Aug. 23. The team will also take part in the closing ceremonies. Although Beaugrand has a couple more years of high school ahead of her, she is already looking to her future in the sport, hoping to get a wrestling scholarship and one day attend the Olympics.
