Several of Kelowna’s best young athletes will take to the world stage later this summer for the 2026 International Children’s Games.
Seventeen athletes – and their four coaches – are attending the games in the host city of Hualien, Taiwan, from Aug. 1 to Aug. 6.
On Thursday afternoon, June 4, this year’s squad made a public appearance at Stuart Park as they were presented with their uniforms, an honour that less than 400 people have received.
“It is a tight-knit community,” said Lance MacDonald, president of the Kelowna International Children’s Games committee. “The jackets are a special symbol of that community.”
The International Children’s Games is a multi-sport competition that brings together youth aged 12 to 15 from different cities around the world.
The games are sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, though the athletes in the children’s games represent their cities instead of their countries.
MacDonald described the children’s games as a pathway for youth in sport to pursue an Olympic career. Notably, Canadian Kylie Masse represented her hometown of Windsor in the 2009 International Children’s Games. Masse later went on to become a five-time Olympic medalist, including a bronze medal in the women’s 200-metre backstroke at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
Kelowna athletes will be participating in four sports this year, including archery, 3-on-3 basketball, Taekwondo and tennis. This is the first year archery will be added to the roster of sports in the international competition.
MacDonald said Kelowna has sent a team to the games every year since hosting them in 2011. Over the years, he said, Kelowna has developed a tradition of being fierce-but-kind competitors.
“We try to pass this message along to our athletes, that you’re being welcomed into a family,” he said. “So few people in the City of Kelowna get this experience… we ask the athletes to try and recognize that it is special.”
“We try to impress upon them that we expect good behaviour. We expect you to show up and compete fiercely, but then go out and be friendly and make a good friend.”
MacDonald added that games were founded in 1934 by Slovenian sports instructor Metod Klemenc as a way for youth from different nations and cultures to be exposed to one another and bridge divides.
Today, MacDonald urged Kelowna’s athletes to enjoy the countries they compete in.
“Try something new. Try some new food that you’ve never heard of before. Listen to the different languages that are all around you… most of these kids have never gone overseas to try to compete in this international environment,” he said.
MacDonald mentioned that he would “love” for Kelowna to be able to host the International Children’s Games again in the future, likely four to five years after a potential 2028 games in Hamilton, Ontario.
Once ready, if the city were to put a bid in, MacDonald is “absolutely confident Kelowna would get it.”
“We would love to have the children’s games (here), bring the kids from around the world to Kelowna and show off everything we’ve got to participate in here.”