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Military and sport together at Penticton Museum

Featured museum exhibit shows link between sports and the Canadian military since 19th century
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An exhibit at the Penticton Museum and Archives shows the co-relation between the Canadian military and sports. (Submitted image)

From now until June 11 the Penticton Museum & Archives will be featuring a display highlighting the link between sports and the military.

The museum, in connection with the military museums and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, is featuring Play Hard, Fight Hard: Sport and the Canadian Military. It is located in the Atkinson Gallery at the museum.

According to the museum, the relationship between sport and military service in Canada since the late 19th century has been close and mutually beneficial.

“Participants develop extraordinary reserves of courage and resolve as they are challenged to push personal limits to achieve larger objectives, whether on the field of competition or the battlefield,” reads the release.

The display features a variety of different sports from the 1880’s to the present through art, artifacts and photos.

It is designed to explore how sports are used to reinforce militarily useful concepts such as teamwork, leadership, fitness, tactical planning and more.

It also demonstrates how many athletes naturally gravitated towards the military and similarly, how military training allowed many to have a successful athletic career after their service.

READ MORE: Grateful to museum staff

According to museum curator Dennis Oomen, the museum strives to deliver professional and innovative programs, archival services and exhibits, both at the museum and within the city’s environs.

He added, the goal is to ensure cultural and natural heritage management is a vital component in the development of Penticton’s physical identity and community character.

The Penticton Museum was established in 1954 when the City of Penticton gave local collector R.N. Atkinson the use of the decommissioned sternwheeler, the S.S. Sicamous, to house his private collection.

The R.N. Atkinson Temporary Gallery in the museum’s current location is named in memory of its first curator who passed away in 1973.


 

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