Some of the province’s most talented young athletes are getting ready to take their sport to the national level.

Hundreds of athletes from a variety of sports gathered at the Power Plex in St. John’s yesterday for a rally ahead of the Canada Summer Games in Niagara.

Baseball player Jaida Lee will be the flagbearer for Team NL.

Many athletes, like 17-year-old rugby player Jessie Penney, will be experiencing national competition for the first time as the Games were cancelled over the past two years due to the pandemic.

Penney says she has trained hard over the past few months and is excited to see how her team performs against some of Canada’s best.

Penney says she’s looking forward to playing rugby at a competitive level that she isn’t able to experience here in the province.

The games take place from August 6 to August 21.