A young Sundre baseball player’s collection of gold medals continues to grow.
Nicholas Backstrom, who pitched with Team Alberta during the recent Western Canada Summer Games, brought home another gold medal. The 16-year-old also won gold last year at the Alberta Summer Games.
Backstrom was chosen this year along with 18 others from across the province to represent Team Alberta in the Western Canada Summer Games, which were hosted Aug. 9-18 in Swift Current, Sask.
Out of nine games played, Team Alberta only lost two during the round robins. Because the team from B.C. had to drop out, the remaining teams were from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, he said.
“We beat Manitoba 8-4 to win in the final game,” he said, adding the rankings were based on the overall record of points scored throughout all of the matches. Manitoba finished second, with Saskatchewan placing third, he said.
The pitcher, who has an admirable batting average of .333, said he’s enjoyed baseball since he was a little boy aged about four, playing catch with his dad and learning the basics of the sport on a T-ball team with Sundre Minor Ball.
By the time he played his first year with the bantam squad at about age 14, Backstrom said he realized he wanted to pursue the sport at a higher level. The following year, he played Triple A competitive ball in Calgary with the Junior Dinos, which in turn eventually led him to the opportunity to play with Team Alberta after trying out.
When asked what he most enjoys about baseball, Backstrom said the camaraderie with the team plays a big part, but also confessed having a thirst for putting his abilities to the test against others.
“I’m a competitive person,” he said.
“I like to win.”
Nicholas’s younger brother Anthony also plays ball, but the year between them means they only get to play together every other season, said grandmother Livi Backstrom, who lives west of Didsbury near Elkton.
Being devoted to a sport offers an opportunity to productively explore one’s potential, but is also a major commitment, said Livi.
“Our goal as grandparents is seeing them get an education through the love of their sports,” she said.
“They’re dedicated and have given up so much to do what they do and we’re so proud of them.”
Although the grandparents missed the last couple of games, Livi said they were able to attend for the first five days, and said Team Alberta wasn’t the only group to demonstrate a gold medal performance.
“Hats off to Swift Current — they put on an awesome venue and did a beautiful job,” she said, praising the thousands of volunteers who pitched in and calling the games a “well-organized, gold medal job.”
Now going into Grade 11, Backstrom, who until last year was a student at Sundre High School, was accepted at the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball, located northeast of Lethbridge.
Only 23 others in his age category from across the country are invited to that program, said Livi.
Looking down the road, Backstrom said he intends to maintain a high level of performance on the field and in the classroom with the hopes of securing a scholarship that will open doors to a post-secondary institution in the U.S., where he eventually hopes to study a field in engineering.
“That’s the whole point of my going to baseball school, is earning a scholarship to get into a good college.”
First, he plans to do well this year so he can be accepted to complete his high school in Vauxhall and graduate in 2021.
Backstrom left last week to get ready and settled in ahead of the start of the semester in Vauxhall, and expects to make the occasional trip home for special occasions and holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving.
